Reclaim Our History: Dec. 16-31
Special History of Christmas Edition!
Dec. BCE: Slaughter of livestock to be consumed through the winter in Europe, so they would not have to be fed over the cold season. This fits with solstice celebrations, when the days begin getting longer. Also, wine and beer put up during the growing season is now ready for consumption.
Dec 21, BCE to modern times: Nordic people celebrate Yule by feasting, starting from this date until a giant yule log burned out, sometimes as long as 12 days.
Dec. BCE: Germans honor Oden by staying inside, out of fear that on one of his flights to observe his people, they might be found unworthy and marked for death during the next year.
Dec. BCE: Romans celebrate Saturnalia by partying and switching roles: slaves become masters for a month and peasants rule the city.
Dec. 25, 0: Apocryphal birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
Dec. 1611: Settlers under Sir Thomas Dale destroy Apamatuks village on the lower Appomattox River in Virginia; settlers erect townsite of Bermuda Hundred on the site. Merry Christmas.
Dec. 1621: Massachusetts halts all sinful game-playing, confiscates toys.
Dec. 1645: Oliver Cromwell and his Puritans take over England and cancel Christmas. It becomes illegal to mention St. Nicholas, exchange gifts, sing Christmas carols or light a candle.
Dec. 1659: Christmas outlawed by Puritans in Boston; exhibition of Christmas spirit results in a fine of five shillings.
Dec., Early 1800′s: High unemployment and poverty result in Christmas season riots in major US cities.
Dec. 1773: “St. A Claus” first appears in the media.
Dec. 25, 1789: Congress is in session in its first year after the ratification of the Constitution, and not because the Republicans wouldn’t compromise, but because Christmas is not considered a holiday.
Dec. 1809: Washington Irving, writing as Diedrich Knickerbocker in “A History of New York,” portrays St. Nicolas as riding into town on a horse. Three years later he revises his account to portray Nicolas riding over the trees in a wagon.
Dec. 1863: Thomas Nast draws his first of many images of Santa for Harpers Magazine. In an early attempt at psychological warfare, President Abraham Lincoln gets Nast to draw an image of Santa with Union troops, for distribution to rebel forces. Nast continued to produce images through the 1890s.
Dec. 25, 1870: The first federal celebration of the holiday is celebrated, Christmas having been declared a holiday on June 26th of this year.
1946: First of several years of White House Christmas demonstrations seeking amnesty for conscientious objectors convicted of refusing to fight World War II.
1951: Black leader Harry T. Moore killed in a bomb explosion, Sanford, Florida. His wife, critically injured, dies a few days later.
1956: A good Christian bombs the home of anti-segregationist Fred Shuttlesworth. Birmingham, Ala. Shuttlesworth passed away just this week, 43 years later. R.I.P.
1978: Four “Santa Clauses” arrested for climbing a fence at Pilgrim Nuclear Plant, Plymouth, Mass.
Dec. 21, 1989: Vice Pres. Dan Quayle sends out 30,000 Christmas cards with the word beacon spelled “beakon.”