THE X-MAS FILES...

     Sully, take a look at this...
     Just like all the other houses in the neighborhood.  A plate
with a few crumbs and an empty glass that may have held milk. 
What do you think it could mean, Moulder?
     It means we're too late again.  What I don't understand is:
how can this -- thing -- move between houses so quickly?  No one
ever gets a good look at it, just the evidence that it's been
there.  Only a precious few witnesses have gotten as much as a
glimpse of red fur.
     Silent...  Nearly invisible...  It could be incredibly
dangerous.  Especially that it never even disturbs the people
asleep in their beds.
     You mean, it knows when you've been sleeping?  It knows when
you're awake?
     Yes.  But we have no proof.  You know the kind of skeptics
we're up against.  If this gets out, they'll close the X-Mas
files.
     At least the thing hasn't hurt anyone yet -- except for
inspiring this cult-like behavior.  Look at the stockings hung by
the chimney with care.  Odd how people leave the same ritual
offerings and put up the same sort of strange decorations and
lights everywhere we go.
     Almost everywhere...  Remember, we didn't find anything at
the Cohen house.
     OK, except there.  But everywhere else the entity has left
gifts in exchange for the baked offerings.  Could they be some
kind of bribe to keep people quiet in case they've seen
something?  Maybe they are all in on it together.  After all, how
does the entity get into locked houses without any sign of entry? 
    It can't violate the laws of physics.  The only unsecured
entrance to this house is the opening of the fireplace chimney. 
It probably gets in from above.
     Look.  Is that some kind of paper by the fireplace?
     I hope you know what you're doing, Moulder.  There is an old
myth about a humanoid creature that could travel at high speeds
in a kind of sled.  According to the stories, it would appear
around the winter solstice to reward the good and threaten the
wicked by leaving them lumps of coal.
     You could be right.  This thing could be -- judging them --
according to its own weird standards.  Look at the heading of
this note: "People Who Are Nice."
     And check the names.  There doesn't seem to be any pattern
at all...   Jan Michalski, Paul Roser, Chuck Maray, Larry Sakar,
Jack & Sherrie Gervais, Kiyomi Kanazawa, Akiko Oshima, Jerry
Taff, Hiroe Sugiyama, Caterina Sukup, Joshua Brink, Bruce Gonzo,
Tim McChain, Peter Adler, Carol Becwar, Candice St. Jacques.  See
what I mean?  Moulder, I-
     Sh-h-h.  Do you hear what I hear?
     It's on the roof.  Many small sounds like tiny, drumming
hoofbeats.  What is that clatter?
     The truth is up there.  Let's see what's the matter.
     Have A Unexplained Christmas!

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XMAS
----
     When I was younger, a good many churches were seriously
upset about the modern use of Xmas instead of Christmas.  "Put
Christ Back In Christmas" was the campaign, apparently in the
belief that Xmas was some modern mutation designed by advertising
executives to save space in Xmas Sale ads.
     Actually, Xmas is far older and more traditional than most
people realize.  The Oxford English Dictionary gives references
to this abbreviation in common use as early as 1551.  And that's
only in English...  Xmas is derived from the original Greek
spelling of Christ's name, "krytos," which is spelled starting
with the letter "chi" that looks just like the Roman letter X. 
Church leaders often used X by itself as an abbreviation for
Christ in their letters, and Xmas derives from that.


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CHRISTMAS IN OCTOBER
--------------------
     Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ,
which makes the date we use pretty ironic.  The only thing we
really know about Christ's birthday is that we have the date
wrong.  Why?  Our only clear reference is the Bible, which
states, "There were in the same country shepherds abiding in
their field, keeping watch over their flock by night." (Luke 2:8)
     Shepherds were never foolish enough to keep their flocks out
at night in winter on the chilly mountain slopes.  Then as now,
shepherds in the Middle East are out in the hills only from about
April to October.  Some Bible scholars, combining the Bible
stories with another history written by Josephus came up with the
idea that Jesus was born six months after his cousin John, which
some scholars have dated to March.  That would point to September
or October as the most likely dates for Christmas.
     Another possible indicator to this is the tax angle.  Jesus'
parents, Mary and Joseph, were in Joe's hometown of Bethlehem to
be counted for tax purposes.  The Romans had their faults, but
they didn't get where they were by being stupes.  The Roman IRS
knew when everyone got paid, and that would have been around
harvest time, making that by far the best time to take their cut.
     We got the December date only when the early Christians
decided to try to compete with the celebrations of a popular
Roman religious cult of the time called Mithrasism.  That was
about 300 AD.  They were pretty successful at this, since the
worship of Mithras has died out everywhere (except California,
but you probably expected that...).


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THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS
------------------------
     The song popular song "12 Days of Christmas" has a bright
meter, colorful imagery and repeating verses.  It is one of the
best known Christmas songs, but, as with many traditional songs,
its origins are a little obscure.  For the past couple of years,
though, an article has been circulating around the Internet that
blows the cover story of this innocent-sounding Christmas tune.
     According to the story, the Twelve Days song is actually a
religious code put together by Catholics in England in the time
it was against the law to practice their religion in England
(1558-1829).  The various repeating lines are said to be a kind
of Catholic catechism; the two turtledoves are the Old and New
Testaments, six geese a-laying stand for the six days of creation
and the ten lords a-leaping are the Ten Commandments.  All the
other numbers and objects are given Biblical references as well.
     The story contains just enough fact to sound believable, but
it is still more fakelore than folklore.  Without going into too
much detail, this legend was made up by someone who was not
really familiar with either Catholic nor Anglican (Church of
England) traditions.  The difference between these religions is
almost exclusively political, and has very little to do with the
Bible or religious doctrine.  There would be no point for a
Catholic to memorize such a song because Bibles were always
available in England and, to this day, Catholics and Anglicans
use the same English Bible translation.  Christianity was not
suppressed in England.  But singing was, especially during the
rule of the Puritans under Oliver Cromwell.  The same Puritans
banned ANY celebration of Christmas, even by Anglicans.  Clearly
this wasn't a good time to be out caroling - that would surely
have branded you as one of "them."
     Best guess by serious history scholars is that the song was
imported from France.  At least three French versions of the song
are known and such repetition songs were popular party games in
France.  Not only that, the partridge, which features so
prominently in the song (and in the most repeated verse) was
unknown in England until at least the 1770's when it was first
imported (from France).  The first printed version in English
appeared a decade later in a children's book -- as a repetition
party game.


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RUDOLF THE DRUNKEN REINDEER?
---------------------------
     The Rudolf story has to be one of the least traditional of
traditional Christmas stories.  Unlike real legends, we know
exactly when and where this tale came into being: 1939 in
Christmas advertising for the Chicago-based Montgomery Ward
Department Store.  A popular gimmick of the time was for stores
to invent a cute Christmas story to be used in coloring books
that could be handed out as promotional giveaways.
     Borrowing heavily from The Ugly Duckling, copywriter Robert
L. May came up with the story of the outcast reindeer.  Looking
for name that sounded "right" in the pattern of Mickey Mouse or
Donald Duck, May first rejected Rollo because it sounded too
cheerful and carefree a name for the story of a misfit.  Reginald
was too British, so he finally settled on Rudolf.
     Considering how popular the story became later, it seems odd
that his bosses weren't all that happy with the red-nosed image. 
At the time, the red nose was comic book shorthand for drunk -
not the best image for a coloring book.  But red nose and all,
Rudolf was a hit and about 6 million coloring books based on the
character were distributed over the next seven years.  An
animated cartoon was released in 1947, which inspired May's
brother-in-law, songwriter Johnny Marks, to write the musical
version we know today.  The record made them all very rich,
selling two million copies in its first year.  Curiously, the
story in the song is somewhat different from the original 1939
tale.  A TV special was made using the Marks version in 1964,
which has been a popular Christmas favorite ever since.


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"WE, THREE KINGS OF ORIENT AREN'T..."
------------------------------------
     Long standing Christmas tradition has it that three kings
from the east presented the Christ child with presents of gold,
frankincense and myrrh.  Three presents, yes, three kings, no. 
The Bible only mentions that there were "wise men from the East"
who visited the family.  It never says how many and never
mentions that they were kings.  In addition, the Bible never says
that they visited on Christmas night, which, as we all know, is
bad form unless you call ahead.  One thing that suggests that the
three kings were more like the three pretenders is that
travelling kings of that age were always accompanied by a large
staff and supply wagon train.  Each king's family and staff could
easily have topped 600.  If the inns were crowded in Bethlehem
before, having nearly two thousand unexpected guests show up
would have been a disaster!


     [ Expanded from "EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG!" SUNFUN
     #84 of 03/22/1998. ]
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SANTA - THE CLAUS THAT REFRESHES?
--------------------------------
     Another Internet legend that seems to resurface each year is
that the Coca-Cola Company is responsible for our modern idea of
Santa Claus.  As evidence, the story points to the red and white
of Santa as being the same as Coke's company colors.  By the
standard, Santa could also have derived from the Firestone Tire
Company, Sara Lee Cakes or the American Flag.  But even Coca-
Cola's company historian believes the company influenced how we
imagine Santa.  Next I suppose we'll get an Internet legend that
the "real" Easter Bunny is that drumming rabbit from the
Energizer Battery folks.
     Most of the Santa legend predates Coca-Cola by more than a
few hundred years.  The one thing that does lend some credence to
the story is that our idea of what S. Claus looks like has
changed somewhat over the centuries.  In the famous poem "A Visit
From St. Nicholas"  (A.K.A. "Twas the Night Before
Christmas..."), Santa is described as "Clad all in fur from his
head to his foot."  And illustrations of that time based on the
poem tended to show a shorter, rounder "jolly old elf" clad in
brownish furs, something like a Munchkin in a bearskin.
     The real St. Nick was a 3rd century bishop of Myra, in
modern Asia Minor, who became famous for helping the poor,
especially the young.  It is pretty well known that Nick is the
patron saint of children.  Less well known is that he's also the
patron of pawnbrokers, longshoremen, sailors, maidens,
pharmacists and Russia.  The red coat and pointed hat are
probably derived from the red clothing and pointed hat
traditionally worn by bishops, but no one is completely sure. 
Certainly, the colors red and green have been associated with
Christmas for at least a thousand years.  Being a "winter," maybe
Santa just doesn't look good in green.  His feast day is December
6th, and his legendary gift giving merged with the ancient Roman
tradition of giving gifts at the winter solstice.
     The Dutch are largely responsible for bringing St. Nicholas
to the New World, even putting up a statue to him in their
settlement of New Amsterdam (later better known as New York
City).  The modern name is derived from Dutch as well, as the
attempts of later English settlers to pronounce the Dutch name
for Saint Nicholas, "Sinterklaas."  Somehow, the English speakers
mangled this into "Santa Claus."
     By the 1860's, political cartoonist Thomas Nast drew a
fairly modern-looking Santa for New York newspapers - preceding
Coca-Cola by more than two decades.  The move to the North Pole
was in 1869 in a poem by George P. Webster - possibly from Mary
Shelly's "Frankenstein," since that "remote and unknown" location
is also where the monster hid out.  (Santa and Frankenstein's
Monster are neighbors?!)  Anyway, by the 1870's, Santa was
appearing in department stores and on Christmas cards in the U.S. 
Then, in 1922, artist Norman Rockwell did a famous version of
Santa for the popular magazine, The Saturday Evening Post.
     Coca-Cola borrowed heavily from these earlier images for ads
staring in 1931.  Their use of Santa was intended to sell more
soda in winter; until then, Coke was thought of as only a summer
drink.  Coke's in-house artist, Haddon Sundblom, may be
responsible for making Santa a little larger and heavier than
before - looking pretty large and jolly himself, Sundblom
modelled his Santas in his own image.  But very similar Santas
were already quite well-known by the early 1900's, long before
Coke took over the image.
     You could say the story that Coke invented Santa for their
own advertising is just more Cokelore...  It's certainly not "the
real thing."


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     -----  WHAT EVER TRADITIONS YOU HAVE FOR CHRISTMAS,
              MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR
                    [ Or, Happy Christmas and
                    Merry New Year, for that
                    matter... ]
                   FROM THE SUNDAY FUNNIES

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