Here’s some Holiday themed true or false trivia from all of us at Cancord. No peeking!
The Questions
- Christmas was illegal in puritan New England.
- The modern image of a fat, red-suited Santa Claus was invented by the Coca-Cola Company.
- The bones of the original Santa Claus, (St. Nicholas) are preserved in a church in Italy.
- NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) tracks Santa and his sleigh every year on radar.
- Rudolph has always been a part of Santa’s reindeer team.
The Answers
- TRUE – The Puritans were sticklers for details. And because the Bible does not actually indicate the exact anniversary of the Nativity, they reasoned that God must not have intended for it to be observed at all. So they banned its celebration. Between 1659 and 1681 it was actually a criminal offense, punishable by a fine of five shillings, to celebrate Christmas in Massachusetts.
- FALSE – In 1931 Coca-Cola commissioned the artist Haddon Sundblom to create images of Santa Claus drinking from a bottle of Coke. While the image became incredibly popular it’s not accurate to say that Sundblom actually invented it. Santa was already commonly being depicted as a fat, jolly, red-suited, long-bearded old man as early as 1885. But the claim remains today, even repeated as fact by Coca-Cola itself.
- TRUE – St. Nicholas was a fourth-century bishop who lived in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). Upon his death his bones were preserved in the town of Myra, but in 1087 these bones were stolen and moved to the town of Bari in Italy. They remain there to this day, located in the church of San Nicola.
- TRUE – They’ve been doing it since December 24th, 1955. In fact, it all began with a typo on a phone number in an ad produced by Sears that invited children to call Santa and check on his progress. However when the first excited child called in on that wrong number it rang the “red telephone” at the Continental Air Defense Command. She was answered by Colonel Shoup who was quick enough to realize some sort of phone error and sentimental enough to play along. That misprint spawned a tradition that is still
celebrated today. Visit the website at www.noradsanta.org - FALSE – Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was originally created for Montgomery Ward department stores as part of a promotional gimmick. They hired writer Robert L. May in 1939 to write a Christmas story to be given away to holiday shoppers. May’s brother-in-law, song-writer Johnny Marks liked the story so much he decided to write a song to go with it. The song “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was recorded in 1949 by Gene Autry. To this day the original reindeers remain in the shadow of Rudolph’s nose.
Cancord has been manufacturing rope since 1880, so once again Happy Holidays from all of us here. May your days be filled with wonder and joy!
