top of page

Five Interesting Facts About the World

The Sneaky Secrets of Santa Claus
by Shivam Patel

Santa Claus is a prominent figure in western culture, and is often associated with being a jolly and happy fellow, clad in red. Some prominent modern aspects of this figure can be associated with some unusual sources. But what is most unusual about this amazing carrier of gifts would be the strong lore and prominent backstory of this character.  We are now into the fourth amazing feature of the Griffin Post, so join me once more as we explore some of these fascinating factoids!

The poise and idea of Santa Claus is probably a head scratcher for many folks. The figure originated from the real and more tangible St. Nicholas (which is why we sometimes refer to Santa as “Ol’ St. Nick”). St. Nicholas of Myra (Modern day Türkiye) was the patron saint of merchants, the innocent, the poor, and children. As a saint, his work was centered around piety and  charity. The story goes that, after his parents’ deaths, he was given a sizable inheritance, which he used for charitable purposes. He was very generous with his wealth, and sought to improve and further Christian belief with his actions. On a specific day of the year, most commonly December 6th, St. Nicholas would take a sack full of toys and candies and place them in the shoes and stockings of children, who were incentivized to share the treats with others. He also tossed gold coins and other riches into the poor households at night. Fun Fact: St. Nicholas had a nickname - Sinterklaas, which evolved into Santa Claus! [Picture Description: A portrait of St. Nicholas, a renovated depiction from an old artist sketch.]

fifaw1.jpg

St. Nicholas may have been the ancient roots of Santa, though he was certainly not the most iconic aspect to the figure. The 1930s saw a huge boom in the popularity of the patronized figure, with the prominent song Santa Claus is Coming to Town (written by James Gillepsie) embellishing the few features of the character that we recognize most prominently to be of his nature. Starting with the list. The song includes a verse about the nice and naughty list, which reinforced the nature of Santa Claus’s efforts. Overall, it enforced the nature for kids to be good to be rewarded with Santa’s presents. Another prominent figure that has been associated with the modern Santa Claus would be Rudolph, an iconic figure who evolved separately from the rest of the reindeer. This character was iconized in the poem created for Montgomery Ward, written by Robert L. May. This poem, which was later pushed into a book, was an amazing hit, selling rapidly and proving a major profit for the client. More importantly, it introduced the story of Rudolph the red nosed reindeer to the world. [Picture Description: An image of the 1939 publication of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, for Montgomery Ward]

fifaw2.jpg
fifaw3.jpg

Santa Claus is often depicted as living at the North Pole. But there is a town dedicated to him, or rather a village, that is said to be his home town. Rovaniemi is said to be Santa’s official office, from where he goes to and from his facility at the north pole to manage his yearly effort. Rovaniemi is a village in Lapland, Finland, with designated stations for visitors to learn about the iconic character. It even has a specialized post office for letters addressed to Santa Claus. The village also boasts various gardens, Santa’s office, and a station where visitors can meet Santa Claus personally. Korvantunturi, the official home of the iconic figure, was built in this village. The village recently attracted over 600,000 visitors, all flocking to see the beloved Santa Claus.

On the topic of living somewhere, citizenship often comes up. In 2008, Santa Claus was given official citizenship to Canada, which was administered by Minister Jason Kenney. The Canadian officials issued a Canadian passport for Santa Claus and Mr. Claus. The government even issued an official mailing address, HOH OHO. With this, people can mail to Santa and even get a reply. The official reason for this status for citizenship was mainly to gain public attention, and to stem multiculturalistic welcome from Canada. Additionally, this was an opportunity for the Canadian government to start economic ventures in the north, furthering the reasoning for such an unexpected decision. The Canadian officials welcome Santa to stay in Canada after his trip around the world is complete. It is fun to know that Santa Claus is welcome to stay in Canada, even if it seems uncertain if he will be doing that anytime soon. [Picture Description: An image of a typical Canadian passport 

fifaw4.jpg
fifaw5.jpg

But how would Santa Claus be able to fly… in traditional aerospace, he would need to have a pilot’s license to fly. Astoundingly, he was awarded an official pilot’s license in 1927, with the memo “Although there may not be sufficient snow for his reindeer sleigh,”. His license was awarded to him by the Assistant Secretary of Commerce. He also has special flight and launch permits, granted by the FAA. He also has a… commercial space license?! That’s right. For a crewed mission to the International Space Station using his StarSleigh-1 space capsule powered by the Rudolph Rocket, of course! (That is literally what the FAA stated, [paraphrased], no joke!) With this license and specific launch permit, anyone threatening to sue Santa should think twice. Santa’s operations are 101% legal! [Picture Description: Santa Claus receiving his license (depicted) and giving presents!]

GENERAL SOURCE:

FACTOID 1

FACTOID 2

FACTOID 3

FACTOID 4

FACTOID 5

The Confusions of Common Foods

by Shivam Patel

Welcome back to the 3rd edition of the Griffin Post, where today on FIFAW we explore the hidden conundrum and misconceptions that come up around many modern fruit flavors. I hope you are as hungry as I am by the end of this, so get reading! (Somebody could pass me a piece of chocolate right about now…)

The expectation of foods brings us to our strange ordinance with our eyes and tongue, were we stumble upon an interesting phenomenon: researching studies on whether Skittles© have a unique flavor dependent of the color of difference of the colors in the Skittle, leading to further research on the effect of colors on people’s sense of taste. When blinded, participants in major studies of this phenomenon comment how the differentiation of the colors and their uniqueness is quite blurred compared to their tastes in full sight. Many studies report that similar flavored candies colored separately are known to have a unique reaction. Early on, science has proved a relation between red and sweetness, yellow and green with sour, black and brown with bitter, and white with salty. It is believed that this association ancestrally originates from the nomadic periods of human evolution, when this identification can help differentiate various fruits and items that are edible and that are supposedly harmful. This association also comes to play on M&M© and other colored candies, and sometimes on fruits and curries. Sweets are also colored based on this leading perception of colors. A fun tidbit: external lighting and container color have the same effect! [Picture Description: Skittles, assorted, in a random collection.]

unnamed.png

This next fact takes us to the lineages of fruit and botanical mistakes that were later fixed to astonishingly unusual connections. I will say this point blank: the apple is a rose, the banana is a very big berry though the strawberry is anything but. First, taking a look at the more breathtaking fact that the apple is a rose, we can see similarities in the structure of the fruit and flower by looking through this mindset, such as the seed structure of the apple which is similar to the fruiting seed of the rose plant, often named the “rosehip” fruit. We also see similarities in the structure of the flower and the structure of the plants, including the various arrangements of the xylem and phloem tissues in the plant. They both belong to the Rosaceae family, with similar lineage tracing back to the common 5 pedaled flower tree. The apple is joined with the peaches, plums, cherries, and strawberries. Side Fact: bananas are berries because their seeds are dispersed evenly amongst an inner layer, and the fruit develops together and more cohesively from a singular source (strawberries aren’t berries for this reason).

unnamed (1).png
unnamed.jpg

We regroup, again, from our spiel to discover that most fruit labels, indeed most of the ones that we often so distastefully discard, are edible. These labels, though not intended to be eaten, are often considered edible due to the food safe materials and inks that they are made out of. This means that the stickers can be consumed occasionally by a careless child, who in utter forgetfulness, doesn’t take off the label. These sticky and annoying patches contain various tidbits, such as information on whether the fruit is GMO or not, if it is grown with pesticides, or is organic, where it comes from, what company it is from (most notably) and even when it was picked, if you look at some of the detailed ones. The paper and adhesive can be a choking hazard, notes the FDA, thus best to stay away. A sidenote: California has found a way to laser-imprint labels onto a fruit, leaving it unharmed and the fruit free of paper and adhesive residue… a win-win situation!

Now continuing with this peculiar fascination from red berries to those berries’ pulp, we find that ketchup (tomato is also a berry) was often used initially as a common medicine to various ailments in the minor cases of gastrointestinal discomforts. In the early 1800s, specifically from 1812 and on, we met a peculiar trend, originating from the practices of Ohioan Dr. John Cook Bennet marketed this newer tomato based ketchup as a medicinal cure for jaundice, diarrhea, and indigestion. Eventually, in the later 1800s, people started marketing the tomato pills, said to be the finest extract of the essence of tomatoes. These pills became popular all over the USA and many countries in Europe. In the early 1860s, the first critical examinations of tomato pills and other condiments that were marketed as “homeopathic” were first realized, later to find that the tomato pills often contained no tomato at all, instead other natural and synthetic materials were used. 

unnamed (2).png
unnamed (3).png

Now for some numbers: we’re moving on from consumable stickers to a realm of small crime… like stealing cheese? Cheese is the #1 most stolen food, with a reported 4% of all cheeses put on sale being stolen annually. Of these, the most coveted for cheese thieves would be “Parmigiano Reggiano”, an acclaimed cheese that is often boasted as the world’s most precious cheese, and it gains value as it ages. In fact, there is a bank in Italy that stores a whopping 300,000 wheels of cheese, that of which modern experts assume are worth about 7 dollars each, for a rough total of about 200,000 dollars worth of cheese. This bank often accepts these cheeses for loans and payback money from local farmers, increasing their stockpile all the faster. Cheeses are especially hard to track, mainly because they are often small and un-noticeable. This is why many cheese retailers often prefer RF EAS type labels to prevent theft, as these trackable labels can easily be disguised as a product barcode, or even company branding, if they want it tailored to the product. 

SOURCES FOR FACTOID 1

SOURCES FOR FACTOID 2

SOURCES FOR FACTOID 3

SOURCES FOR FACTOID 4

SOURCES FOR FACTOID 5

The Spooky Secrets of Monsters and Decor
by Shivam Patel

Greetings - Let’s welcome a spooky spirit by starting off this installment of Five Fun Facts About the World with some freakish, ghoulish, downright chilling factoids as we push into the second edition of the Griffin Post. Again, I am so happy to be sharing these tidbits with you, and I hope that you appreciate these factoids a little bit more than I do (If humanly possible)!

Traveling to Haiti first, we rewind a little bit in time, up until about the 17th - 18th centuries, where slavery and spiritual tradition (Bokongo and Haitian Voodoo)  mingled to create a metaphorical and spiritual monster: the zombie, or ‘zumbi’ as it was called there. The story starts with the bokor, a character in Haitian belief that is relatable to the western ‘evil sorcerer’. The bokor, in vengeance for a sin or crime, will take and resurrect the body of the dead to serve the bokor without will. Another type of zombie, one that was easier to spread - though didn’t catch much attention worldwide - would be the zombie astral, the belief that the bokor could take the spirit of a now deceased person and capture it, using and selling it as a charm of good luck and profit. Either one embodies the two cultural significances of the time: the underlying concept of Dual Soulism (where the soul has two parts: flesh and spirit) and the more resonating concepts of slavery and civil injustice at the time. (This is most noticeably emulated inside the concept and essence of the zombie - something that fueled its popularity.)

(Picture description: A depicted drawing of a zombie at twilight, in a corn field)

fifaw1.png

    Going from zombies to vampiric creatures, we find ourselves staring down the barrel of an interesting question: why do vampires hate garlic? This simple question actually has science behind it, but to understand, we must go back to the roots of vampires. Vampires are thought to originate from a misconceived perspective on the blood disorder Porphyria, whose side effects include an uncanny sensitivity to light, an irregularity of the hormone Heme, and a corpse-like appearance (pale skin, eroded gums and teeth, etc.) This disease also brings about the intolerance of allicin (found in garlic) and sulfur-rich compounds (also found in garlic). So when the creation and cultivation of the idea of the vampire took place, it was commonly assumed that because of this disease, the antibacterial and moreover essence of garlic would shun or even kill a vampire. Vampires were thought to live on this disease, though it wasn’t recognized as Porphyria at the time. In fact, real people with the disease also avoid garlic – it makes their gums painfully shrink, so it is thought that this effect transferred into the popular myth of the vampire! (Picture description: A clove of garlic )

fifaw2.jpg
fifaw3.jpg

Following this eerie trend of pale and discolored skin, our queries take us to Frankenstein’s Monster, a pitied character that is unusually portrayed… green? Now this may not seem like much of a question – something must have stimulated Mary Shelley to include that detail. Although, to all of you who have read the book, you know the book described it (he, if you want to personify it) as having yellowish pale skin, not green. The true origins of this magnificent colorflash occurs in the silent era of moviemaking, when the first movie of the book (1931 adaptation, directed by James Whale) was adapted into the stereotypical black and white orthochromatic (that highlights green and blue) film of the time. Little do many know that the green originated from this adaptation; the makeup artist, when selecting a color of skin for the actor, noted that green colors specifically reflect interestingly on the film, giving the skin a ghastly hue. Further adaptations kept the green as it distinguished the creature quite nicely - becoming the green we know and love today!

(Picture description: an image of Frankenstein's Monster on orthochromatic B&W film)

Scooting to Europe we travel back in time to a most peculiar sight: before witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, there were werewolf hunts going back to the 15th – 18th centuries, where people, moreover beggars and people on the poorer side of society, were accused of lycanthropy, a special process where a human transforms into a werewolf. Often other charges were pressed: witchcraft, sorcery, and other crimes associated with dark magic. The punishment were severe: beheading, execution, and imprisonment awaited those convicted, and many times over there were 

cases of innocent people confessing due to pressure and torture from prosecutors. These trials, though most prominently practiced in Switzerland, France, and Germany, unfortunately spread across most of Europe - killing many across the continent. (Picture description: a depiction [sketch] of a werewolf attack)

fifaw4.jpg
fifaw5.jpg

Shifting once more to monstrous mysteries, focusing this time not on the appearance of this apparition but rather the sound of it. Ghosts have been saying BOO for a long time, going back to Latin and Greek origins or even further at least from the middle ages. The sound was first associated with an alarming sound when its first uses were the Latin and Greek ‘boare’ or ‘βoâv’ respectively, meaning something along the lines of I am here or a general sound of attention or presence. Later it started to evolve into a word that was used to warn people: beware, watch out. In Scotland, it evolved into a word that was actually described as “to scare crying children”, as was the case for similar sounds like bo or bu (Hobgoblins being later named bo-man or bu-man for this reason). Eventually, due to the volume of the syllable and the sharp b sound that comes before the body of the syllable, it was adopted to be associated with frightening or jumpscaring people, soon being commonized with monsters, and eventually became accustomed with the ghost. A fun tidbit: the figure of a ghost used to be of a talkative apparition, though over time the ghost’s vocabulary was replaced with the more desultory sound of BOO!

(Picture description: an artist rendering of an apparition)

GENERAL SOURCE:

SOURCES FOR FACTOID 1

SOURCES FOR FACTOID 2

SOURCES FOR FACTOID 3

SOURCES FOR FACTOID 4

SOURCES FOR FACTOID 5

The Hidden Factoids of Newspapers
by Shivam Patel

Hi! If you have read the ‘by’ section of the title, you are probably wondering why the name changed from the last few years. Let me introduce myself. My name is Shivam Patel, and I am a 6th grader here at GATE starting out on FIFAW at the Griffin Post. I love getting and displaying fun factoids, and I am sure these factoids will get better through the editions. Let’s get started with the first ever 2025-2026 FIFAW entry in the Griffin Post! Today’s topic: The hidden factoids of newspapers around the world!

Let’s start off with a little bit of history. Tracing back through the lineage of old – though still continued – newspapers, we find ourselves at Wiener Zeitung, the oldest daily newspaper that is still continued. This newspaper is based in Vienna (The name literally translates to ‘Vienna Newspaper), Austria. This old paper is thought to have been established in 1703 by Johann Baptist Sh Johann Baptist Schönwetter. Diving back further, we find another old relic, which is the Post- och Inrikes Tidningar, a Swedish newspaper started back in 1645 and is continued to this day, though switched to a continual digital format starting January 1st, 2007. A little tidbit: Post- och Inrikes Tidningar actually translates to ‘postal and domestic newspapers’ in its original language, Swedish. (Pictures descriptions: front: first issue of the Wiener Zeitung, released on August 8th, 1703. behind: fifteenth issue of Post- och Inrikes Tidningar, published on the 9th of April, 1645)

Wiennerisches_Diarium_1703.jpg
images.jfif

Continuing our spiel in Europe, we move to the UK, where a nostalgic tradition remembered by many shakes up curiosity in many young minds. The “Fish-&-Chips-served-in-newspapers” tradition goes back decades, though seeing its peak in the 1930s, has seen a recent decline. The dish Fish (or Cod) and Chips was originally wrapped in newspaper and regular paper layers, as this paper was said to be more absorbent than any other, and was ideal for soaking up the oil. More recently, this practice was discontinued, as it was found to be somewhat unhygienic. Newspaper also was found to be cheap and available, and also insulatory, keeping the dish rather warm inside the wrappings. It is said that instead of regular newspaper paper, people used printed newspapers, resulting in a rather inky taste in the food. Toxic mineral and lead inks that were being used posed a serious health risk to the users or consumers of the food. Surprisingly, restaurants are now printing food safe ink in a newspaper-like design onto the food safe paper that they use for this dish to create a more authentic feeling! 

unnamed.jpg
download.jfif

From food to feud, we find ourselves back further in time, all the way to the Civil War, where we come to the most inconspicuous part of the daily news: the advertisements. In the Civil War, confederate troops and regiments communicated with one another through messages in personal advertisement columns, where these newspapers, such as the Daily Herald, easily reached  other generals and civilians who would then pass it on to higher commanding army officials. Interception was unlikely, as though the Daily Herald was mostly used for its widespread reach, there were small town weeklies, monthly news-magazines, and over 400 semi-major newsletters to choose from. The same practice of newspaper manipulation also occurs in the Ohioan regiments, and further north for the same reasons - easy though hard to pick through. Repeated and edited prints made this total substantially larger - 4 million prints!!! Going even further back to the civil war, we can see that newspapers have taken a major role in intelligence, as newspapers brought in from Britain and from British publishings can give great insight into the state and motives of the British side. (Picture description: The New York Herald clipping, dating to the Civil War.

We take ourselves back a little in history to the first ever comic in a newspaper, the successful Yellow Kid comic,  first installed in Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and later in the New York Journal. This extravagant yet simple comic, created and drawn by Richard F. Outcault. Here’s a little background on the ‘Yellow Kid’, or Mickey Dungan. He was an Irish tenement mischief maker, who came to New York. The comic itself is mostly of relatively slapstick humor, though also contains a great deal of social commentary. The comic is famous for being the namesake of the idea “yellow journalism”, the idea of stories that were made widespread for the pure purpose of selling newspapers, as was the case for the Yellow Kid comic – the strip originated out of a feud between the New York World and New York Journal, both installing the comic out of means of increased sales. (Picture Description: Mickey Duncan)

images (1).jfif
output-1.png

Another beloved part of the newspapers is the crossword, a puzzling yet delightful brain teaser that is especially appealing to many people. Though this treat mostly comes in 15x15 to 22x22 square grids, this is sometimes exceeded. The largest crossword in a newspaper is a special feature of the NYT newspaper called the Puzzle Mania, characterized by the gargantuan 50x50 grid with a whopping 700+ clues, up and down! The New York Times, an already famous newspaper, released the competition for this fascinating puzzle first in 2016, continuing the tradition with an annual Puzzle Mania, exclusively featuring the Cryptic Crossword, the famed crossword that was mentioned earlier. Puzzle Mania was originally created to bring revenue and to bring a new and exciting interruption to the regular NYT puzzles, though this feature has since taken over as a hallmark for many solvers - a treat that for some is just a little difficult to swallow!

GENERAL SOURCE: 

SOURCES FOR FACTOID 1

SOURCES FOR FACTOID 2

SOURCES FOR FACTOID 3

SOURCES FOR FACTOID 4

SOURCES FOR FACTOID 5

bottom of page