Page 38 - All About History - Issue 59-17

Mythbusting Christmas

BriTain’s
ChrisTmas Jesus’ real BirThDay

meTeoriTe When did Christ actually come among us?

Britain’s largest ever meteorite landed
in Barwell, near Leicester, on Christmas The Bible never actually tells us when Jesus was born, with the Gospels of
Eve 1965. Described as being “the Matthew and Luke providing different accounts of the event. In fact it was
size of desk” when it first entered the Pope Julius I who declared Jesus’ birthday to be 25 December in 345 CE,
atmosphere, by the time it reached the most likely to integrate the pagan celebrations with Christianity.
earth it had broken down into the size
of a Christmas turkey! Luckily, no one
was hurt by the incident.
Thanksgiving Carol

‘Jingle Bells’, one of the world’s best-loved Christmas carols, was
actually written for Thanksgiving. Originally titled ‘One-Horse Open
Sleigh’, it was created in the mid-19th century by James Pierpoint
for his father’s Sunday school. The song proved so popular that the
children asked to sing it again at Christmas and it has been deemed
a festive song ever since.

silenT nighT,
holy nighT

According to legend, the carol ‘Silent The idea of Jesus being born in
Night’ was created as a result of mice a stable is also under debate
chewing through a church organ.
Joseph Mohr, a Catholic curate, found
himself stuck on Christmas Eve 1818
after realising his organ could not be
repaired. He wrote ‘Silent Night’ for how gooD was King
the Midnight Mass service and the
music was composed by Franz Xaver
Gruber. The carol was soon copied wenCeslas really?
and spread throughout Austria.
a PuriTan ChrisTmas The inspiration behind a well-loved

The Puritan Pilgrims who settled in America during the 17th century Christmas carol
were against the drunken celebration of Christmas, which they You may have heard of the carol
nicknamed ‘Foolstide’. They did not believe that 25 December was the ‘Good King Wenceslas’, but did
day of Christ’s birth and Christmas was outlawed in 1659. Christmas you know that it is based on a
Day would not be declared a federal holiday until 1870. real-life saint? Saint Wenceslaus
Trafalgar was the duke of Bohemia from
921 until his assassination in
935, most likely at the hands of
square Tree his own brother.
Wenceslaus’ brutal death saw
Every single year you will find a him remembered as a Catholic
magnificently decorated Christmas martyr and his popularity
tree standing tall in the centre of soared. Although he was only
London’s Trafalgar Square in London a duke, Holy Roman Emperor
— but do you know where it comes Otto I posthumously bestowed
from? The tree has been a gift from the “the regnal dignity and title” on
people of Oslo, Norway, since 1947 to him, which is why he is known
thank the British for their help during as a king in the carol.
World War II.