Origins are often Lost but Methods Persist

The Origin of the Military Specification

The US Standard railroad gauge (distance between rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and the first U.S. railroads were built by English expatriates.

Why did the English people build them like that? Because the first rail lines in Europe were designed and built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

Why did "they" use that gauge then? Because the people who designed and built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing.

Okay, why did the wagons use that odd wheel spacing? Well, when they tried to use any other spacing, the wagons were prone to breaking down on some of the old, long distance roads, because that's the spacing of the old wheel ruts.

So who built these old rutted roads? The first long distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts? The initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagons, were first made by Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were all made to certain specifications for or by Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.

Thus, we have the answer to the original questions. The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from the original specification (Military, as it were) for an Imperial Roman army war chariot.

But one "nagging" question still remains. Why did the design of the Roman army war chariots incorporate that specific wheelbase? Answer: Because the chariots were designed to be just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war horses.

How much do you really know about Christmas?

You hear about it pretty much nonstop from Thanksgiving through New Year's, but how much do you really know about Christmas?

If you're like most people, you put up a tree without having any idea why, send out a batch of Christmas cards, sing the first verse of "Jingle Bells" and call it a holiday.

But there's a story behind the story of Rudolph with the bright nose. And wouldn't it be nice to impress everyone at the office holiday party with your extensive knowledge about the origins of Christmas cards?

Here's our holiday cheat sheet. What follows is a compendium of Christmas history, trivia and lore - fun facts that will make you the hit of every Christmas party and reindeer game from here to the North Pole.

(Janet Burkitt, Seattle Times)

SANTA CLAUS

Yes, Virginia, there is a St. Nicholas. Or rather, was. St. Nicholas of Myra was a real person - a Christian bishop born in Asia Minor around 280 A.D. After his death, he became associated with gift giving, and he was traditionally depicted on a white horse, bringing presents to good children on Dec. 6, St. Nicholas' Day. Not to be confused with . . .

Father Christmas, a jolly character popular in Britain. Father Christmas likely developed from pagan characters, not St. Nicholas.

Since Santa is so elusive, no one knows for sure what he really looks like. But we can thank Thomas Nast, Clement Moore and Coca-Cola for our modern image of Santa Claus.

Moore, a university professor, wrote "A Visit from St. Nicholas" - often called by its first line, "Twas the Night Before Christmas" - as a poem for his children in 1822. It soon became famous across the U.S. (Editor's Note: Scholars continue to debate whether Clement Clarke Moore or Major Henry Livingston Jr. wrote this classic poem. Thanks to Alan C. for the link.)

Based on Moore's description, Thomas Nast drew illustrations of Santa for Harper's Weekly in the 1860s, portraying him as a jolly, rotund old elf with a bushy beard and fur-trimmed suit. And the rosy-cheeked man we now know as Santa was created for an ad for Coca-Cola.

TREES

Origins: The ancient Romans decorated trees with small pieces of metal during Saturnalia, a winter festival honoring the god of agriculture. During the Middle Ages, people decorated evergreen trees with apples during the feast of Adam and Eve, on Dec. 24.

There are varying accounts of who put up the first Christmas tree in America. Some German families in Pennsylvania were decorating Christmas trees by the 1820s, though it was not a common practice for years. Before 1900, one in five American families had a decorated tree at Christmas.

Lights: One of Thomas Edison's inventors wrapped small electric bulbs in red, white and blue crepe paper and strung them on a Christmas tree, creating what many say were the first Christmas tree lights. President Grover Cleveland soon had lights put on the White House Christmas tree, though it was years before they were widely used, both because of their cost and the mistrust many people had for electric lights.

Vocabulary

Wassail: A strong ale drink with spices, often including nutmeg, honey and ginger. The word comes from the old Anglo Saxon "Waes hael" or "Be well."

Xmas: In this abbreviation, 'X" represents the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of Christ's name in Greek. The term was used by early Christians, but as centuries passed and fewer people understood Greek, people believed the word was disrespectful.

Carols: This word probably comes from the ancient Greek chorus, which means a circular dance. The singing of Christmas carols was banned in England by Oliver Cromwell during the mid-1600s, because he believed the holiday should be a solemn occasion.

BY THE NUMBERS

Nine Reindeer: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen and Rudolph.

And yes, it's Donder, not Donner - at least according to Louisville, Ky., lawyer Donald Heavrin. Heavrin is so bent on getting the word out about the reindeer name that he's founded a national society devoted to correcting the alleged misnomer.

Many blame Gene Autry for the confusion, since he sang "Donner" when he recorded "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" around 1950. Also, "Donner" and "Blitzen" are thunder and lightning in German. But "Donder" is thunder in Dutch, Donder advocates say. And Heavrin has pointed to his copy of an original handwritten version of "A Visit from St. Nicholas," which says Donder.

Rudolph, by the way, was the brainchild of a Montgomery Ward's ad man, who wrote a poem for a store promotion in 1939 about one of Santa's deer with a bright red nose. He first thought of "Rollo," then "Reginald" for names, but it was decided that neither had the right ring.

Twelfth Night: The traditional end of Christmas is Jan. 6., the date of Epiphany. It marks when Jesus was visited by . . .

The Three Kings of Orient: Melchior, Balthazar and Caspar (or Gaspar) aren't mentioned in the Bible by name. They aren't called kings, either, but rather, wise men.

SYMBOLS/CUSTOMS

Yule Log: This Christmas custom is likely rooted in pagan practices. The Celts are believed to have lit bonfires to commemorate the return of the sun. As kindling, they used a carefully chosen log, which they blessed. It is said that a piece of the log was often kept to light the next year's fire.

Chimney, stockings: According to legend, St. Nicholas once met a poor man who could not afford dowries for his three daughters. He worried that if his daughters couldn't marry, he would have to sell them into slavery or prostitution. Nicholas wanted to help, without being showy. So he threw three bags of gold into a window of the man's house. (In some versions of the story, Nicholas throws the bags down the chimney.) They landed in freshly washed stockings that had been hung by the chimney to dry.

Christmas cards: Their invention was not part of some conspiracy to give you more things to do than you can possibly manage, but rather a conspiracy to give the postal system more to do. An Englishman named Sir Henry Cole is often recognized as the brains behind the mass-produced Christmas card. In 1843, he asked an artist friend to design a card, both to save himself time in writing Christmas letters and to encourage the expansion of the British postal service.

Sources: "The Christmas Almanack" by Gerard and Patricia Del Re, The National Archives and Records Administration, "Christmas Customs Around the World" by Herbert Wernecke, the University of Illinois Extension, "The Time-Life Book of Christmas."

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