Community Corner

Five Things You Need to Know About Christmas

From lighting your mouth on fire to taking on the Puritans' Christmas ban, learn some holly jolly Christmas facts.

Whether your love of Christmas is rooted in religion or you’re more of the “be good for goodness sake” variety, the Christmas trappings are common to all of us who celebrate the season: the trees, the candy canes, the bird poop-inspired traditions. Just trust us.

Here are five things you need to know about Christmas.

1. Americans buy 25-30 million Christmas trees annually, according to the National Christmas Tree Association (yes, such a group exists.) And at any one time, there are 350 million Christmas trees growing on tree farms in the U.S.—that’s almost 42 million more Christmas trees than people living in America.

Find out what's happening in Collingswoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

2. What’s your favorite Christmas tradition? A Yule log? Cookie baking? Bor-ing. Snapdragon is where it’s at. Snapdragon proved a popular Christmas game from “time immemorial,” Robert Chambers wrote in 1832’s The Book of Days.

The concept is simple, yet slightly terrifying: Put a large, shallow bowl in the center of the table and throw in a handful of raisins. Fill the bowl with brandy, light it on fire (!) and take turn snatching out raisins with your bare hands and eating them before your mouth catches on fire. Chambers assures us that “a considerable amount of laughter and merriment is evoked at the expense of the unsuccessful competitors.” (Editor's Note: We don't recommend trying this at home.)

Find out what's happening in Collingswoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

3. It seems that children have been fidgety in church for centuries. But thanks to their short attention spans, we have candy canes. So goes the account by authors James and Kay Salter, who write that a German choirmaster invented the hook-shaped candy treats in 1670 to amuse children choir members during Christmas services.

The candy cane shape is Biblical, resembling the hooks carried by the shepherds who were the first to hear the news about Jesus’ birth, according to the book of Luke. The traditional peppermint flavoring came 200 years later.

4. Celebrating Christmas in Puritan Boston would have cost you five shillings. The Puritans outlawed Christmas from 1659 to 1681 and instituted the fine for anyone daring to celebrate the “decadent” holiday.

5. Ah, mistletoe. How romantic, how lovely, how … inspired by bird poop? Birds help mistletoe grow by eating the plant’s berries and, ahem, letting loose, as birds are wont to do. The mistletoe seeds in the bird excrement can then germinate, according to the San Diego Natural History Museum. Mistletoe’s name derives from this inglorious beginning: the Anglo-Saxon “mistel” (dung) and “tan” (twig), or “dung on a twig.” Just makes you want to pucker up, huh?

Merry Christmas, Patch readers!


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here