Sharing My Holiday World 25-12-2018
Here is my post for Melanie’s Share Your Holiday World. I always post these on a Sunday, but this one is quite topical so I thought I’d better get on with it! There’s even a special banner with a Father Christmas in his sleigh on it 🙂
I will answer the questions and then Google them and post the correct answer underneath.
What Christmas beverage is also known as “milk punch?”
That sounds like eggnog! Some people will go to great lengths for eggnog, as I wrote in my little story Eggnog Overkill.
And Google says… eggnog! Yay! 🙂
Before becoming tied up with Christmas what was Yule?
Yule was traditionally a log. Then the early Christian church decided to go on a mass recruitment drive and hijacked the pagan festival of Saturnalia for the purpose. As that slowly became a Christian celebration, so the Yule log was in its turn hijacked by early Christian chefs and became the tasty chocolate cake we all know and love today.
And Google says… a Northern European pagan festival at midwinter. I wasn’t even close 😦
Stollen is the traditional fruit cake of which country?
I’m pretty sure I have one, I’ll check the box, one sec… hey, where’s it gone? It’s been stollen!
Ha ha ha. Ha ha. Ha.
Okay then, it sounds German.
And Google says… “a traditional German bread eaten during the Christmas season”. Woohoo! 🙂
In what century was the first written use of Xmas?
It sounds very modern but Melanie posted an image which looks kinda old and traditional, so I’m going to take a stab at the 17th.
And Google says… the mid-1500s. So that’s the 16th century. So close! 😦
The modern Santa Claus is mainly a mix of what two figures?
We’ll have to try to work this out. “Santa”, presumably, is a misspelling of “Satan”. That ties in with Christmas’s pagan roots. “Claus” sounds a lot like “claws”, so something with claws… Freddy Krueger!
There you go. Satan Krueger. Freddy Morningstar. Take your pick.
And Google says… hmm, not an easy one to work out, this one! It appears to be a cross between St Nicholas and a salesman. And he’s been featured in Coca Cola ads since the 1920s! (Yes, I got this info from the Coca Cola website.) I wasn’t even close on this one 😦
Two out of five. Well, I was close with “Xmas” so I’m awarding myself half a point for that.
Merry Christmas everybody!
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draliman on life 
I’ll give you an “A” for effort, Ali. Oh, “A” is the top grade on anything scholastic in the U.S. Happy Christmas and Happy New Year 2019. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Thanks! “A” is the best here too, mostly. Though the new exams have gone a bit weird.
Happy Christmas and New Year to you too 🙂
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hehehe! 😀
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🙂
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A very Merry one to you, may you have all the goodies you wish today! Thanks for Sharing Your Knowledgeable World with us! I’m a bit surprised Google didn’t know where Santa came from….He is a construct of Sinterklass (who has been around for a very long time apparently) who became Father Christmas and the Coca-cola ad from the 30s (I think it was the 30s)….Now a days I think they ALL translate to Santa Claus. Blessed Yule to you!
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I was partly there! I’ve never heard of Sinterklass but apparently he’s “a legendary figure based on Saint Nicholas”. And of course Coca Cola had to get in there somewhere…
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I remember first seeing the word “stollen” on a window sign in our neighborhood bakery when I was probably about 10, and I thought they were letting people know they were robbed…
I think cartoonist Thomas Nast gets some credit for creating the modern image of Santa Claus in the late 1800’s as well. Coca Cola gave him the red suit and made Santa a thing, but they were mainly popularizing the Nast image of Father Christmas… which I guess makes Santa Krueger Claus “Nasty”…
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Ha! First they get robbed, then they can’t spell…
Yes, I saw a couple of references to Nast. But everyone is wrong. Father Christmas is real, real I tell you…
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I thought Stollen was Norwegian. And Saturnalia was celebrated by burning a log, but it wasn’t a log. Santa was I think the Dutch “Sinta” “Clause” and I think pronounced CLOUSE. Or something like that.
There have always been four festivals at the corners of the year. Christians figured it was easier to adopt them then convert everyone to brand NEW festivals, which is why Easter IS on Passover (well, that last supper was, after all, a Seder) … anyway, for each current holiday in each “modern” religion, it sits on top of a pagan (aka not Christian or Jewish) holiday and probably includes many of the rituals that went with it. This is as true in Judaism (and probably Hinduism and Buddhism and Islam) as it is with Christianity.
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It’s always easier to co-opt someone else’s festival. After all, everyone is already celebrating, you just need to insinuate some new ideas…
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Two out of five shows promise, Ali 😀 – and as Patricia said, you deserve an A for effort (and
for making us laugh!) I love your answer about the Yule. I hope you’re having a great Christmas and showing off your favourite Christmas jumper again.
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I wore my Christmas jumper to work on a couple of days and of course on Christmas Day!
I’m glad you liked my answers 🙂
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Xmas! The horrors! Next year, when one of the fundies that claim people are trying to take Christ out of Christmas today when they use Xmas, I can’t wait to point out that it was used centuries ago.
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Yes, in fact I’ve been meaning to look up all the details so I can wax lyrical on the subject 🙂
Here#s Wiki’s words – “There is a common misconception that the word Xmas stems from a secular attempt to remove the religious tradition from Christmas by taking the “Christ” out of “Christmas”, but its use dates back to the 16th century.”
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