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  • Exploding Christmas Trees on Random Biggest Christmas Myths and Legends

    (#9) Exploding Christmas Trees

    THE MYTH:
    Christmas trees randomly catch fire, putting children in peril.

    THE REALITY:
    Every holiday season brings with it warnings of Christmas trees bursting into flames at will, due to either a lack of water or lights blowing up. You can find tips on how to prevent these fires everywhere, but what’s a little harder to find is the research that shows these fires to be extremely rare. According to the National Fire Protection Association, between 2006 and 2011 there were only about 230 fires caused by Christmas trees each year. Factor that number into the millions of households that put up trees and you can see just how rare these fires are.

    Not only that, but none of the days with the most Christmas tree fires were actually before Christmas, meaning simply getting rid of dried out trees quickly after the holiday is the best way to prevent a tree fire. What’s arguably more of a danger is falling while putting up decorations, as emergency rooms treat around 5,800 falls every year due to people toppling over while decorating their trees.
  • Santa's Origin Story on Random Biggest Christmas Myths and Legends

    (#6) Santa's Origin Story

    THE MYTH:
    Santa Claus has always been the same as St. Nick and Kris Kringle.

    THE REALITY:
    While all three names (as well as Father Christmas and others) are now widely held to reference the same jolly fat man in a red suit, this wasn’t always the case.

    St. Nicholas was a fourth-century Turkish bishop who spent his life giving money to the poor, often by secretly leaving money in people's stockings overnight. He died on Dec. 6, and was later proclaimed a saint – making December 6th St. Nicholas Day.

    Around the 15th Century in England, the burgeoning Protestant population transformed St. Nicholas into the drunken gift-giver Father Christmas, who, in turn, was renamed Kris Kringle in the U.S. (Kringle being a popular Danish pastry often eaten around the Christmas holiday.)

    American cartoonist Thomas Nast popularized the modern iteration of Santa Claus as a jolly bearded man living at the North Pole, and L. Frank Baum’s 1902 book The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus forever etched it into the collective consciousness. But this version of Santa is only about a century old.
  • The White House No Longer Has a Christmas Tree on Random Biggest Christmas Myths and Legends

    (#11) The White House No Longer Has a Christmas Tree

    THE MYTH:
    The White House no longer has a Christmas Tree, but instead puts up a Holiday Tree each year.

    THE REALITY:

    This is a silly, anti-Obama rumor that has surfaced every year since 2009. But it’s never been true, as you can see by the pictures that come out of the White House every year showing the Obama family putting up, decorating and posing with what’s clearly labeled a Christmas tree.

    The only hint of truth in this glorified e-mail chain rumor is that the Capitol Christmas Tree decorating program, which is not the same thing as the White House Christmas Tree, allows for handmade ornaments sent by people around the country. However, these ornaments can’t be religious or political in nature – reflecting the beauty of the state they represent, not a political agenda.
  • Santa Claus Started as a Coca-Cola Marketing Gimmick on Random Biggest Christmas Myths and Legends

    (#12) Santa Claus Started as a Coca-Cola Marketing Gimmick

    THE MYTH:
    Coca Cola invented the modern image of Santa Claus.

    THE REALITY:
    As previously mentioned, the pop culture version of the modern Santa emerged as an amalgam of various traditions, and this amalgam included the red-and-white garb that has come to define the jolly figure. Coca-Cola jumped on this image as it became more and more popular. In the 1930s, with the Depression slowing their sales, the company unveiled an ad campaign featuring Santa Claus guzzling down not a glass of milk, but an ice cold Coke between present deliveries. His red-and-white attire fit well into Coke's corporate branding.

    However, this image was already in the popular consciousness, as seen in books and cartoons of the times. In this era before national television ads, many more people saw the Coca-Cola Santa than these others, but he didn’t come first – and he certainly wasn’t invented by the soft drink company.

  • Christmas Was Once Banned in America on Random Biggest Christmas Myths and Legends

    (#10) Christmas Was Once Banned in America

    THE MYTH:
    Christmas was actually banned in America for a time.

    THE REALITY:
    This is true. The celebration of Christmas was, at one time, banned in part of the United States of America. But it wasn’t San Francisco liberals or a knuckling-under city council behind the ban, but the state of Massachusetts – in 1659. The Puritans who settled in New England wanted nothing to do with Church of England holiday celebrations, and this included a holiday that had less to do with Christ and more to do with drunkenness and frivolity.

    The Puritan government responded to British authorities attempting to ride herd on them by banning the holiday, and the ban was in place for 22 years. It wasn’t until well into the 1800s that Christmas was a holiday celebrated in large numbers in Boston.
  • Christmas Is the Most Important Holiday in Christianity on Random Biggest Christmas Myths and Legends

    (#3) Christmas Is the Most Important Holiday in Christianity

    THE MYTH:
    Christmas is the central event of the Christian calendar.

    THE REALITY:
    Easter has far more significance on the Christian calendar than Christmas does. Historically, Jesus’s birth wasn’t celebrated until centuries after it occurred, while his death and resurrection were celebrated by the earliest converts to Christianity. Also, Easter is celebrated over a far longer period of time than Christmas on the traditional Christian calendar – lasting almost two months from February to April.

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About This Tool

Christmas is a religious holiday with a long history. Every December 25th is an important holiday for people to celebrate and commemorate the birth of Jesus. Christmas is the most solemn holiday in western countries and Christianity, and there are many legends and myths about this holiday that you may also have heard of. It is said that on the night of Christmas Eve, Santa Claus will drive a reindeer sleigh full of gifts to send to children who have performed well this year. 

The custom of dressing up Santa Claus and Christmas trees to celebrate Christmas has gradually become popular all over the world. The random tool will help us to know 12 interesting Christmas legends and myths.

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