December 27th History, Trivia, and Fun FactsTable of Contents |
December 27th History Highlights |
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December 27th is… |
Make Cut Out Snowflakes Day National Fruitcake Day Visit The Zoo Day |
How Fruitcake Became A Christmas Staple |
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Christmas? A lot of people say “fruitcake.” But how did fruitcake become a Christmas staple? It actually has roots in England, but it didn’t originate there. The Romans were making this cake called “satura” which was made up of pine nuts, barley mash, pomegranate seeds, raisins and honeyed wine. They shaped it into a cake and wrapped it with fig leaves. It was considered a very festive food and because it lasted for so long without going bad, the Roman soldiers would bring it to the battlefields as a snack. After the Romans conquered England, they brought their love of fruitcake with them. The English started calling it “frumenty” and would make it during Advent. It consisted of beef broth, currants, and wine. It was easy to make because it didn’t require very many ingredients or tools, but people also enjoyed eating it on Christmas Eve as a snack that night. Fruitcake had become popular by the time Queen Elizabeth I took over England in 1558. Still made with beef bouillon at first, her chef started adding dried fruits, nuts, and spices to the recipe. It became a big hit with the English and they started calling it “Christmas pie.” The next major step in fruitcake’s history was when the Pilgrims came over to America in 1620. They brought their love of Christmas pies with them and adapted the recipe to include native ingredients like cranberries and pumpkins. It wasn’t until the 1800s that fruitcake became popular in America. People would send them to each other as gifts during the Christmas season. And the rest, as they say, is history! |
December 27th Birthday Quotes |
“I am on the edge of mysteries and the veil is getting thinner and thinner.” “Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight; always to try to be a little kinder than is necessary?” “I am utterly convinced that Science and Peace will triumph over Ignorance and War, that nations will eventually unite not to destroy but to edify, and that the future will belong to those who have done the most for the sake of suffering humanity.” “There is a gigantic difference between earning a great deal of money and being rich.” “What motivates me is seeing people in the crowd and wondering what they’re going home to and what they’re dealing with, and knowing that for the time being, we’re their escape.” “It was an ongoing struggle to say no, I don’t want to be a part of the perpetuation of this stereotype.” “Superstitions are habits rather than beliefs.” “Sometimes it takes a good fall to really know where you stand.” “At twenty you have many desires which hide the truth, but beyond forty there are only real and fragile truths – your abilities and your failings.” “I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses.” |
December 27th Birthdays |
1571 – Johannes Kepler, German mathematician, and astronomer (died in 1630) 1822 – Louis Pasteur, French chemist, and microbiologist, invented Pasteurization (died in 1895) 1901 – Marlene Dietrich, German-American actress (died in 1992) 1926 – Lee Salk, American child psychologist (died in 1992) 1939 – John Amos, American actor 1943 – Cokie Roberts, American journalist 1944 – Mick Jones, English guitarist, and songwriter 1948 – Gérard Depardieu, French-Russian actor 1960 – Maryam d’Abo, English actress 1969 – Chyna, American professional wrestler, and actress (died in 2016) 1971 – Savannah Guthrie, American television journalist 1975 – Heather O’Rourke, American actress (died in 1988) 1987 – Lily Cole, English model 1988 – Hayley Williams, American singer-songwriter 1993 – Olivia Cooke, English actress |
December 27th History |
1831 – Charles Darwin set sail in the HMS Beagle, beginning his journey discovering evolution. 1895 – “Stag” Lee Sheldon killed his friend Billy Lyons over a drunken political argument. Various versions of the encounter have been sung about “Stagger Lee.” 1904 – Duke of York’s Theatre – Peter Pan the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up (Play), by J.M. Barrie, opened on December 27, 1904 1927 – Show Boat, considered to be the first American musical play, opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway. 1932 – Built during the Great Depression, Radio City Music Hall, a modern Art Deco theater in New York City, opened. 1952 – #1 Hit December 27, 1952 – January 9, 1953: Jimmy Boyd – I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus 1969 – #1 Hit December 27, 1969 – January 2, 1970: Diana Ross & the Supremes – Someday We’ll Be Together 1975 – #1 Hit December 27, 1975 – January 2, 1976: The Staple Singers – Let’s Do It Again 1979 – Knots Landing premiered on CBS 1983 – Pope John Paul II visited Mehmet Ali Agca in prison and personally forgave him for shooting him in 1981, in St. Peter’s Square. 1986 – Brighton Beach Memories debuted in theaters. 1991 – Fried Green Tomatoes and The Prince of Tides were released in theaters. 2002 – Chicago debuted in theaters. |
Today’s Random Trivia and Shower Thoughts |
Biggest film of 2012: The Avengers (Action) earned ~ $623,000,000 (in the USA) “Oh, no, it wasn’t the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast.” – Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) in King Kong, 1933 Boy George – Real Name: George O’Dowd Watching the Big Bang would have been like seeing a clown car for the first time. “There’s NO WAY anything else is coming out of there!” #nerdhumor The official nut of Alabama is the pecan. The Hatfield-McCoy Feud was settled by the doctrine that possession is nine-tenths of the law, giving possession of the pig that the McCoys claimed was their property. Notice the big letter on the face of the dollar bill? Each letter represents which Federal Reserve Bank printed it! “K” is for Dallas Charles Darwin collected a Galápagos tortoise during his 1835 visit to the Galápagos Islands as part of his round-the-world survey expedition. It lived 175 years and died of heart failure at the Australia Zoo in 2006. A group of Jellyfish is called a Smack or Brood. The biggest film of 2011: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II (Action/Adventure) earned ~ $381,000,000 “Wake up late for school man, ya don’t wanna go…” #songlyrics The Noid, Domino’s 80’s Pizza mascot, was retired after a paranoid schizophrenic named Kenneth Lamar Noid entered a Domino’s Pizza in Atlanta and held two employees hostage at gunpoint. He believed the commercials were making fun of him. |
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