Are you ready for weird and interesting Christmas facts? If you are like most people who follow the Christian faith, you will most likely celebrate Christmas on December 25 each year. As Christmas is supposed to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, is has been celebrated for the best part of two millennium. Over that long period of time Christmas itself has evolved to what we know and celebrate today. Here we will try our best to bring you some of the most interesting and weird Christmas facts that you may have never heard of before. With each fact we will provide a link to our full article that will open in a new tab or page, so as not to disturb your reading pleasure.
Begin your journey into our list of weird and interesting Christmas facts by clicking next
1 Die Hard Was One Of The Best Christmas Films Ever
Now, we know what you are thinking. Die Hard was an action film, not a Christmas film. What the heck? Well Die Hard was actually set on Christmas eve, so it falls into the Christmas film genre. Die Hard was actually voted the greatest Christmas film of all time in 2010 by Empire magazine, and 4th best in Rotten Tomatoes’ list.
While most Christmas films are based upon the cheer and celebrations around the festive season, Die Hard breaks that mould completely. For those that don’t know, it was the first in a series of what is currently 5 action movies. The main character was John McClane (Bruce Willis) a New York police officer who was visiting his estranged wife in Los Angeles when terrorists attacked and took hostage the occupants of a LA Sky scraper. McClane just happens to be the only one not captured by the terrorists and systematically kills all of them single handedly. It is often regarded as an action masterpiece.
While the other films that are considered the best Christmas films of all time are true Christmas films, Die Hard really broke the mould. The top 4 are considered A Christmas Story (1983), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and Die Hard (1988).
2 Saint Nicholas Is The Patron Saint of Prostitutes
We are well aware of the fact that Saint Nicholas is embodied as the modern day Santa Claus because of his reputation to give secret gifts. It was this gift giving that lead Saint Nicholas to become the most odd of patron saints. Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of prostitutes. Along with this patronage, he is also the patron saint of many other groups including sailors, merchants, archers, thieves, children, pawnbrokers and students. Now you are probably wondering how Saint Nicholas became the patron saint of prostitutes.It all began with a man in Patara. The man had lost all of his money, and to make matters worse, he had three daughters to support. The difficulty came about due to not being able to raise a dowry. As was the case in those times, if a dowry was not able to be made, the woman would never marry and spend her life as a prostitute.
3 The Opposite Of Santa Claus Is Krampus
It is common for parents to warn their young children about misbehaving at Christmas time. Children are told that if they misbehave Santa Claus will not bring them presents on Christmas morning. A Christmas carol even alludes to this. For parents it works wonders. A quick reminder that Santa is watching them will quite often pull a naughty kid into line. But I bet this Santa Claus fact will surprise many. Did you know that Santa, just like God, has an opposite number, and his name is Krampus.
Saint Nicholas’ opposite, Krampus first appeared in German pre-Christian folklore as a goat like creature. By the 17th century the figure of Krampus was connected with that of Saint Nicholas, otherwise known as Santa Claus to be his complete opposite. In modern times he is described as being hairy, usually black or brown with cloven horns and a pointed tongue. He usually carries a whip or chain. Krampus, instead of giving out gifts as Santa does, will take misbehaving and naughty children away in his sack to his lair. But in other versions he will take the naughty children away for drowning, eating or to transport them to hell.
So if reminding your child that Santa is watching fails, try telling them about this little known Christmas time surprise.
4 Walmart’s Christmas Underwear Controversy
There’s really nothing quite like a successful and memorable marketing campaign. We have so many fantastic jingles, funny videos, and smart one liners. Those kind of campaigns are ones that many of us treasure and remember for years. But what happens when it all goes horribly wrong? As in, someone just didn’t think things through? Walmart found out the consequences in one of the worst possible ways.
In December 2007 Walmart withdrew some girls underpants with “Who needs credit cards…” on the front and “When you have Santa” on the rear. Palm on forehead. When they went on sale in the juniors department it quickly started a lot of bad publicity online with women’s groups claiming it had a sinister sexual undertone.
Walmart eventually realized their massive mistake and removed the offending merchandise from their shelves. But it is still remembered to this day.
5 Santa’s Reindeer Male Or Female
Santa has nine reindeer that fly and pull his sleigh around the world. They all have male names and are called Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen and are led by the red nosed Rudolf. Now, this may well seem like a bit of a silly question, after all, all of Santa’s reindeer have male names. Are Santa’s reindeer male or female? Well, it appears as though Santa’s reindeer might very well all be female reindeer’s, not male at all. The reason that Santa’s reindeer are female is because of their antlers.
Why are Santa’s reindeer female and not male?
Reindeer, along with caribou are the only breeds of deer where the male, female and calves produce antlers. However the male reindeer will shed their antlers at the beginning of winter, and most of them will have lost them by mid December. While it is possible for a male reindeer to retain their antlers until December 24, and possibly as late as January, it is not the norm. The females on the other hand will only shed their antlers after they have given birth in spring. So that would mean that all of Santa’s reindeer, including Rudolf are females, and possibly pregnant while on their journey around the world.
Now, just for argument sake. Could it be possible that Santa has discovered a way to stop the male reindeer’s antlers from falling off? Considering that Santa is able to not only make reindeer fly, but also deliver presents to children around the world in only one night, making male reindeer antlers stay on throughout winter must be an easy task by comparison.
