The Ultimate Christmas Quiz

The secular nature of Christmas was officially acknowledged in 1870, when the U.S. Congress made it a federal holiday.

Early Europeans marked the year's longest night -- the winter solstice -- as the beginning of longer days and the rebirth of the sun. They slaughtered livestock that couldn't be kept through the winter and feasted from late December through January.

In Rome, people celebrated the raucous festival of Saturnalia from Dec. 17 to Dec. 24 in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. Two other Roman festivals, Juvenalia, a feast in honor of Rome's children, and Mithras, a celebration in honor of the infant god Mithra, also fell around the solstice.

By the fourth century, the church decided that Christians needed a December holiday to rival solstice celebrations. Church leaders selected Dec. 25 for the Feast of the Nativity.

Early Christmas' proximity to Saturnalia resulted in the holiday absorbing some of the Roman festival's excesses. Christmas in the Middle Ages featured feasting, drinking, riotous behavior and caroling for money.

Religious puritans disapproved of such excess in the name of Christ and considered the holiday blasphemous. Oliver Cromwell went so far as to cancel Christmas when he seized control of England in 1645.

Stores began placing Christmas-themed ads in newspapers in 1820. By 1867, Macy's department store in New York City stayed open until midnight on Christmas Eve, allowing last-minute shoppers to make their purchases.

Boxing Day, on Dec. 26, began as a holiday for servants and other working people who had to serve through Christmas. As a reward, they were relieved of their duties the following day and given gifts by their employers.

Saint Francis of Assisi started this custom in 1223, believing a life-size staging of the crèche would make Jesus' story clear and accessible.

Chronographers reckoned that the world was created on the spring equinox and four days later, on March 25th, light was created. Since the existence of Jesus signaled the beginning of a new era, or new creation, the biblical chronographers assumed Jesus' conception would have also fallen on March 25th placing his birth in December, nine months later.