Is Santa Claus American?
Christmas is just around the corner but have you heard of these myths? Take a look…
1. It was once thought that Prince Albert invented the Christmas tree when he and Queen Victoria set up a tree for their family in 1848 and was depicted in the Illustrated News as a London custom. It was another royal who came up with the idea, George III’s wife, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, had made the Christmas tree a feature of court in 1761.
2. Was Mistletoe banned in churches? There is actually no evidence suggesting that mistletoe was banished by law from churches.
3. All decorations should come down by January 6… Until the 19th Century Christmas decorations were kept up until the 2 February. It was in the reign of Victoria that decorations came down on Jan 6, they were generally burnt after use.
4. Santa Claus is American? St Nicholas was actually the Bishop of Myrna, in what is now known as Turkey, the change in name was made by the Americans.
5. Christmas cards ordinally had religious themes… The first card was lithographed by Joseph Cundall, they were hand-coloured and sold at a high price of 1 shilling per card. The picture was of a family cheer, not a religious scene.
6. Nowell means “good news”, this word has been fraught with misunderstanding over the years. It was used many centuries ago in English as the exclamation of joy, not just in carols but was also unconnected with Christmas.
7. Was Jesus born on 25 December? No one really know the real date for when Jesus was born and there is no real record of his birth date in the 300 years of the history of the church.
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