The history of how nutmeg came to be a staple in our kitchens is not really in line with the whole "Peace on Earth, good will to men" business we like to tell ourselves. The notions of reunion, comfort, and human connection we now get from a hint of nutmeg actually came at a terrible human cost.
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All in all, being a president has to be rough, and some of the rules surrounding the job make it even more so. At least the silly rules end when a president's time in office is up, right? Actually, only some of them do.
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The legacy of Jefferson Davis is tarnished by his tenure as president of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War and indictment for treason.
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The Yule Goat can fly, and it often carries Santa on his yearly journey to deliver his sack of goodies around the world.
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The city, founded in 315 BCE and named after Alexander the Great's half-sister Thessaloniki, was a major thoroughfare in the Macedonian Empire, and became a center of trade between east and west under the Byzantine Empire.
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At this point, our popular consciousness dictates that dolls are nightmare fuel rather than quaint, collectible children's toys from a pre-digital era.
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The St. Valentine's Day Massacre remains an unsolved gang hit. While most fingers pointed to Al Capone, that's not the entirety of the story.
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Santa could just as easily have used horses or some other speedy creature, but reindeer have become an important part of the jolly saint's modern-day image.
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Despite its long affiliation with the Christian holiday of Christmas, the Yule log actually has its roots in pagan Norse mythology. The tradition originated in Scandinavia, then spread to the Celtic Brits and Gaelic Europeans, who believed that burning a yule log would bring good luck.
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President Franklin Roosevelt was reportedly concerned that his administrations' records would be lost, destroyed, or sold, which had been the case for past presidents. He also wanted a place in which to write his memoirs and to "burnish his image as a defender of democracy."
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Duke Kahanamoku is considered the father of modern surfing. He was not just a surfer. He was also an Olympic-level swimmer who broke records for his time and earned three gold medals and two silver. He also appeared in films and became a life-long ambassador of surfing and Hawaii.
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Celebrating the Christmas holiday was actually banned in Massachusetts from 1659 through 1681, per Time magazine. Early American Life magazine notes that Puritans "abhorred the excesses of church celebrations" and saw Christmas as just another day on which to work hard in the name of Lord.
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As with most holidays, Christmas is rife with symbols that we take for granted, but of course there is lots of rich history behind them. Just like Christmas trees, candy canes, and mall Santas, the tradition of hanging wreaths had to start somewhere, and exactly where kind of depends on who you ask.
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"Jingle Bells" is a favorite everywhere, from Christmas radio stations to seasonal concerts, as a cheerful holiday melody that everyone can sing along to. But it was never originally intended to have any connection to Christmas at all.
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People used to put candles on their Christmas trees, explained Popular Mechanics. The tradition was brought to England by Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband, who grew up in Germany. A magazine published an illustration of the Queen's family gathered around a tree with candles adorning it.
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Hanging decorated stockings by the fireplace, with the hope that Santa Claus will fill them with treats, is a popular tradition. In 1823, the practice was commemorated in song with the publication of the famous poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas," better known today as "The Night Before Christmas."
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One theory posits that employers distributed "Christmas boxes" full of gifts, money, and leftovers from their holiday feasts to their servants on December 26, as the servants would have worked on Christmas Day. The boxes were the 1800s' version of holiday bonuses.
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Santa Claus at the top of the world in a winter wonderland. His workshop bustles in the Arctic Circle while his helpers pump out toys for billions of kids. But the North Pole at the top of the world isn't the only place that Santa calls home. You can find the jolly saint in several different places.
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In a common sense way, it's understandable why ancient people would have used snow to craft a human figure, or even just play with (if they weren't trying to avoid freezing to death, that is). After all, cave paintings, tribal figurines, and hand-hewn statues all depict the human form.
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Thousands of old men would impersonate our altered vision of what St. Nick looked like and sit in shopping malls to let countless children sit in their laps to ask if they're real. That last one is a Christmas staple these days, but exactly how did it get its start?
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The National Confectioners Association reports that candy canes are the most popular non-chocolate candy during December, with 90 percent of them sold between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This comes to 1.76 billion candy canes produced in the United States each year. But where did they originate?
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Where did these staunch Christmas helpers come from? Why exactly does an immortal, bearded man with a magic, toy-spawning bag of holding need slave elves to manufacture said toys before the toys are teleported into said bag? This (and other yuletide mysteries of the ages) clearly needs unraveling.
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The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, holding more than 162 million assets in its collections. Here are some of its secrets.
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When we see the cartons of eggnog on grocery store shelves or the bottles of Very Olde Saint Nick at the liquor store, it might trick us into thinking the drink is a modern beverage, but, in truth, eggnog has several centuries worth of history. Check it out.
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Today, Hawaii celebrates most holidays like the rest of the U.S., but there are differences. Here's what it's really like to celebrate Christmas in Hawaii.
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In 1863, Nast drew a popular advertisement for Harper's Weekly magazine that depicted Santa Claus delivering gifts (and copies of Harper's) to Union Army soldiers. Nast later produced annual Christmas drawings, one of which indicated that Santa could be reached via mail addressed to the North Pole.
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Imagine being stuck under a parasitic plant with someone, and the only way out is to kiss them. It honestly sounds like a nightmare, and yet it's a Christmas tradition some people somehow enjoy -- mistletoe, the hemiparasitic plant in question, is an essential part of the holiday.
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