Interesting facts on common things | Division by Zero

Interesting facts on common things

Interesting facts on common things

Written by Division by Zero

Tuesday, 04 January 2011 09:12

It’s always interesting to know where common practices come from. Besides being interesting you can always use them to show off your knowledge or as a conversation starter. Here are some interesting origins on our common practices around Christmas and New Year’s.

Shaking hands
The short ritual of shaking hands originates from ancient Greek (as far as we know). It is a friendly gesture with an open hand to show that you aren’t carrying any weapons. It is used to depict trust and equality.

Praying with folded hands
This religious gesture mostly use by Christians probably comes from ancient Germanic warfare. If a soldier surrendered he used to sit down on his knees and keep his hands folded to show that he has no weapons and is unable to quickly reach for a weapon. This is a gesture of complete surrendering. This gesture is used in prayer as a sign of complete surrendering to God.

Why do we celebrate New Year’s on January 1st?
With Christmas the birth of Christ is celebrated. We celebrate this in December, but Jesus was probably born in spring or summer (since the Sheppard’s were in the open air at night). The 25th of December was the date of several winter festivals, for example the Roman winter solstice. With these festivals the turning point (the darkest day of the year) of the winter, the coming of new light, is celebrated. This image, Christ as the new light for humanity, is probably why this date was picked, besides it was easy to transform a date of celebration that already existed, to celebrate Christmas.
There are several reasons that we use January 1st as the beginning of the year. For one Julius Caesar made it the beginning of the year. Another reason is that January 1st is the date that Jesus could have been circumcised, since 25th of December is seen as his date of birth. Especially Eastern Orthodox Churches still celebrate the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ. With the circumcision the name (Yeshua) is given to a baby and this would be the first time that the blood of Christ was shed.

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