万万没想到，庆祝圣诞在美国曾是违法的！

Though Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, there is no mention of December 25 in the Bible. Most historians actually believe Jesus was born in the spring, not the winter. And his birthday itself didn't become the official holiday until the third century. Some historian posit that the date was actually chosen because it coincided with the pagan festival of Saturnalia, which honored the agricultural god Saturn with celebrating and gift-giving. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

圣诞原本是一个宗教性质的节日，但其实早期的基督教并没有圣诞节，圣经上也没有与12月25日相关的任何记载，后来基督教徒为了纪念耶稣降生，创造了这个节日并且广为流传。为什么要选在12月25日？有历史学家指出可能是受到异教农神节的影响，过去人们会在这一天欢庆佳节并且赠送礼物。

Craving a Coke yet? Give it a second. According to Coca-Cola, Santa used to look a lot less jolly —— even spooky. Go ahead, Google early images of Santa. We'll wait. It wasn't until the beverage company hired an illustrator named Haddon Sundblom in 1931 to create images of Santa for magazine advertisements that we got the warm and friendly Santa we know today. Now, kids wouldn't fear interrupting Santa's nightly work.

如今的圣诞节早已被商业化为一个世界共享的节日，一进入十二月，比牛姐神曲更随处可见的就是这个头戴红色圣诞帽的慈祥老人。如此高的人气，圣诞老人恐怕需要得和可口可乐公司说一句谢谢。因为原本的圣诞老人形象并没有像现在这般“友好”，反而有些可怖。直到1931年，可口可乐公司专门请插画家，才设计出了现在这个亲切慈祥的圣诞老人形象。不知道那些和圣诞老人合影被吓哭的孩子，是不是因为曾见过他的原貌呢？

Turns out, we didn't originally go dashing through the snow for just Christmas. James Lord Pierpont wrote a song called "One Horse Open Sleigh" and performed it at his church's Thanksgiving concert originally. Then in 1857, the song was re-published under the title it still holds today, and it eventually became one of the most popular Christmas songs.

“叮叮当,叮叮当, 铃儿响叮当……”听到这首歌是不是感觉圣诞气息立马迎面而来？其实，这首歌原本是属于感恩节的！作者James Lord Pierpont为教堂的感恩节表演创作了这样一首儿童歌曲。1857年时，这首歌重新公开发表，并且流传至今，成为最经典的圣诞歌曲之一。

By the time the Puritans settled Boston, celebrating Christmas was outlawed. Talk about missing the Christmas spirit! From 1659 to 1681, anyone caught making merry would face a fine for celebrating the once-pagan day. And after the Revolutionary War, the new Congress found the day so unimportant that they even held the first session on December 25, 1789. Christmas wasn't proclaimed a federal holiday for nearly another century, proving that the Grinch's notorious hatred of the holiday was alive and well long before he was.

庆祝圣诞节曾是犯法的？在清教徒刚移民到波士顿的时期，为了禁止人们延续这项欧洲“陋习”，甚至在1659年通过了一项正式法律，禁止人们以任何方式庆祝圣诞节。直到独立战争之后，人们对圣诞节的反感才随着时间逐渐消失。之后又经历了快一个世纪，圣诞节才正式被认定为联邦法定节假日。

Think "Xmas" is an edgy, relatively new way to abbreviate Christmas, or a secular attempt to take the Christ out of Christmas? Think again. According to From Adam's Apple to Xmas: An Essential Vocabulary Guide for the Politically Correct, the word "Christianity" was spelled "Xianity" as far back as 1100. X, or Chi, in Greek is the first letter of "Christ" and served as a symbolic stand-in. In 1551, the holiday was called "Xtemmas" but eventually shortened to "Xmas." So really, Xmas is just as Christian as the longer version.

我们都知道圣诞节在英语中是Christmas，除此之外，还能在各种社交平台、广告宣传、礼品包装上都能看到Xmas的写法。这是因为圣经的原文是用希腊文写成的，X是希腊语中“Christ”的首字母，圣诞节Chiristmas也就被代写为Xmas。在东亚很多地区，人们误以为X是Christ的缩写，或者需要重读，必须要加上代表缩写/重读的一撇，写作X'mas，其实这是画蛇添足哦！

Some families cook up a turkey for Christmas dinner, others go for ham, and still more go rogue and stick a leg of lamb or another protein in the oven. For the most prevalent meat, just ask Google: Searches for "ham" and "turkey" both spike during the month of December, according to Google Trends data. Despite the popularity of both festive entrees, spiral-cut ham remains the more popular choice for a Christmas table. The jury's still out on whether people prefer ham or turkey sandwiches the day after, though.

一说到圣诞节大餐，想必大家的脑海中就会瞬间浮现出一只色泽金黄的烤火鸡。但这或许只是一个关于圣诞节的小小刻板印象，据谷歌数据显示，其实火腿才是更受大家欢迎的圣诞大餐主菜。由于圣诞当晚的剩菜大部分会被用来做成第二天的三明治，所以火腿的胜利会不会是因为大家更喜欢吃火腿三明治呢？

你是一个认真过圣诞的节日派吗？

你过/不过圣诞的理由是什么？

欢迎大家留言分享。