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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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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Despite most of modern communication taking place via texts, messaging via apps, and, for some old-fashioned traditionalists, e-mail, mailing physical Christmas cards remains a popular and beloved custom that continues to stand the test of time. Where and when did this tradition originate?
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A staple of Christmas, gingerbread houses can be as simple as two rectangles leaning on each other, to mansions recreating some of the world's most famous palaces. Gingerbread houses are a tradition for a reason. But why do we make houses out of gingerbread, instead of just eating it as a cookie?
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Where and when did the tale originate? Santa Claus, leaving lumps of coal instead of Christmas presents for naughty children? According to Mental Floss, the tradition predates Santa and is found in tales of several individuals.
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In many parts of Europe, Christmas celebrations include figures that are downright diabolical. Monsters, witches, and demons provide a chilling counterpoint to Santa, Rudolph, and Frosty. You better watch out because the most terrifying Christmas characters ever are coming to town.
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Aristotle's views on ethics, logic, and metaphysics have played a central role in Western thought, even today. It's easy to assume that Aristotle was pretty much right regarding just about everything. But that's a mistake. One critical weak point in Aristotle's philosophy: his perspective on women.
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At this stage of the science of dentistry, however, dentures were not so much artificial tooth replacements as they were real human teeth, set in ivory and placed in someone else's mouth, according to the BBC. Wealthy people even placed advertisements in papers for human teeth.
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During WWII, Allied soldiers caught by the Nazis became prisoners of war (POWs) and were placed into prison camps. Christmas brought secret tools for escape.
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Polyandry, when a woman takes two or more husbands, has been found in many cultures throughout history. In the 18th and 19th century, for instance, women in China ruled the roost and sometimes took more than one husband. Who knew the 1800s could be so progressive?
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Not as well-known, but possibly even more cruelly petty than any of these emperors -- if you can believe it -- was Marcus Aurelius Severus (not Snape) Antoninus Augustus, also called "Caracalla," after a type of cloak that he apparently designed.
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There are a whole bevy of holiday-themed ghouls, including an eye-catching subset of Christmas witches. These female figures run the gamut, from friendly grandmas to ogresses to wild, pre-Christian goddesses, many with roots in pagan practices. Here are the tales of several Christmas witches.
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The farm provided clothing for the family as well -- with a little improvising. Bulk purchases of flour and feed were delivered to farms in large cloth sacks, and savvy mothers soon realized they could stretch the family budget by repurposing the fabric into garments for their families.
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The Clotilda was America's last slave ship, setting sail in 1860. The ship picked up 110 Africans and made its way to Alabama, where all were sold into slavery. After emancipation, the survivors went on to form Africatown, which is still populated today. Here are the stories of some survivors.
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If consuls were horses, they would naturally be far more adept at these tasks. At least, maybe this is what Caligula believed, because, as History states, he made his favorite horse, Incitatus, a consul, and "gave the steed a marble stall, an ivory manger, a jeweled collar and even a house."
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It's no surprise that most American presidents have shared the White House with a dog, cat, or other animal friend.The presidency's unique challenges have made pets nearly a requirement for the job. Read on to learn more about the history of the animals that have made the White House a home.
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Most stewardesses began working around age 18-20. Seems young? You're right. Airlines preferred unmarried, childless stewardesses. The average age of tenured stewardesses was 32-35. The no-marriage rule was relaxed in 1957, though some airlines still required employees to be single and not pregnant.
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Batista was once seen as the perfect example of Brazil's status as a booming, successful country "that had seemed to successfully combine private enterprise with social justice and was riding high on surging commodities prices." How did Batista lose his entire $35 billion fortune in one year?
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"Ouija" is actually a brand name for a type of game called a "talking board" that grew in popularity, along with a rise in interest in spiritualism, after the Civil War. In the years following a conflict full of death, strife, and acrimony, it's understandable that people wanted resolution.
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The Roaring Twenties roared in part because of the proliferation of organized crime, and Capone had his rivals back in the day, in more ways than one. We're talking about the crime boss George "Bugs" Moran, born Adelard Cunin, whose life intertwined with Capone's in dangerous ways.
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Herman Melville's classic novel Moby Dick is an essential part of American literature and popular culture. One of the most riveting things about the novel is that it's based on a lot of true events. Here are some true events that inspired Melville's Moby Dick.
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These days, as long as the bank thinks you can pay off your debts, you can get a credit card. But it was a hard-fought battle to get to this point. And it wasn't just unmarried women who couldn't get credit cards; married women had to bring along a man when applying for one.
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