Highlights of the day

Christmas in Canada

  • 1847 Paul Kane’s Christmas Feast at Fort Edmonton
  • 1914 The Christmas Truce
  • 1943 Christmas in Ortona

List of Facts for December 25

  • 1535 Jacques Cartier and his crew celebrate Canada’s first recorded Christmas at Stadacona. Québec, Québec
  • 1620 Exploration - Jens Munk manages to return to Copenhagen with only two surviving crew members after a horrifying winter ordeal in Hudson Bay; most of his men died of trichinosis or Vitamin A poisoning from eating polar bear liver. Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 1633 Jacques Hertel becomes the First settler at Three Rivers. Trois-Rivières, Québec
  • 1635 Samuel de Champlain dies at Québec on Christmas Day, age 68, after stroke paralyzed him in October; born at Brouage, a small seaport town in the old province of Saintonge, southeast of Rochefort, in about 1567; his remains are likely buried under the Champlain Chapel near Notre-Dame-de-Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1642 Paul Chomedy de Maisonneuve, Jeanne Mance and settlers spend first Christmas at Ville Marie praying to the Virgin Mary for deliverance from the rising waters of the St. Lawrence and La Petite Rivière that threaten to inundate their fort at Pointe à Callières. Maisonneuve built a cross on Christmas Eve and promised to carry it to the top of Mount Royal if the flood subsided. It does and he performs the ceremony on January 6. Today, an illuminated cross marks the spot. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1667 Religion - Kateri Tekakwitha has her First communion at the Iroquois church. Kahnawake, Quebec
  • 1776 Religion - First recorded Divine Service on Christmas Day in Saskatchewan is held at Cumberland House. Cumberland House, Saskatchewan
  • 1785 Religion - Christ Church opens at Sorel; oldest Anglican church in Québec. Sorel, Québec
  • 1841 Religion - Wolf’s Son and son Sata of the Inuk’sik Blackfoot (Siksika) band baptised at the Jesuits’ St. Mary’s Mission as Nicholas and Gervais, respectively. Alberta
  • 1844 Law - William Odell dies; New Brunswick’s Provincial Secretary; end of a long family tradition; since the birth of New Brunswick in 1784, a member of the Odelll family served as Provincial Secretary. Fredericton, NB
  • 1846 Media - New Brunswick Reporter newspaper comments on the need for a Town Clock in Fredericton; city mechanics have to depend on the chimes from the Baptist Church, in billing for hours of labour and meals. Fredericton, NB
  • 1847 Paul Kane attends Christmas dinner at HBC Chief Factor John Rowand’s Fort Edmonton establishment. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1855 Hockey - Soldiers of the Royal Canadian Rifles at the Tete du Pont barracks clear ice from Lake Ontario and use field hockey sticks and lacrosse balls to play what is reputed to be the First game of ice hockey. However old Dutch paintings also show youths hitting balls with sticks on frozen canals. And the Irish game of hurley, a form of field hockey, was played on ice at King’s College, Windsor, Nova Scotia, in the early 1800s. But modern ice hockey developed out of rules First formulated at McGill University in the 1870s, brought to Montréal by Nova Scotian James Creighton. Much depended on technology - the 1850s invention of the Starr skate at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, led to the ability to do quick starts and stops required by the modern game. That plus curved Micmac sticks and wooden pucks… Kingston, Ontario
  • 1892 John Thompson sworn in at Rideau Hall as leader of new Conservative ministry. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1899 Horse Racing - Kingston Trotters are practising on the ice of Kingston lake, to prepare for a race near Clifton on New Year’s Day. Kingston, NB
  • 1902 Disaster - Avalanche on Sunset Mountain above the West Arm sweeps away the bunkhouse of the Molly Gibson mine, killing nine. BC
  • 1905 Rail - Spokane International Railway (SIR) offers $420,000 in debt for sale to finance development of Coal Mountain in Michel Creek valley. BC
  • 1914 First World War - Just after midnight on Christmas morning, the German troops along the Eastern and Western fronts cease firing their guns and artillery, and start singing Christmas carols and playing brass musical instruments; at First light, many German soldiers emerge from their trenches and cross No Man’s Land, calling out Merry Christmas in English and French; at First the Allied soldiers suspect a trick, but soon they are shaking hands with the Boche; swapping cigarettes and plum pudding, and even playing soccer; the Christmas Truce lasts a few days, then it is back to the bloody conflict of First World War; there are no more Christmas Truces. France/Belgium
  • 1914 Hockey - First hockey game is played at Edmonton’s new arena (later named The Gardens). Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1919 Education - Beginning of fund raising campaign to establish l’Université de Montréal, as a separate institution from Laval. Montréal, Québec
  • 1924 Religion - New cross on Mount Royal First illuminated. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1938 Religion - Saint Anthony of Padua in Trail celebrates its First mass. Trail, BC
  • 1940 Second World War - General Andrew McNaughton organizes First Canadian Corps with two divisions. Aldershot, England
  • 1941 Second World War - Japan announces the surrender of the British-Canadian garrison by radio broadcast; 290 members of the Royal Rifles of Canada (a Quebec unit) and the Winnipeg Grenadiers are dead, 493 wounded; Major John Crawford and some 1,975 Canadian soldiers are captured and incarcerated at the Sham Shui Po prison camp at Kowloon for 44 months; in all, 264 men never return from the camps. In 1948, an analysis by Gen Charles Foulkes, chief of general staff, concluded that proper training and equipment would have made little difference to the losses. Hong Kong, China
  • 1941 Second World War - Free French occupied the French Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon off the Canadian coast.
  • 1943 Second World War - Small groups of Seaforth Highlanders and Loyal Edmonton soldiers are treated to a real Christmas dinner of roast pork and plum pudding a few blocks from the fighting in the ruined Church of Santa Maria di Constandinopoli, Ortona, Italy
  • 1944 Second World War - Canadian Army captures Adriatic coast city of Ravenna. Ravenna, Italy
  • 1944 Media - CBC tests its new International Service with a Christmas broadcast to Canadian troops in Europe in both English and French; only transmitter tests, but a small regular audience of Canadian troops and Europeans develops; opens full service February 25, 1945. Sackville, New Brunswick
  • 1960 Road - Opening of the Boulevard Métropolitain for traffic; Montréal’s cross-town artery. Montréal, Québec “1982 - December 25’ - Foreign Affairs - Canada recognizes the independent statehood of eleven member republics of the former USSR. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1989 Earthquake - Ungava in northern Quebec hist by a 6.3 earthquake; attributed to retreating ice sheets from 10,000 years earlier. Québec