Unruly History in the News #45
Christmas edition 🤶🎅🎄🎁🕯⛄
Hey folks,
Happy Christmas if you’re celebrating this weekend. If not, I hope you’re having a lovely weekend wherever you are.
This is the last weekend to take advantage of the 50% off deal on annual subscriptions! I don’t know if I’ll ever have subscriptions this low again, so don’t miss your chance. Paying subscribers get access to bonus episodes and behind-the-scenes content! On Tuesday I’ve got a very fun bonus episode about an ancient festival just for paying subscribers—don’t miss out!
Have you listened to this week’s episode on Alfred Carlton Gilbert, the man who saved Christmas?
All right, on to the show! Here is how history has been acting unruly in the news…
Christmas traditions are constantly evolving. Here are how several have evolved over the last several centuries—including the adoption of December 25th as the holiday.
An exploratory study of reindeer husbandry in Norway. 🦌
How colonialism impacted the creation of an iconic Christmas treat: pudding
The economics of the holiday tree industry is pretty fascinating.
Relatedly, there’s been a Christmas tree shortage for years now. Wildfires are just part of the problem.
Do you know the history of the Christmas tree? New evidence suggests it was Queen Charlotte—not Prince Albert, as originally thought—who brought the first Christmas tree to England. She set it up at Queen’s Lodge, Windsor, in December 1800.
When people think of the first Christmas tree, it’s often of this image of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their children gathering around a Christmas tree in December 1848. But the first came nearly 50 years earlier! Webster Museum. Public Domain. Did you know Massachusetts once banned Christmas? 1659 was not a festive year, apparently.
Sometimes I feel like inflatable holiday decorations have been around forever, but it turns out they were invented in 2001 in Germany. Since then, they’ve taken over Christmas-celebrating yards.
Gingerbread cookies have been around in some form since before the 11th century—we know the Crusaders brought back the recipe to Western Europe. But the gingerbread man is traced to Elizabeth I, who had her pastry chefs bake the cookies in the shape of her favorite courtiers.
Others claim that Elizabeth was actually having the cookies made in the shape of visiting dignitaries. I think this has an interesting political aspect to it as well.
In the Russian Orthodox Church, Christmas is celebrated on January 7th. This year, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has denounced this date as a Russia-imposed tradition and has signed a new law to celebrate Christmas on December 25th.
Do you know how St. Nicholas became Santa Claus? The story behind how Santa/St. Nicholas/Kris Kringle/Father Christmas came to life is a long and fantastical one.
Apparently, if you watched The Bear (I did not), you’re now familiar with the Italian tradition of the Feast of the Seven Fishes. But where did it come from, and why are there seven fishes involved?
Photograph by Andrew Scrivani, The New York Times Are you planning to watch a few holiday movies? Here are seven surprising facts about some holiday classics.
Once celebrated by the Aztec and Maya for its medicinal properties, today the bright red poinsettia is a staple of Christmas decorations thanks to one diplomat.
Thanks for reading!