/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/5d/3c/5d3ceb07-91d2-4016-ab17-afe0ae9f9b88/6560488593_873dda19cc_o.jpg)
Why There’s A 30-Foot Menorah on the National Mall
The tradition of the National Menorah was begun under President Jimmy Carter in 1979
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/7a/cb/7acb8bdf-095d-41de-91f2-764b20605745/marley.jpg)
Why Do People Tell Ghost Stories on Christmas?
Christmas ghost stories are a tradition going back much farther than “A Christmas Carol”
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/99/9e/999eecb8-5e38-411b-8daa-927492774ed5/4191932696_e2467afc11_o.jpg)
Someday, Maybe We’ll Have Hanukkah in July
Hanukkah and Christmas fall on the same day this year because not everyone follows the same calendar
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/21/59/21595836-ceb3-4660-9e8d-c93b91e60f94/istock-153785388.jpg)
This Year Marks the 50th Kwanzaa
The week-long holiday is a celebration of African-American culture
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/d9/2d/d92d90b6-3c0f-4a3e-b6f7-2e9e4621b6c1/31135998640_f70d01becd_k.jpg)
New Yorkers’ Post-Election Post-its Will Be Preserved
Subway Therapy captured a city’s outpouring of emotion. Now, the notes New Yorkers left behind will be archived
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/3d/d1/3dd1a80f-1590-4c38-947d-f25df50c247e/32039_h2048w2048gt3.jpeg)
A Huge Bronze Hippo in a Tutu Is Coming to Lincoln Center
Her name is Hippo Ballerina, and she’s sure to make theatergoers do a double-take
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/ee/e2/eee2b37d-04aa-4431-9826-0a3e00ee0837/lillian_randolph_in_its_a_wonderful_life.jpg)
The Crazy Tricks Early Filmmakers Used To Fake Snow
Cornflakes, flour and, uh, asbestos were all used in early movies
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/c0/e7/c0e7183a-f585-4b95-96d5-2ae211f0c6a3/istock-480097549.jpg)
Why Crossword Puzzles Are Still Mostly Written By Humans
Computers can write sports articles, replace stock brokers and help diagnose patients. But they can’t write good crosswords
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/85/38/85388ab1-6d90-4cd8-b732-122a19d1f9bb/31631307996_6b420dbedd_h.jpeg)
Poland Has Lifted Its Media Ban
It’s the latest in an ongoing saga about press freedoms in the populist-led country
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/e1/ec/e1ec5461-5abc-4b8e-b909-9a4e26d7f93a/morbid_anatomy_museum_.jpg)
Morbid Anatomy Museum Closes Its Doors
But the museum that delights in the dead will have an afterlife
:focal(1725x303:1726x304)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/28/14/2814039c-8b50-4397-ae65-add607bccd0b/charles_dickens-a_christmas_carol-title_page-first_edition_1843.jpg)
Why Charles Dickens Wrote ‘A Christmas Carol’
The beloved story sold 6,000 copies in its first week in print and 15,000 in its first year
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/a3/3c/a33cfd31-9a69-4a77-9156-332b19eed294/4211723712_7dc4bcee75_b.jpg)
Each Christmas, Iceland’s Yule Cat Takes Fashion Policing to the Extreme
The Jólakötturinn will make you thankful for those Christmas socks
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/e6/a1/e6a17a66-bb80-4624-b2e7-4148867d7dbe/newtonsprincipia.jpg)
Most Expensive Science Book Sells for $3.7 Million
An anonymous buyer paid triple the estimated sale price for this first-edition copy
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/ae/86/ae8649e3-fdc9-4ab0-af42-69af20744069/mozarts_last_days.jpg)
How Mozart Outsold Beyonce in CD Sales in 2016
A massive new box set catpulted the classical superstar to the top of the charts
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/cd/9c/cd9cd4aa-275a-4c0c-84c1-68090d69c176/l1190793.jpg)
This Artist Is the Only Person Banned From Using the World’s Pinkest Pink
It’s a brightly colored revenge for restricting the world’s blackest black
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/26/30/263021c2-2637-4184-923d-f998888110ca/4103268371_1b64df055f_o.jpeg)
Pinball Is Finally Legal Again in This Indiana City
Kokomo, Indiana, has reversed a 61-year-old ban on the game
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/ad/02/ad026084-2e8e-4843-9213-dba07cc749ba/olivia_de_havilland_leslie_howard_vivien_leigh_gone_with_the_wind.png)
Why Do We Love Period Dramas So Much?
Gone With The Wind, the highest-grossing period drama ever, premiered on this day in 1939
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/b7/a0/b7a0d3a2-5435-4bdb-a63e-de9e7a09a224/nypldigitalcollections510d47e3-638c-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99001w.jpg)
Researchers Found a Long-Lost Christmas Song
“Crown Winter With Green” has some serious archival cred—and a sad story to tell
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/ff/0b/ff0b4df0-c984-4a73-92f8-392fc122980a/wonder_woman.jpg)
Wonder Woman’s UN Ambassadorship Is Already Coming to an End
The super hero’s tenure as an advocate for empowering women and girls ends after less than two months
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/39/c7/39c75230-8203-475b-8bb9-05e337c720dd/untitled.png)
Prize-Winning Videos Capture Mesmerizing, Microscopic World
Everything looks cooler when it’s viewed through the lens of a microscope
Page 209 of 286