Hi, and welcome to fasab’s fascinating festive facts.
Everything on my blog this week is in Christmas mode including these tidbits of information that you may be able to work into the conversation if you are at a party or two this week.
Enjoy and have a very Merry Christmas.
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The traditional three colors of Christmas
are green, red, and gold.
Green has long been a symbol of life and rebirth;
red symbolizes the blood of Christ,
and gold represents light as well as wealth and royalty.
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The first printed reference to a
Christmas tree was in 1531 in Germany.
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Apparently seven out of ten British dogs
get Christmas gifts from their doting owners.
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A lot of people don’t like it,
but the abbreviation of ‘Xmas’ for
Christmas is not irreligious.
The first letter of the word Christ in Greek is chi,
which is identical to our X.
Xmas was originally an ecclesiastical abbreviation
that was used in tables and charts.
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Electric Christmas lights
were first used in 1854.
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Some people who were born on December 25
feel hard done by because they have to
make do with one present instead of two
and share their big day celebrations with everybody else.
Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island,
recognized the problem. When he died on December 4, 1894,
he willed his November 13 birthday to a friend
who disliked her own Christmas birthday
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Franklin Pierce was the first president to
decorate an official White House Christmas tree.
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Silent Night was written in 1818,
by Austrian priest Joseph Mohr.
He was told the day before Christmas
that the church organ was broken
and would not be repaired in time for Christmas Eve.
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Artificial Christmas trees
have outsold real ones since 1991.
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In the British armed forces it is traditional
that officers wait on the other ranks
and serve them their Christmas dinner.
This dates back to a custom from the Middle Ages.
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Long before mistletoe became a saucy ‘kiss encourager’,
it was considered to have magic powers.
It was said to have the ability to heal
wounds and increase fertility.
Celts hung mistletoe in their homes
in order to bring themselves good luck
and ward off evil spirits.
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Each year there are approximately 20,000
“rent-a-Santas” across the United States.
“Rent-a-Santas” usually undergo seasonal training
on how to maintain a jolly attitude
under pressure from the public.
They also receive practical advice,
such as not accepting money from parents
while children are looking and
avoiding garlic, onions, or beans for lunch.
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In Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea,
your age is measured not in years
but in how many Christmases you’ve lived through;
you’re not 20, you’re twenti krismas.
Rather less charmingly,
the Japanese expression to describe
single women over 25 years old is
kurisumasu keiki – left-over Christmas cake.
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Most of Santa’s reindeer have male-sounding names,
such as Blitzen, Comet, and Cupid.
However, male reindeers shed their antlers around Christmas,
so the reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh
are likely not male, but female – or castrati.
(I wonder if that is the origin of hanging balls
on a Christmas tree comes from?)
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The popular Christmas song “Jingle Bells”
was actually written for Thanksgiving.
The song was composed in 1857 by James Pierpont,
and was originally called “One Horse Open Sleigh”.
Today we have another ‘significant’ number, fourteen, so-called because of its use and the beliefs surrounding it.
Enjoy.
14 Fourteen
The number 14 seems to have some regal significance, particularly where these two Royals were concerned:
Louis XIV
ascended to the throne on May 14th, 1643 (1+6+4+3=14);
he was saved by Turenne at Blema in 1652 (1+6+5+2=14);
in accordance with an Edict of Charle V, he was declared major at 14 years and governed himself in 1661 (1+6+6+1=14);
he built the Hotel of the Invalids in 1670 (1+6+7+0=14);
he died in 1715 (1+7+1+5=14), at the age of 77 years old (7+7=14);
having reigned 72 years (7×2=14).
Louis XIV
England’s King Henry IV
was born 14 centuries, 14 decades and 14 years after the Christian era;
he came into the world on December 14th ;
he died on May 14th :
he lived 4 x 14 years, 14 weeks and 14 days.
England’s King Henry iv
Other stuff
The atomic number for Silicon is 14.
The approximate atomic weight of nitrogen 14.
There are fourteen ascending and downward days of the moon.
The fourteenth year is, for the man, the year of the puberty.
The fingers of each of the two hands are composed of fourteen phalanxes.
February 14th is Saint Valentine’s Day, a fact most men are not allowed to forget.
February 14th – St Valentine’s Day
In the Bible
There are fourteen generations from Abraham to David;
The fourteen epistles written by saint Paul, having on the whole 100 chapters and adding up 2335 verses;
With the return of Exile, after the rebuilding of the Temple, the Israelis celebrated the Passover the fourteenth day of the first month; (Ezr 6,19)
Jacob worked fourteen years for his uncle Laban in order to be able to marry his daughter Rachel, they had fourteen sons and grandsons; (Gn 29,15-30 and 46,22)
The sufferings of the Christ would have begun fourteen days before Passover to finish with his passion;
Every year, the celebration of the Easter is never done in the same date. At the fourth century after Jesus Christ, it was established that this major feast of the liturgical calendar would be celebrated the first Sunday following the 14th night of lunation of March;
In the Book of Enoch (not included in the Bible) it talks about the fourteen preferential trees which remain always green for all season of the year.
In legends
According to the Egyptian legend, the body of Osiris was cut into 14 pieces, 13 of which were found by Isis, the 14th, the penis, having been devoured by the fishes.
In Egypt, the Amenti, area westward of the Nile, where go the souls of deaths, was divided in 14 parts.
Among Greeks, the fourteen days “alcyonians” were the 7 days preceding and the 7 days following the solstice of winter. During this period, the sea was supposed calm so as to allow the “alcyons” to build their nest and to brood. The alcyons came from the Metamorphosis of Ceyx, son of the Star of the morning, Eosphéros (in Latin Lucifer) and his wife Alcyon, girl of Eole.
Fourteen also is:
The number of days in a fortnight;
In traditional British units of weight, the number of pounds in a stone;
A number supposedly ‘encoded’ in much of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach may have considered this number a sort of signature, since given A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc., then B + A + C + H = 14;
A common designation for the thirteenth floor in many buildings for superstitious reasons;
The number of lines in a sonnet;
The Number 14 airship by Alberto Santos Dumont that was used to test the aerodynamics of his 14-bis airplane;
The number of the French department Calvados;
A Storage server manufactured by IBM. It goes by name of “XIV” and is pronounced as the separate letters “X”, “I”, “V”;
The Piano Sonata No. 14, also known as Moonlight Sonata, is one of the most famous piano sonatas composed by Ludwig van Beethoven;
Age 14 is the earliest that the emancipation of minors can occur in the U.S.
Minimum age at which one can work in many U.S states. Some require parental consent while others don’t;
Minimum age at which one can work in most Australian states with parent’s consent;
Minimum age at which one can drive a vehicle in the U.S. with a driver’s license (with supervision of an adult over 18 years of age, and with a valid, unmarked driver’s license, and at least 365 days of experience driving an actual automobile);
The minimum age limit to drive a 50cc motorbike in Italy.
In Politics
The fourteenth President of the United States was Franklin Pierce (1804–1869) of the Democratic Party, who served from March 4th, 1853 to March 4th, 1857. His VP was William R. King (March 4th, 1853 to April 18th, 1853, when he died of tuberculosis only 45 days into office, the position being vacant from April 18th, 1853 to March 4th, 1857.)
Franklin Pierce 14th President of the United States of America
Then There Was The Fourteen Points
‘The Fourteen Points’ was a speech given by US President Woodrow Wilson to a joint session of Congress on January 8, 1918. It was the only explicit statement of war aims by any of the nations fighting in World War I, and was intended to assure the country that the Great War was being fought for a moral cause and for postwar peace in Europe.
President Woodrow Wilson
The Fourteen Points were:
There should be no secret alliances between countries;
Freedom of the seas in peace and war;
The reduction of trade barriers among nations;
The general reduction of armaments;
The adjustment of colonial claims in the interest of the inhabitants as well as of the colonial powers;
The evacuation of Russian territory and a welcome for its government to the society of nations;
The restoration of Belgian territories in Germany;
The evacuation of all French territory, including Alsace-Lorraine;
The readjustment of Italian boundaries along clearly recognizable lines of nationality;
Independence for various national groups in Austria-Hungary;
The restoration of the Balkan nations and free access to the sea for Serbia;
Protection for minorities in Turkey and the free passage of the ships of all nations through the Dardanelles;
Independence for Poland, including access to the sea;
A league of nations to protect “mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small nations alike.”
The Fourteen Points was accepted by France and Italy on November 1, 1918. Britain later signed off on all of the points except the freedom of the seas. The United Kingdom also wanted Germany to make reparation payments for the war, and thought that that should be added to the Fourteen Points.
The speech was delivered 10 months before the Armistice with Germany and became the basis for the terms of the German surrender, as negotiated at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. The Treaty of Versailles had little to do with the Fourteen Points and was never ratified by the U.S. Senate.
In aviation
In aviation the designation 14 has been used for several famous aircraft. Best known would be the Grumman F-14 Tomcat which entered the fleet in 1973, replacing the F-4 Phantom II. New variants were introduced in 1987 (the F-14B) and in 1990 (the F-14D).
An F-14A Tomcat over Iraq during Southern Watch
The designation has also appeared on Soviet/Russian aircraft, the most notable being the Antonov An-14 Pchelka, a utility transport introduced in 1966 and primarily used by the Soviet Air Force, Aeroflot, Afghan Air Force and East German Air Force. Production continued until 1972. Known as the “Little Bee”, it was a twin-engined light STOL utility transport first flown on 15 March 1958. Serial production started in 1966, and about 300 examples were built by the time production ended in 1972. A small number of An-14 are still in airworthy condition.
The Ilyushin Il-14 was a commercial and military personnel and cargo transport aircraft that entered service in 1954.
In space
Apollo 14, launched on January 31st, 1971, was the eighth manned mission in the Apollo program, and the third to land on the Moon. It was the last of the “H missions”, targeted landings with two-day stays on the Moon with two lunar EVAs, or moonwalks.
The astronauts were Commander Alan Shepard, Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa, and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell.
Shepard and Mitchell made their lunar landing on February 5th in the Fra Mauro formation (this had originally been the target of the aborted Apollo 13 mission).
They spent about 33 hours on the Moon, with Shepard famously hit two golf balls on the lunar surface with a makeshift club he had brought from Earth.
Apollo 14 landed in the Pacific Ocean on February 9.
And finally
Finally, the No. 14 chair is the most famous chair made by the Thonet chair company. Also known as the bistro chair, it was designed by Michael Thonet and introduced in 1859. It became one of the best-selling chairs ever made with some 50 million being sold between 1859 and 1930. Millions more have been sold since.
The famous and best selling No 14 chair
Movement 1 from Ludwig Van Beetoven’s famous Moonlight Sonata
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