Fear, Curiosity, and Desire: Exploring December 25 in History

In this video, we're going to explore some of the hidden gems of December 25 in history. From saints to snake handlers, there's definitely something for everyone on this holiday!

December 25th is a great day to celebrate all of the amazing things that have happened in history. From saints to snake handlers, there's something for everyone on this holiday! Watch this video to find out more about the hidden gems of December 25 in history:

337 Earliest possible date that Christmas was celebrated on Dec 25th
352 1st definite date Christmas was celebrated on Dec 25th
597 England adopts Julian calendar
1066 William the Conqueror is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey, completing the Norman conquest of England
1223 St Francis of Assisi assembles 1st Nativity scene (Greccio, Italy)
1492 Christopher Columbus' flagship the Santa María runs aground and sinks on the north coast of Hispaniola. The crew are left to found a colony as Columbus returns to Spain
1621 Governor William Bradford of Plymouth Colony (now in Massachusetts) forbids game playing on Christmas Day
1651 Massachusetts General Court ordered a five shilling fine for "observing any such day as Christmas"
1741 Astronomer Anders Celsius introduces Centigrade temperature scale
1760 Jupiter Hammon, an African American slave, composes poetry broadside "An Evening Thought" (1st poetry published by an African American 1761)
1776 American Revolutionary War: George Washington crosses the Delaware River into New Jersey, surprises and defeats 1,400 Hessians
1809 Physician Ephraim McDowell performs the first abdominal surgery in the U.S, an ovariotomy to remove a 22 lb ovarian tumor
1818 1st known Christmas carol ("Silent Night, Holy Night" - "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht) sung (Austria)
1818 Handel's "Messiah", premieres in the US in Boston, performed by The Handel & Haydn Society
1831 Louisiana & Arkansas are first states to observe Christmas as holiday
1837 Battle of Okeechobee - US forces defeat Seminole Indians
1843 1st theatre matinee (Olympic Theatre, NYC)
1868 Despite bitter opposition, US President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all persons involved in Southern rebellion (Civil War
1896 "Stars & Stripes Forever" written by John Philip Sousa
1914 Legendary "Christmas Truce" takes place on the battlefields of WWI between British and German troops. Instead of fighting, soldiers exchange gifts and play football
1926 Crown Prince Hirohito of Japan assumes the throne upon his father, Emperor Yoshihito's, death
1932 During King George V's Christmas dinner speech his chair collapses
1939 Montgomery Ward introduces Rudolph the 9th red-nosed reindeer
1962 "To Kill a Mockingbird", a film adaptation of the novel by Harper Lee, directed by Robert Mulligan and starring Gregory Peck, is released
1968 NASA Apollo 8 crew broadcast while orbiting the moon amd read passages from the Bible to celebrate Christmas
1973 The ARPANET crashes when a programming bug causes all ARPANET traffic to be routed through the server at Harvard University, causing the server to freeze
1973 1st pictures of a comet from space (Comet Kohoutek), taken by NASA astronauts Jerry Carr and William Pogue during a spacewalk from Skylab 4
1974 Marshall Fields drives a vehicle through the gates of the White House, resulting in a four-hour standoff
1977 Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meets Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in Egypt
1991 Mikhail Gorbachev formally resigns as President of USSR in a televised speech
1997 Jerry Seinfeld announces the final season of his TV show "Seinfeld" will air the following year
2004 Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005
2020 An RV detonates in downtown Nashville, Tennessee causing damage to people and property; prior to detonating, a recorded message playing from speakers warned anyone in earshot to evacuate prior to an explosion
2021 NASA's James Webb Space Telescope launched in joint effort with ESA (European Space Agency)