I hadn't realized today's Christmas tradition originates with Seinfeld. It comes from Seinfeld writer Dan O'Keefe who based it on a holiday his own father invented in 1966 (it wasn't tied to Christmas in the O'Keefe family - read more HERE).
Google's top entry for December 23 traditions comes from Wikipedia:The non-commercial holiday's celebration, as depicted on Seinfeld, occurs on December 23 and includes a Festivus dinner, an unadorned aluminum Festivus pole, practices such as the "Airing of Grievances" and "Feats of Strength", and the labeling of easily explainable events as "Festivus miracles".
Would Norway fall for Seinfeld? It has the tradition of "Little Christmas Eve" on December 23rd. Traditions include decorating the Christmas tree, making a gingerbread house, or eating risengrynsgrøt; a hot rice pudding served with sugar, cinnamon and butter. An almond is hidden in the pudding, and if the almond turns up in your portion, you win a marzipan pig!
Some sites report that Norway has the closest town to the geographic North Pole - Longyearbyen - it is 1,310.44 km south of the North Pole. It is famous for the Doomsday Seed Vault, which is storing every known crop on the planet.
Yet there are different answers for what land mass and town are closest to the North Pole. That seems unusual, as I thought it would be measurable. Kaffeklubben Island off the northern coast of Greenland is said to be 700 km from the North Pole. The nearest permanently inhabited place is reported to be Alert, Nunavut and it is 817 km away. This would be Santa's market town - his workshop and residence are located at the North Pole - at postal code - H0H 0H0 - not very similar to Alert's at V0N 1A0.
And what time would it be at the North Pole? The North Pole lacks a time zone. Time is determined by longitude. The time of day is more-or-less synchronized to the position of the sun in the sky. At the North Pole, the sun rises and sets only once per year, and all lines of longitude and hence all time zones, converge. Any time zone can be used there. Celebrating January 1st would be a feat in itself.
We continue our Christmas Greetings series today - Niagara's Winter Orchard receives the Northern Lights of Christmas.
