We’ve all heard of the 12 days of Christmas.
But what about 12 words of Christmas?
Here’s the story behind a few of them.
One… Xmas.
Xmas has been contentious over the years,
with some arguing it’s a term designed
to remove the religious importance of Christmas.
In fact, X is the symbol for “chi” -
the first letter in the Greek word for Christ,
and that is why Christmas, or Christ’s Mass, became Xmas.
Two… Santa.
Santa Claus comes from the Dutch, Sinterklass,
which literally translates as Saint Nicholas.
Before Saint Nicholas was even born though,
the Norse god, Odin,
was believed to lead a hunting party through the sky during Yule,
and he even delivered presents to children.
Three… carol.
Coming from the Latin "carula", meaning circular dance,
carols used to be pagan songs, sung all throughout the year.
They were swiftly adopted by the Romans, and then by the church,
as they were so popular.
Four… bauble.
This used to be the term for a baton carried by court jesters,
or bauble bearers, in Tudor England.
Back in the 17th Century,
to give the bauble to someone actually meant to make fun of them.
Five… tinsel.
Coming from France, étincelle, meaning “sparkle” or “spark”,
it became part of our Christmas tree decorations
thanks to a Ukrainian fairytale
all about a generous spider who took pity on a poor family,
choosing to spend the night decorating their tree
with a web of gold and silver.
Six… stockings.
Originating from an old English word, stocc,
meaning trunk of a tree,
our Christmas stockings also have their own Christmas tale behind them.
In it, St Nicholas wanted to help a poor man and his daughters.
Knowing they wouldn't accept charity,
he threw three golden balls through their window at night,
each one landing in a different stocking.
The balls were sometimes represented as oranges,
which is why we get oranges in our stockings today.
Seven… chestnuts.
We can trace the word “chestnut” back to "kastaneia",
which means "nut from Castana" – a town in Greece.
From here, our chestnuts trees were imported to the rest of Europe.
Roman soldiers used to roast them over an open fire,
or eat porridge out of them before they went into battle.
Eight… Nativity.
The word “Nativity” comes from the Latin word “nativus”,
meaning 'born'.
It’s thought the first Nativity scene
was created by Saint Francis of Assisi in 1223.
Mary and Joseph are usually placed on either side of the manger.
Then you have the shepherds.
And don’t forget the three kings. They’re traditionally added last.
Nine… reindeer.
Santa’s reindeer technically come from New York,
and a poem called A Visit from St Nicholas.
Rudolph is also American,
first appearing in a series of colouring books
promoting the Christmas goods of a department store.
His red nose was nearly removed,
as the store manager was concerned there’d be links drawn
between it and heavy drinking.
10… mistletoe.
The latter half of mistletoe evolved out of “tan” meaning “twig”.
The mistle part was another word for…
dung. Bird dung to be exact,
named as it is because mistletoe sprouted out of trees
wherever birds congregated.
Kissing under the bird poo twig
doesn’t really sound as romantic, does it?
11… mince pies.
Starting out as a large oblong,
mince pies were originally a mixture of suet, fruit, cinnamon,
cloves, nutmeg and…
meat.
Served around Christmas,
the mince pie evolved throughout the Victorian era,
with the meat eventually being removed.
12… mulled wine.
Created by the Romans
when they'd heat wine to defend their bodies against the cold winter,
mulled wine spread across their empire
and the regions they traded with.
Its popularity continued throughout the Middle Ages,
as we mixed heated wine with spices,
believing it would promote health and prevent sickness.
And what better drink to sit back and toast
to this world of culture and history we’ve surrounded ourselves with.
Merry Christmas, one and all!