• dohpaz42@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    Wait. Are oranges as stocking stuffers based on something? I always thought my folks did it because oranges are healthy.

    TIL

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      9 days ago

      What I always heard is that it’s because oranges used to be seasonal: until the invention of reefers (refrigerated boxcars, not marijuana), they could only be shipped from Florida to the population centers up north without spoiling during the winter.

  • x00z@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    Isn’t the red Christmas outfit something Coca Cola came up with? So only since the 20th century? I think I’ve read the outfit was mostly green before that.

    • Tattorack@lemmy.world
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      9 days ago

      No, but it’s a myth so common basically everyone believes it to be true.

      The Santa we have today is an amalgamation of a few characters. The red outfit comes from Saint Nicolas. You can just look up “Saint Nicolas” and you’ll find many fairly old depictions of a Christian bishop-like character in red garments carrying a bag of gifts.

      • x00z@lemmy.world
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        9 days ago

        Interesting. I found it weird Santa looked so much like Saint Nicolas. Which we celebrate here.

        • oktoberpaard@feddit.nl
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          9 days ago

          The Dutch brought Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) to New Amsterdam, current day NYC, which has developed into Santa Claus as we know it know. Santa Claus is a phonetic derivation of Sinterklaas.

          Apparently he was depicted as a thick-bellied Dutch sailor with a pipe and a green outfit in Washington Irving’s History of New York book, so maybe that’s where you got that idea from.

          Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus