What Popular Christmas Song Was Actually Written For Thanksgiving?
Did you know that "Jingle Bells" was originally written to be sung at Thanksgiving? We didn't believe it either until we did some deep digging.
Every year the holiday season expands to other holiday areas. The Halloween pumpkins barely have time to rot before the candies and red arrows come out.
The rule used to be that the lights didn't come on until after Thanksgiving. But the problem goes deeper than the radios canceling Christmas carols in November.
The Christmas season not only overshadowed Thanksgiving — it stole one of its songs: "Jingle Bells."
The song was originally called 'The One Horse Open Sleigh' and was composed by James Lord Pierpont in 1850 for his Sunday School class on Thanksgiving Day.
According to History.com, the tinkling bells refer to New England sleigh races that were popular in the 1800s.
After Pierpont performed the song at a Thanksgiving concert, it was officially published in 1857.
Decades later, she adopted Christmas 'Jingle Bells' as her own. Bing Crosby made "Jingle Bells" a Christmas hit in the 1940s, including on his Merry Christmas recording.
The record quickly became one of the best-selling holiday albums of all time.
However, Crosby left out some important verses. Pierpont sees song as more than bobtails that ring bells and brighten spirits.