The Craziest Things That Happened On Christmas Day Throughout History

Although some people associate December 25th with Christmas, there are so many different things that have happened on December 25th throughout history, some associated with Christmas and some having very little to do with it. With other events, it's unclear whether or not December 25th was deliberately chosen.

The first recorded celebration of Christmas occurred in the year 336 AD, but at that point it wasn't an official Roman state festival yet. At the time, Saturnalia was also celebrated around the same time, and as Christianity grew in popularity, the two celebrations were unified to make things easier. And within 2,000 years, almost every printed calendar started denoting December 25th as "Christmas."

And while Christians celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ on December 25th, as time passed the day accumulated more and more anniversaries of births, deaths, unifications, operations, pardons, and resignations. As a result, December 25th holds meaning for millions around the world, regardless of whether or not they have a Christian faith. These are some of the craziest things that happened on Christmas Day throughout history.

Harry T. Moore and Harriette V. S. Moore were some of the first activists of the Civil Rights movement to be assassinated in the United States. On the night of December 25th, 1951, a bomb exploded in the Moore's house at 10:20 PM in Mims, Florida. Harry died later that night while Harriette died nine days later at the same hospital. According to The Florida Historical Society, the explosion was so loud that it was heard in Titusville, almost five miles away.

After the attack, ambulances refused to transport a Black person, so relatives drove Harriette and Harry 30 miles to Sanford in order to reach the closest hospital that didn't reject Black patients. Despite the fact that multiple investigations concluded that the bombing was committed by the KKK, the murderers have never been identified or arrested. Harry had long been a target, ever since he started working to register Black voters in the 1930s and later turned his attention to "fighting injustice in lynching cases," of which Florida had the most per capita compared to any other state at the time.

According to Equal Justice Initiative, five years later on Christmas Day, 1956, the KKK bombed the home of Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, another Civil Rights leader. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured, but white supremacists tried to murder Shuttlesworth at least four more times over the course of his life.

Although Halley's Comet has been repeatedly spotted throughout history, at first people thought that they were seeing a different comet each time. It wasn't until 1696, when Edmond Halley studied the sightings in 1531, 1607, and 1682, that he realized that it was the same comet coming back again. With this data, Halley predicted that the comet was visible from earth every 75-76 years and would return in 1758.

And according to "The Story of Halley and His Comet" by R.E. Wilson, on December 25th, 1758, Halley was proven right when the comet was once more spotted by the German peasant and amateur astronomer Johann Georg Palitzsch. Not only was this the first instance of the comet being accurately predicted, but it was also the first time that "any object other than a planet had been shown to orbit the sun." Halley had also come to his prediction with the help of Newton and his laws of motion, and as a result, the prediction became "one of the first successful confirmations of Newtonian physics."

Although Halley died in 1742 and didn't live to see his comet return, in honor of his accurate prediction the comet was named after him in 1759.

Up until 1000 AD, Hungary primarily comprised principalities that were constantly warring with the Germans, Bulgarians, and the Byzantine Empire. But by the mid-900s, as a tepid peace began to spread between Hungary, the Germans, and Byzantium, Christianity also began to flourish as missionaries arrived from Germany.

And according to Encyclopedia Britannica, on Christmas Day in 1000 AD, Stephen I, also written István, was ordained king of Hungary. This is considered by many to be the first formalization of the Hungarian empire. After applying to Pope Sylvester II, King Stephen received the "Holy Crown of Hungary" from the papacy, affirming Hungary as a Christian kingdom. Pope Sylvester II also "extended paper protection to Hungary" while King Stephen converted his people to Christianity. Making mandatory the construction of churches, Stephen "treated the church as the principal pillar of his authority."

Stephen I went on to be canonized in 1083, 45 years after his death, and is recognized as the patron saint of Hungary. King Stephen's son Emeric, who had died in 1031, was also canonized at the same time as his father. Although King Stephen dissolved the various tribes as individual units and maintained a certain peace with foreign countries, "the fundamental social stratification [of Hungary] was not altered" and the system organized by Stephen I remained the foundation for Hungary's social and political structure for centuries.

Although Abraham Lincoln had granted over 60 pardons during his presidency, Congress had believed that his initial plan for reconstruction and amnesty was too lenient. But after the Civil War ended and Lincoln was assassinated, President Andrew Johnson soon issued a Proclamation of Pardon and Amnesty, absolving many Confederate soldiers for their activities during the war. However, many Confederate officers such as those "indicted for treason and those owning more than $20,000 worth of property in 1860 had to compose a pardon petition" and apply to Washington, D.C. directly.

By June 5th, 1866, President Johnson had issued over 12,000 pardons. According to Pardon and amnesty during the Civil War and Reconstruction by Jonathan Truman Dorris, many of the special pardons issued to Missouri, Maryland, and Kentucky were given to people "who had left a loyal state to aid the Confederacy." This was primarily because they had never passed the Ordinance of Secession and weren't covered by paroles given under the terms of surrender.

Finally, on Christmas Day in 1868, President Johnson extended "unconditionally, and without reservation, to all and to every person who directly or indirectly participated in the late insurrection or rebellion, a full pardon and amnesty for the offence [sic] of treason against the United States, or of adhering to their enemies during the late Civil War, with restoration of all rights, privileges, and immunities under the Constitution and the laws."

On the night of December 25th, 1968, Kilvenmani, a hamlet in the Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu in India, experienced a horrific massacre. 44 people, most of whom were women and children, were burned to death by a group of landlords. Leading up the attack, the peasants had been holding demonstrations for higher wages. In response, landlords found workers from other villages. During an escalation, a landlord's agent was killed.

It was in response to this murder that the horrors of Christmas Night, 1968 unfolded. The landlords arrived in police vans and almost a dozen policemen stood at the entry of the village guarding it. Although many tried to escape the landlords' gunfire, taking refuge in a hut, the landlords set the hut on fire, burning to death everyone inside.

Immediately after, those responsible for the massacre went to the local police station, "demanding protection against reprisals" and the cops acquiesced. According to The New Indian Express, although there were a few changes in land ownership and wages after the massacre, 50 years later "the struggle for Dalits remains focused on landless labor and caste discrimination." Although the landlords were convicted in a subsequent trial and sentenced to prison, they were all eventually acquitted. This primarily occurred because the victims of the massacre were part of the Dalit caste, which is considered the lowest caste in India.