While most of us associate December 25 with joy and togetherness, history paints a different picture. This compilation by Caxton Local Media explores the significant events that have occurred on Christmas Day throughout the ages.

336:

The first official mention of December 25 as the commemoration of Jesus’ birth appears in an early Roman calendar from AD 336. However, early Christians did not celebrate Jesus’ birth, and no one knows when Jesus was actually born.

1066:

William was crowned on Christmas Day 1066 in Westminster Abbey. Known as William the Conqueror, his coronation took place after he had invaded England from France. According to history.com, William spoke no English when he ascended the throne, and he failed to master it despite his efforts.

1642:

It was a significant day when Christmas baby Isaac Newton was born. The celebrated master of astronomy, chemistry, mathematics, physics and theology’s father was an uneducated farmer who died shortly before Newton’s birth. His stepfather sent him to live with his grandmother. Throughout his life, Newton battled mental illness. Despite this, he became a leader in the scientific revolution.

1656:

Dutch astronomer and mathematician Christiaan Huygens designed the first pendulum clock.

1741:

Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius introduced the centigrade temperature scale.

1809:

The first successful abdominal surgery was performed by American physician Ephraim McDowell when he removed an ovarian tumour. He is known as the father of ovariotomy and abdominal surgery. The procedure was performed without any anaesthesia, which was only introduced in 1846.

1819:

Struggle icon Nxele Makana drowned while escaping from Robben Island. Makana and about 30 other prisoners made their escape attempt in three boats, which capsized. He had been imprisoned for leading an attack on Grahamstown in 1818.

1881:

The modern-day Santa made Christmas extra jolly. The image of Santa Claus as we know him today was created in 1881 and originated from works in the 1800s by poet Clement Clark Moore and cartoonist Thomas Nast.

1899:

During the Siege of Ladysmith in the Second Boer War, the Boer forces are said to have fired Christmas pudding into the British-occupied town. The Northern Natal News retold the tale in a 2020 article.

A cricket match was in progress in Ladysmith on Christmas Day when the Boers fired two Long Tom salvos over the town. Amazingly, they did not explode.

On investigation, it was discovered that written on the projectiles were the words, ‘With the compliments of the season’. Each projectile was filled with Christmas pudding in white bowls. 

1914:

Most people have heard the story of the WWI Christmas Day truce, but it is so heart-warming, that it deserves another telling. On December 25, on the Western Front, British and German soldiers met in no-man’s land (an area between opposing armies and trenches), exchanged small gifts, sang songs, and are said to have played impromptu soccer matches.

It started on Christmas Eve, with the German troops singing Christmas carols and holding up white flags.

According to a Commonwealth War Graves Commission article, Marmaduke Walkinton of the London Regiment described the scene: “A German said, ‘Tomorrow you no shoot, we no shoot’. And the morning came, and we didn’t shoot, and they didn’t shoot.”

1974:

It was a Christmas residents of Darwin in Australia will never forget after Tropical Cyclone Tracy struck. Rated category 4, wind gauges registered speeds of 217km/h before instruments failed.

Over 80% of all buildings were either destroyed or left seriously damaged, 71 people died and more than 35 000 people were evacuated to southern cities for many months. The city was rebuilt within three years.

1985:

KZN residents spent Christmas on high alert after a series of bombs were detonated in Durban in 1985, including at a shopping centre in Amanzimtoti on December 23. That blast killed five people and injured 60 more. Umkhonto we Siswe’s Andrew Sibusiso Zondo, who detonated the explosive in a rubbish bin, was later executed.

The explosion sent fears across South Africa that a civil war could be looming.

1989:

Some celebrated and others mourned when on Christmas Day ex-Romanian president Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena were shot by a firing squad after being found guilty of genocide and other crimes against the state.

1990:

The first successful trial run was done of the system that would become the World Wide Web.

1992:

South African political and human rights activist Helen Joseph died in Johannesburg at the age of 87. She was one of the leaders of the women’s march to the Union Buildings in 1956. Joseph was arrested several times by the apartheid government for her involvement in political activities.

1995:

It was a black Christmas when Philadelphia residents woke to the news that 23 prized inhabitants of the city’s zoo had died of smoke inhalation after a fire in the primate section. The animals were all members of endangered species. Some of the zookeepers had nursed the animals as infants and had known them for decades.

2009:

A Christmas miracle was celebrated on December 25 in Colorado in the USA when a mom and child both started breathing again after ‘dying’ during childbirth on Christmas Eve.

Tracy Hermanstorfer went into cardiac arrest after arriving at hospital for the birth of her third child. An emergency caesarean was done but when delivered, little Coltyn was not breathing. After around four minutes, Tracy’s heart began beating again and while being cradled by his dad, Mike Hermanstorfer, Coltyn took his first breath.

Mike credited ‘the hand of God’.

2020:

There was little merriment when 293 Covid-19 related deaths and 14 796 new cases were recorded in South Africa on Christmas Day.

2020:

A violent Christmas Day clash between two rival groups left seven men dead and six others seriously injured in Mount Ayliff in the Eastern Cape.

2021:

Nasa launched the largest optical telescope in space, the James Webb Space Telescope. According to Nasa, it is studying ‘every phase in the history of our universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our solar system’.

2021:

It was a sad day for the Malamulele community in Limpopo. They mourned the death of seven members of one family – four children and three adults, including a heavily pregnant woman – who were shot dead in the Limpopo village.

2021:

Should only Covid-19 vaccinated family members and friends be invited for Christmas lunch? That was the question South Africans were grappling with during the festive season two years ago.

While scientists said that vaccines offered the best protection from the deadly disease, many South Africans refused to get vaccinated because of health and other concerns.

2022:

On Christmas Day, Health Minister Joe Phaahla confirmed the death toll from the horrific Boksburg tanker explosion that happened on Christmas Eve had risen to 15. The eventual death toll was 41.

2022:

At the last moment, Eskom announced the news South Africans had been praying for: A Christmas Day without load-shedding. The power utility suspended load-shedding from 5:00 on December 25 until 05:00 on December 26.

2023:

As strong winds whipped across the Cape Peninsula on Christmas Day, Cape Town’s fire department issued a critical alert, mobilising all available personnel, including off-duty firefighters, to battle numerous wildfires.