Christmas Fun Facts: Origin of Fruit Cake and More
During early period, fire accidents were common, while setting up Christmas trees, as they lit candles, but with the invention of light, the accident rate have decreased drastically.
Brian Earl, a Silicon Valley resident has hosted the popular Christmas Past Podcast, since 2018, he tells delicious tales of the meaning behind the Christmas traditions to the worldwide audience. Here the 5 fun facts from Earl.
1. Fruit cakes Dates back to Romans
Roman soldiers heading towards battle, consisting of barley mash, pomegranate seeds, raisins and pine nuts, formed into a cake shape.
2. The first store Santa Claus appeared in 1890
Though numerous associate in-store Santas with Macy's and Miracle on 34th street, it was James Edgar, owner of the Edgar's Department store in Brockton, Mass, who started making appearance in his store dressed as Santa starting in 1890.
3. Christmas tree were lit with Candles
Earl dedicates a chapter to Christmas lights, recounting how people would illuminate trees with candles, a tradition some credit to Martin Luther but in reality started nearly a century after his death, closer to the 1600s.
Christmas tree fires were very common in fact, few insurers would not cover them.
Everything changed during early 1880s, Thomas Edison's invention of the lightbulb slowly changed the way people lit their trees.
4. Gift Wraps were created accidently
During 1917, two brothers who were running a stationery store in Kansas City, ran out of the tissue paper used to wrap the gifts. In looking for a quick substitute, one brother grabbed few brightly colored paper sheets imported from France, that they have planned on using as the inner linings of their envelopes. Earl writes, he priced the sheets at 10 cents a pop and to their surprise, the stuff just flew of the shelves.
5. Snow Globe was born by accident in Austria
Earl traces the history of the snow globe to Austrian man Erwin Perzy, who created and also sold surgical instruments. In trying to make a better lightbulb for operating rooms. Perzy crushed glass into a fine glitter. Earl writes "creating thousands and thousands of tiny reflectors" in a globe full of water made to amplify the light.