On This Day December 25th

 OTD 

December 25th is the 359th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 6 days remain until the end of the year.

 Events

274 – A temple to Sol Invictus is dedicated in Rome by Emperor Aurelian.

336 – First documentary sign of Christmas celebration in Rome.

800 – The coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor in Rome.

1492 – The carrack Santa María, commanded by Christopher Columbus, runs onto a reef off Haiti due to an improper watch.

1758 – Halley's Comet is sighted by Johann Georg Palitzsch, confirming Edmund Halley's prediction of its passage. This was the first passage of a comet predicted ahead of time.

1776 – George Washington and the Continental Army cross the Delaware River at night to attack Hessian forces serving Great Britain at Trenton, New Jersey, the next day.

1914 – A series of unofficial truces occur across the Western Front to celebrate Christmas.

1950 – The Stone of Scone, a traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, is taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students. It later turned up in Scotland on April 11, 1951.

1991 – Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as President of the Soviet Union (the union itself was dissolved the next day). Ukraine's referendum was finalized, and Ukraine officially left the Soviet Union.

2019 – Twenty people are killed, and thousands are left homeless by Typhoon Phanfone in the Philippines.

Birthdays

1493 – Antoinette de Bourbon, French noblewoman (d. 1583)

1642 (OS) – Isaac Newton, English physicist, and mathematician (d. 1726/1727)

1745 – Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Caribbean-French violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1799)

1821 – Clara Barton, American nurse and humanitarian, founder of the American Red Cross (d. 1912)

1878 – Louis Chevrolet, American race car driver and businessman, co-founded Chevrolet (d. 1941)

1887 – Conrad Hilton, American entrepreneur (d. 1979)

1907 – Cab Calloway, American singer-songwriter and bandleader (d. 1994)

1927 – Nellie Fox, American baseball player and coach (d. 1975)

1945 - Ian Fraser Kilmister (Lemmy), An English Musician and father of Heavy Metal Music (d 2015)

1946 – Jimmy Buffett, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (d. 2023)

1979 – Hyun Young-min, South Korean footballer

Holiday Spotlight

Mari Lwyd

  The earliest account of the Mari Lwyd festival dates from 1798, and the tradition became popular in South Wales in the 19th century. The Mari Lwyd is typically made up of a horse’s skull, decorated with colored ribbons, and fixed to the end of a wooden pole. Its eye sockets are often filled with green bottle-ends or colored material. White sheets are usually fastened to the base of the skull to conceal the pole, and the person carrying the Mari and the lower jaw is sometimes spring-loaded so that this person can snap it at passers-by.

 The celebration began at dusk and often lasted late into the night. During it, the skull is carried through the village streets by a party known as the merry men, who stand in front of every house and sing traditional songs. The singing sometimes consists of an improvised rhyme and verse contest between the Mari party and the house's inhabitants, explaining why they need to enter and gain access to the house if the occupant cannot counter their reason in song.

 The tradition began to decline in the 20th century partly due to the decrease in the number of Welsh Speakers and the increasing rowdiness and drunkenness associated with it – an unacceptable behavior, especially with the rise of the Chapel and Methodism in Wales. However, there has been a resurgence in the groups performing across Wales in recent years.

Other Include

A'Phabet Day or No "L" Day

Christmas 

Christmas Pudding Day 

National Pumpkin Pie Day

Quaid-e-Azam Day