Wikipedia:Main Page history/2023 December 24
From today's featured article
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"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" is a well-known line from an editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church titled "Is There a Santa Claus?", which appeared in the New York newspaper The Sun on September 21, 1897. Written in response to a letter by eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon asking whether Santa Claus was real, the editorial was initially published anonymously and Church's authorship was not disclosed until after his 1906 death. After its initial publication, it was quickly reprinted by other newspapers. As the editorial became increasingly popular over the years, The Sun began republishing it during the Christmas and holiday season, including every year from 1924 until the paper ceased publication in 1950. "Is There a Santa Claus?" is still widely reprinted during the holiday season and has been cited as the most reprinted newspaper editorial in the English language. It has been translated into around 20 languages and adapted as television specials, a film, a musical, and a cantata. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
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- ... that four course records were broken during the 2023 Chicago Marathon (women's winner pictured)?
- ... that Maryam Eslamdoust was the first Iranian-born woman to hold public office in Great Britain?
- ... that you can play Pitfall! in two Call of Duty games?
- ... that on Christmas Eve in 1818, the Christmas carol "Stille Nacht" ("Silent Night") was first performed in the Nikolauskirche in Oberndorf, Austria?
- ... that the tripartite structure of the National War Labor Board helped the United States keep work stoppages to a minimum during World War II?
- ... that on every Christmas Eve since 1994, Willem Lange's story about the fruitcake-delivering farmer Favor Johnson is broadcast on public radio stations in Vermont?
- ... that the anti-colonialist Ligue de défense de la race nègre, which at one point had around 1,000 members, was suppressed by the French government in 1937, ten years after its founding?
- ... that Mel Bartholomew, who developed the time-saving square foot gardening method, said that he gardened "with a salad bowl in mind, not a wheelbarrow"?
In the news
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- A mass shooting in Prague, Czech Republic, leaves 15 people dead.
- Pope Francis (pictured) approves a declaration that allows Catholic clergy to bless same-sex couples.
- After weeks of earthquakes, a volcanic eruption occurs near Grindavík, Iceland.
- An earthquake in Jishishan County, China, leaves more than 140 people dead.
- In the parliamentary election, the Serbian Progressive Party regains its parliamentary majority in the National Assembly.
On this day
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- 1871 – Aida, one of Giuseppe Verdi's most popular operas, made its debut in Cairo, Egypt.
- 1913 – Seventy-three people were crushed to death in a stampede after someone falsely yelled "fire" at a crowded Christmas party in Calumet, Michigan, U.S.
- 1918 – Forces united in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes defeated Hungarian forces to end the occupation of Međimurje.
- 1953 – A railway bridge at Tangiwai on New Zealand's North Island was damaged by a lahar and collapsed beneath a passenger train (wreckage pictured), killing 151 people.
- 2008 – The Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, began attacks on several villages in the north of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing hundreds and committing numerous atrocities.
- Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik (d. 738)
- Adam Mickiewicz (b. 1798)
- Anthony Fauci (b. 1940)
- Pernilla Wahlgren (b. 1967)
Today's featured picture
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Street football, or street soccer, is an informal variation on the game of association football, typically played in outdoor urban settings such as streets, playgrounds and car parks. The term encompasses a variety of different formats, which do not necessarily follow the requirements of a formal game of football, such as a large field, field markings, goal apparatus and corner flags, eleven players per team, or match officials (referee and assistant referees). Street football is often played as a pick-up game, without fixed timing and with players joining and leaving at any point. Many international professional players learned to play football on the street, including Diego Maradona, Johan Cruyff, Pelé, Giuseppe Meazza, Eamon Dunphy, Eusébio, Dejan Savićević, and Cristiano Ronaldo. This 2017 photograph shows boys playing street football on al-Mu'izz Street in Cairo, Egypt, by the exterior wall of the al-Hakim Mosque. Photograph credit: Mohamed Hozyen Ahmed; edited by Bammesk
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