12/07/2021
"Jingle Bells" was originally written about celebrating Thanksgiving, not Christmas.”
You might assume that a song describing a one-horse open sleigh is about Christmas, but "Jingle Bells" was originally written to celebrate Thanksgiving, according to the Washington Post.
The song, written by James Lord Pierpont in 1857, was also originally titled "One Horse Open Sleigh," not "Jingle Bells."
"Jingle Bells" was also the first song played in space.
According to the Guinness World Records, the first song ever played in space was "Jingle Bells" on December 16, 1965.
Astronauts Walter Schirra and Tom Stafford used a harmonica and a bell — also the first instruments in space — to perform the song aboard NASA's Gemini 6A space flight, the BBC reported. It was part of a prank — they claimed the music was coming from a strange, flying object that looked a lot like Santa Claus.
A recording of their song can be found online.