The Broski Report with Brittany Broski - 77: God’s Brother: Santa Claus

Episode Date: December 24, 2024

This week on The Broski Report, Fearless Leader Brittany Broski researches the origins of Christmas traditions. 👕 Get your merch here: https://broski.shop/ Follow The Broski Report:https://www.linktr.ee/broskireporthttps://www.tiktok.com/@broskireport https://instagram.com/broskireport Follow Brittany:https://www.tiktok.com/@brittany_broski https://instagram.com/brittany_broski https://youtube.com/brittany_broski Follow Royal Court:https://www.youtube.com/@royalcourt https://www.tiktok.com/@bbroyalcourthttps://www.instagram.com/royalcourthttps://www.twitter.com/bbroyalcourt Reproductive Resources:https://aidaccess.org https://plancpills.org https://Ineedana.com https://www.reprolegalhelpline.org/ https://heyjane.com LGBTQ+ Resources:https://Translifeline.org https://Glaad.org  https://Pflag.org https://www.thetrevorproject.org/ Climate Resources:https://Oceanconservancy.org https://Climateemergencyfund.org Some helpful credible resources/links to help Free Palestine:Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund - https://www.pcrf.net/UNICEF - https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/helping-gazas-children-cope-traumaDoctors Without Borders - https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/secure/give-monthly-double-your-impact-search-onetime-reverse-mobile?ms=ADD2301U3U49&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=BRAND.DWB_CKMSF-BRAND.DWB-GS-GS-ALL-DWBBrand.E-BO-ALL-RSA-RSARefresh.1-MONTHLY&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6PGxBhCVARIsAIumnWZpQAMikxPIRiPMfAjYsJZ-eHiRQV2pw7tu2Jlo6YL8Gk_uaTSwH0MaAtFGEALw_wcWorld Central Kitchen - https://wck.org/World Health Organization - https://www.who.int/Headcount - https://www.headcount.org/IG ACCOUNTS TO FOLLOW:@eye.on.palestine@aljazeeraenglish@palestinianyouthmovement@byplestia@motaz_azaiza@impact  CHAPTERS:00:00 - Intro00:51 - Reminiscing03:10 - Christmas Deep Dive04:50 - Santa’s Reindeer07:47 - Nosferatu Tangent10:36 - Elvis Impression13:25 - Santa’s Reindeer Cont.27:46 - Christmas Music29:09 - Gingerbread Houses32:39 - Outro#brittanybroski, #broski, #broskination, #broskireport, #holiday, #christmas, #santa, #santaclaus, #reindeer, #rudolph, #saintnick, #saintnicholas, #christmascarols, #paulmccartney, #hozier, #brandicarlile

This one's for all my TV lovers. My Entertainment from DirecTV gets you 60 plus channels and Disney Plus, Hulu, and HBO Max all in one pack. But here's the thing. With so much great TV and My Entertainment, you're going to want to talk about everything you've been watching. Just remember that your friends might not be as well watched as you. Don't be a spoiler. And encourage them to get My Entertainment for just $34.99 a month. Go to directtv.com slash genre packs and sign up today.

New customers only, service for news monthly unless canceled, credit card, required, conditions apply to apps. HBO Max Basic with Apps begins after DirectTV five-day trial. Learn more at directTV. Direct from the Brozky Nation headquarters in Los Angeles, California. This is the Brozky Report with your host, Brittany Brozky. So this is Christmas. And what have you wrought?

Guys, I miss Timothy Chalemay. I miss Timothy Chalemay. He's my best fucking friend. He's my best friend. No one understands me like Timothy Chalemite. That is my brother. Guys, what a year it has been. Seriously.

Guys, it's been a long one. It's been a long and arduous, but very fruitful bounty. Okay? I've gone to the source. I've gone down to the river, the Broke Nation River. It's dried up. Okay? I've gone down to the river looking around me.

Wow. A beautiful delta rich with life and fertility. And I look around. I bathe in the water. I'm doing baptisms in the Brooskey Nation River. And suddenly, as I'm in the Brooskey Nation River, I look around and there's all of you. Wow, a bountiful harvest of so many of my dearest and closest friends and supporters. How blessed we are, Broseky Nation, to come together this holiday season, hug each other tight. Metaphorically speaking, we're all parisocial. I know you guys don't like to interact with each other. That's okay. I know you guys aren't really big on You guys aren't big on social interactions because it requires a sort of social charm. Okay, I know that it's tough. But stay with me.

Metaphorically speaking, we all band together and we tackle 2025 with a renewed vengeance. Okay? How do you guys like that? I'm taking this off and I'm turning the lights on. Welcome back, Bruce Key Nation. We've done about, God, it feels like 175 episodes this year. It's going to be about 40-something. Okay, really not that many.

It's a very interesting and strange and silly thing Coming into this room every week and giving y'all an update on my life When exciting things happen, when devastating things happen, When global events happen, when things happen that we all just need to take pause And take a deep inhale, hold it for five, exhale for six, okay, one more time Every time I do a yoga class and they like make us do one of those breathing exercises. I'm like, this is just pissing me off. What is just helping? Okay. Square breathing. I know that's like a calming technique. Maybe, maybe my mind just bucks at the idea of yoga.

I'm not, I'm not meant to be serene. I would love to be serene one day. I'd love to try it out. Okay, here's the deal. What I have in mind for y'all today is a deep dive into Christmas, okay? because why do we feed a big fat white man cookies? And why does he come into our house? And why has he enslaved a sort of native species to Canada or, you know, the northern isles, the reindeer? Why is this something that we embrace and sell and put on cookies? I would like to know. And it kind of creeps me out to be completely real with you guys.

So, and I'm a Santa believer. Okay, I love Santa. I do believe in him very deeply. to my core. I do love him. I do think that he is God's brother. I do think that Santa Claus is the dying light among us,

to be completely fair. He is the last shred morsel of hope. And that's a beautiful thing. And if all you can do is believe in this figure that will bring you what you want and what you need,

isn't that gorgeous and beautiful? But I did actually see mommy kissing Santa Claus, and I think that that is, you know, there is no other path but divorce, right, because you're unfaithful, you don't love each other, but you say, I mean, it's like, just go, go with her. You know what I mean? Go with the new girl. Go with the new woman, Santa Claus, because you seem to be unhappy.

Because Mrs. Claus holds you down. She holds you down. She cooks, cleans, counsels you, advises you for the other 365 days a year. You're a mean, fat old bastard, Santa. Okay. The origin of Christmas. Why does Santa have reindeer? It took a long while for Rudolph and the other reindeer to team up with Santa Claus, but once they did, there was no stopping them.

I know that's right. St. Nick. Originally Santa Claus had nothing to do with reindeer or with Christmas. His story begins with St. Nicholas, a fourth century bishop of Myra, Mira, and modern Turkey. Although little is known about his life, the few hagiographical works which have come down to us all testify to his love of children and his generosity. Um, what? According to Michael the Archimandrite, he was once told about a man who had lost all his money and was unable to provide dowries for his three daughters. Since this would have prevented them from getting married, they might have had to

become prostitutes to support themselves. Santa took them out the trash. Santa Claus took the three holes out the trap? Wow. It's a Christmas miracle. Also, this article's crazy. What do you mean? They would have had to become prostitutes. Naturally, St. Nicholas was anxious to help, but did not want to shame them by giving alms openly.

Instead, he created what is now referred to modernly as a pimp house. Santa became a pimp. It's kidding. It doesn't say that. I made that up. St. Nicholas was anxious to help, but he did not want to shame them by giving his help openly. To avoid this, he crept up to their house late at night and threw a purse of gold through the window. When their astonished father found it the next morning, he immediately sought a husband for the eldest.

The next night, St. Nicholas, did the same again. On the third night, however, the father stayed awake and caught St. Nicholas in the act. And then that's when he and Santa had started making out. Okay, so Santa was gay. Now, see, they don't say that in History Today.com. They don't mention that in History Today.com. Falling to his knees, he hailed the saint as his family's savior, only for St. Nicholas to raise him to his feet and beg him not to tell a soul about the blessings he had received. Because of such acts of generosity, St. Nicholas' Feast Day, December 6th, was later celebrated with the exchange of presents.

This is in Turkey. In 12th century France, nuns are said to have left fruit, nuts, and children. treats outside the houses of poor children. At around the same date, St. Nicholas was also transformed into a magical bringer of gifts. Particularly in Dutch-speaking regions, Sinterklaas, would sneak

into poor people's houses at night and leave a few coins or a little present in their shoes, like a turd. Well, isn't that just super, super cute? You want to know something? I read this, and I have to say it, because it's a tangent, and that's sort of what this podcast is all about.

They said on the third night He snuck in and did something else Y'all go see Nosferatu This isn't even a paid ad It comes out tomorrow Christmas Day I saw Nosephrato Oh my God What a movie

I mean that's how you do it That's called Gothic horror And clock it and get into it He Bill Scarsgard is unrecognizable As Nosephratu I was absolutely blown away Because it's based on Of course the original Dracula

by Bram Stoker. And it's amazing how close it stays to the plot. And I haven't read Dracula since college. And I literally was like, oh, my God, this is exactly how I pictured it. Y'all remember when you watched Twilight for the first time and you were like, yeah, that's how I pictured it. It's exactly how I pictured it. Hunger Games, exactly how I pictured it.

Harry Potter, exactly how I pictured it. I think that with Nospheratu, Lily Rose Depp stop putting Lily Rose Depp in these cringy, overly sexualized roles. I need her in a Victorian period piece now. I need Lily Rose to have to be doing what Sertia Ronan's doing, okay? Somebody help her. Because that woman has so much talent. She is so versatile, and I would love to see her explore that more.

She played the, like, tormented, possessed, like, tender-hearted wife so well. I believed every word that came out of her mouth. I think, oh, this is what I was going to say. There's a part in those where I'm. too, where, oh, my beard hairs roll over the microphone. I'm so sorry, y'all. And I'm probably breathing in all this microplastic and what's new? What's actually new there?

Nothing. There is a part where Bill Scarsgarde's character is like giving some instruction, right? And he has a crazy accent like this. Except it's really dark and deep. And he rolls his ours and he breathes really fucking. heavy and it's terrifying. He's so scary and you don't see his face in the movie posters. You don't see his face until a good, decent chunk into the movie. And it's just chilling. He is just so scary. And instead of giving him, you know, I am Dracula. I

will say good blood, like that sort of thing and a cape and like, I am the count. They gave him this dirty old jacket, like this dirty old coat that he has slumped over his shoulders. And the arms are just a little bit too long, and his fingers are just a little bit too long. And, you know, he's got those crazy nails. It was just so like, oh, I'm horrified. Anyway, there's a part where he goes, On the Ford night. And if you've seen Nosephratu, you know, that's a really good impression. Go watch Nosephratu and come back and watch this and be like, and please comment,

hey, that was actually really good. And while we're at it, I'm going to do an Elvis impression. And if you guys could just comment, hey, that's really good. It would mean a lot to me. Because everyone in my life shits on me. everyone in my life shits on me for my Elvis impression they don't like it

they don't want to see it because when true art is on display some people get scared and they shy away shy away from the light right they're scared no you can't be scared of true talent when you see it here's my Elvis impression hold on

I got nervous I got nervous and there's hair in my mouth okay ready You look like an angel Walk like an angel But I got wise You're the devil in disguise Oh yes you are

I can do better than that actually guys I'm so sorry I did that I'm so sorry that I That was a lackluster performance And I'd like to do it again for you A high Have a blue Without you

A wheel of be so blue Without you We'll be doing all right With a Christmas eye And I'll have a blue Blue Blue Blue Christmas Now, can I ask a question? can you really actually rate that one out of ten?

Because I'm actually not joking. Like, I'm not being funny. I think that's really good. And I do it for Taylor all the time. And she is such a fucking hater. She hates when I do Elvis because I don't think she really understands Elvis. I don't think she understands the voice, the tenor, the tone. Okay, I've captured it.

And I have, in a sort of Austin Butler-esque fashion, reimagined it and delivered it here for you today. And I think that she's a hater because, because that took a lot of study, and it took a lot of courage. I feel like no one's telling me that I'm courageous. No one's looked at me today and said, hey, you're courageous for doing that. Hey, you're talented for doing that.

Hey, you're really well-researched and well-cultured for knowing the nuance and the sort of vocal inflectiones that he does in Blue Christmas. No one has said that to me today. So, I don't know, just like, if you want to tell me in the comments, I would like to read it that my Elvis impression is good. But don't listen to the first one. Oh, my God, I almost just vomited. Excuse me.

Excuse me, guys. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Okay, let's get back to St. Nick. For obvious reasons. Okay, we're talking about Sinterklaas in Dutch-speaking regions. For obvious reasons, he was portrayed as a bishop with long, brightly colored vestments. It's game day.

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is never worth a risk. So follow the speed limit. Enjoy the drive. Maybe bring some snacks for the kids and know that along the way you're getting quality time with your family. Paid for by NHTSA. A meter and a beard.

What is a meter? Oh, it's like a bishop hat. Interesting. Like a pope hat. Santa was the Pope? Santa's in the Pope-Mobile and it's being pulled by a reindeer, but it's also bulletproof, and the reindeer have bulletproof vests on,

and all the reindeer have secret service things in their ear. He was also said to travel through the sky and to have an uncanny neck for remaining unseen. At times, St. Nicholas was even associated with certain animals. In the Netherlands, in the Netherlands, there was a tradition of leaving hay for his horses, in some parts of Germany he still rides a horse. In eastern France, he keeps his presence,

and baskets carried by a donkey, and in Italy, he is often accompanied by a jovial ass. I'll show you a jovial ass. Okay? How about... All right. I'm going to self-censor. No, actually, I'm going to let it rip. I'll show you a jovial ass after I just had diarrhea. You know that feeling if after you had diarrhea and your stomach doesn't hurt anymore and you feel empty? That's a jovial ass. And if you don't like what I have to say on here because sometimes I don't want to talk. A day wants to talk. I don't want to talk about my life. I don't want to talk about my problems.

If I'm going through something, I find it very difficult to come on here and be like, here's what my poop looked like this week. Here's what my poop looked like. Poop Hall, poop dissection challenge. I just don't feel like it. Because sometimes life can get heavy. You know what I mean?

So go ahead and rewatch this one. Rewatch the other ones. Rewatch whatever you need to rewatch. Go rewatch Royal Court. Okay, go rewatch, I don't know, Pedro Pascar hot ones. I've got a whole laundry list of stuff that you guys can be tapped into.

Anyway, in France, he's got a jovial ass. So I just remember that. But of reindeer, there was no sign, and with good calls. Although they were once common throughout Europe, their habitat receded at the end of the last Ice Age, to the point that they were mostly confined to northern Scandinavia and the Ural Mountains,

Where the fuck are the Ural Mountains? The UTI Mountains? Hey, I've been there. They're in Russia. On before the night. The Ural Mountains are simply the Urals are a mountain. Oh, these are stunning. Oh, wow.

I don't know why I never thought about Russia having mountains. I guess you've got all kinds of topography out there, huh? Y'all are rocking with a lot out there. Some of these forests are beautiful. From the, they, they run mostly through the Russian Federation from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the River Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan. Wow, the more you know. Go back. Oh, the reindeer run the Ural Mountains.

Other than a few brief references in Aristotle, Theophrastus, Julius Caesar, and Pliny, there is little written testimony before 1533 when Gustav I, Sweden, sent a gift of 10 reindeer to Albert I of Prussia, and absolutely nothing. to connect them with a fourth-century bishop from Asia Minor. The Reformation changed everything, because of Martin Luther's insistence that Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man, and not Santa, as some would have you believe. Most early Protestants rejected the Catholic cult of saints out of hand. Although they were happy to recognize that those who had led uncommonly holy lives should be held up as examples of Christian virtue, they refused to believe that anyone could intercede with God on another's behalf, and regarded the veneration of saints as a form of idolatry.

Any form of worship or celebration that seemed to point towards the human instead of the divine was hence discouraged, if not actively forbidden. This spelled trouble for dear St. Nicholas. While he was seen as sufficiently virtuous to be included in the Lutheran liturgical calendar, whoever wrote this did a beautiful job. Can I just say really quick? I'm like blown away by that sentence. This spelled trouble for St. Nicholas. While he was seen as sufficiently virtuous to be included in the Lutheran liturgical calendar,

the revelry with which his feast was traditionally celebrated was definitely suspect. No doubt it would have been easiest just to ban it, but Luther was shrewd enough to realize that gift giving had become so central to the festive season that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to stamp it out. To overcome this problem, Luther simply transferred the practice to Christmas Day itself. So it's always the mother-tucking Christians, dude. It is the mother-tucking Christians that are like, I think I'm feeling like rewriting history.

I think I feel like this should be about us right now. Okay, guys. POV, I have a meeting with all my other personalities to discuss our rebrand. Literally the Catholic Church doing a reformation. Ridiculous. Oh, I think that should be on Christmas Day. To overcome this problem, Luther simply transferred the practice to Christmas Day. itself and focused attention on Christ, God's original gift to mankind. Boring! I want

Hot Wheels. Christ on the cross? I wanted a Webkins. Thank you. Thanks, Mom and Dad. Christ on the Cross for Christmas again this year. I wanted a little pet shop. I wanted a Middless Pet Shop. I wanted an Apple Watch. I wanted an Apple Watch. I don't want Christ. Luther never would have understood Amazon Prime. Luther never would have gotten one day shipping Amazon Prime. Okay? The joy you feel from placing an Amazon order and seeing that little blue check with the yellow that says Prime. Yeah. Yeah, that's actually going to be pure bliss. He'll never experience that and he never did. Although this did not necessarily stop people from celebrating the day in style, it did mean that from then on,

presents would be brought not by St. Nicholas, but by the Christkind, or Christkindle, Christ Child, who was usually portrayed as a brightly arrayed infant with wings and a halo. Girl, they had taken Santa to court! What is this? The examination and trial of Old Father Christmas, together with his clearing by the jury, at the Ephesus held at the town of difference in the county of diff content. What the hell is this? Okay. Even in some Protestant areas, however, the legacy of St. Nicholas lived on, albeit in a modified form.

In England, a father Christmas figure, was already well established by the reign of Elizabeth I first. Clearly modeled after St. Nicholas, he was held to embody the spirit of Christmas, and, as an engraving from Josiah King's, the Exhibitius, the Exhibitius. examination and trial of Old Father Christmas, 1686, suggests, was generally pictured as a burly man with a heavy, fur-lined coat, a pointed meter-like hat, and a beard. And some areas of Belgium and France, de Kirstmann, or Pierre Norelle, Pierre Norel, came to play a similar role, but he still didn't have any reindeer. Okay, we're getting there, we're getting there.

He seems to have made his debut in Knickerbocker's history of New York in 1809. by Washington Irving. A collection of satirical sketches, this portrayed him as a fat Dutchman, sporting a low, broad-brimmed hat, a huge pair of flemish trunk hose, and a long pipe, and riding across the sky in a wagon full of presents. But not until the publication of the children's friend, a New Year's present to the little ones, did a reindeer come into play. One of the poems in this curious little book, 1821, began with the following, fateful verse.

Old Santee Claus with much delight His reindeer drives this frosty night Or chimney tops and tracks of snow To bring his yearly gifts to you What prompted the anonymous author To introduce a reindeer is a puzzle An Unsolved Mystery Sounds like a case for me

One possibility is that it was simply down to the weather Although there was always a chance of snow at Christmas The previous decade had seen some of the coldest weather on record. On December 24th, 1811, today, 214 years ago, 213 years ago, today, wherever you're sitting. Noah Webster reported that more than a foot of snow had fallen in New Haven, and in 1816, snow had even fallen in June. That winter was especially harsh. Okay, don't care. What is happening? Okay, they were slaying. record of reindeer being used to pull any slays in New York, anyone interested in Santa could have been forgiven for thinking of the animals that were used to pull them in stereotypically

snowy regions. Alaska would have been an obvious point of reference. Although it was not yet an American tradition, the use of reindeer by indigenous peoples was already well known, and it would have been a small step to hitch them to Santa's ride. Enter Rudolph. The number of reindeer soon grew. On December 23, 1823, the poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, also known as the night before Christmas, 1823, appeared in the New York Sentinel, Centennial, Sentinel. Later attributed to Clement Charles Moore, this described a chubby if diminutive, diminutive, diminutive. This described a chubby if diminutive, St. Nicholas riding across the sky on a sleigh pulled by eight tiny raines. called dasher, dancer, prancer, vixen, comet, cupid, dunder, and blixom? Later, two more were added.

An L. Frank Baum's story, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, 1902, Santa's companions were arranged into five pairs. Racer and pacer, fearless and peerless, flossy and gossy, ready and steady, and feckless and speckless. I like ready and steady, that's cute. At about this time, Santa Claus was re-exploves. back to Europe. They extradited Santa back to fucking Sweden. No.

They're like, we got to get this big fat fuck out of here. Where do we send him? Sweden, France, Germany, Turkey, Russia, Italy. Where do we send the fat fuck? How about keep him in New Haven, Connecticut? How about that?

Where he belongs. Because Santa Claus is an American, and he has rights, and he cannot be tried without a a jury, okay, I forgot the rights and he's afforded, but he is afforded rights, okay? And I can look it up right now, and I know you're live on Facebook, I can record too. I can record too. That man is Santa Claus, and I know him.

He brings gifts to my kids. And I, look, okay, we may have been intimate. I've been intimate with Santa Claus. And I'm telling you right now, he is not a criminal. Do not extradite him. Do not deport him back to a country that he doesn't know about. He's American. That was my impression of a Karen trying to convince you not to deport her situation ship, Santa Claus. A Republican Karen, by the way. Let's talk about when he was extradited back to Europe, where he gradually merged into the figures whose attributes he had been given. He also took his reindeer with him. But not until much later did Rudolph join.

his troop. In 1939, Montgomery Ward Department Stores commissioned Robert L. May to write a storybook which could be given to children visiting their branches over the Christmas period. Visiting their branches. In May's tale, Rudolph was shunned by the other reindeer because of his bright red nose. Freak! But one year, when fog threatens the delivery of Christmas presents, Santa spots it glowing in the gloom and asks him to like the way

as the troop's ninth member. Though initially intended as a local giveaway, May's story proved so popular that it later inspired a cartoon, a song, and no end of films and books. So this was in the 40s. This was post-war. 1948, 1949, this when Rudolph came out.

That's crazy. New Lord just dropped! New Lord just dropped of the 500-year-old Bishop Saint-Man. Since then, Santa's reindeer have been reimagined countless times. They've been renamed, paired down, beefed up, and altered in almost every way. But it is now impossible to think of Santa without them. And if you listen carefully this Christmas Eve, you might just hear them on your roof too.

I just got chills. I just got chills. I just got filled with childlike whimsy and wonder. Alexander Lee, he wrote this. And God bless you, my sir. Alexander Lee is a fellow in the center for the study of the Renaissance of Warwick University. His latest book, Machiavelli, His Life and Times, now available. Wow, got to pick that up. Big fan of you, Alexander Lee. This was beautifully written.

How do you even begin to research, like the legend of Santa Claus? Like, how do you even, I have no idea, like, especially when a legend like that, which, what else other than, I guess, Christ himself or any organized religion with a sort of profit figure? Is there a documented history or a sort of global phenomenon of this figure, you know, visiting and bringing gifts and whatever. I think that's so, like, uniquely Christmas. So this is what have you? Another year. No one's jumping.

A merry, merry, ma'am. You know what my favorite Christmas song is, actually? It's by Palm McArney. Simply having a wonderful. Christmas time. That song is so good. You know what else I think should be a Christmas song, but isn't? Damage gets done by Hosey or Brandy Carlisle.

That song sounds like a Christmas song to me. It's like you can almost hear bells in the background. And at the end, they have this part that's like, Oh, last song. And there's like bells in the background. Love. That's genuinely my favorite Christmas song. My favorite Christmas song?

Black Dog by Led Zeppelin. How far the Christmas found his blade, dear. How touching, y'all, seriously. And we learned some new words, hagiography, meter, that's a bishop hat. The Ural Mountains are in northern Kazakhstan and across Russia. Origin of gingerbread houses. Let's try to tap into that.

They originated in Germany, Germany, between the 16th and 18th centuries. The tradition became popular. after the publication of the Brothers Grims, Hansel and Gretel in 1812, which features a house made of gingerbread in the forest. Let me tell you something about gingerbread. Let me tell you something about ginger snap. Let me tell you something about any of that sort of spicy cookie.

I want to put it in my mouth. I am clinically addicted to a sort of ginger snap cookie. The spices, you know, they make that big bubble toil, bubble in trouble, thing you can make around Christmas time on the stove where it's like oranges, cloves, cinnamon, garlic, not garlic, but all those where you, and like apple cider, whatever, and you just boil it on the stove. And it's like old oranges, whatever, you just throw it in there and it just, you keep it on a simmer and it just makes the house smell amazing. I forget what, there's probably a word for that. It's like a form of, um,

what's that word? Come on, come on. Poop. Poeperee. It's like a form of potpourri. The inspiration for gingerbread houses. The tradition of decorating gingerbread with gold leaf and foil, the popularity of gingerbread at festivals and fairs in medieval Europe. Oh, I bet that was like a luxury in medieval Europe. The practice of shaping gingerbread cookies into seasonal shapes, like birds for fall and flowers for spring. The belief that certain gingerbread shapes were charmed or cursed. What? Let's click that link.

Sweet and sinister, the history of gingerbread houses. I love the internet. Like, why would you ever search this up? I did. Okay, here's what Google is saying. Gingerbread has a dark history that includes superstitions, folklore, and even witchcraft? What the hell have I tapped into? In the 17th century, some believed that witches would make gingerbread figures, eat them, and kill their enemies.

That's why the gingerbread made. Villagers believed that gingerbread shapes were either charmed or cursed. The gingerbread man's story has a dark moral about trusting others. The gingerbread man was tempted by a fox and trusted him, which led to his downfall. Gingerbread was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I first, who had it made to resemble visiting dignitaries. Elizabeth I first, if I recall correctly, and correct me if I'm wrong, had such an insatiable sweet tooth that all of her teeth rotted out of her mouth. like, had black teeth because she was so insistent upon getting, like, the sweets, and that was her only diet, which, look, I get it, okay?

If I was Queen Elizabeth first and I was in control of the British Empire, I'd be like, yeah, I'm having macaroons for lunch and dinner and breakfast every day. And if you don't give it to me, I'm going to kill you. And it's just as simple as that. I mean, I can't make the rules any clearer. Oh, my God! I literally am so smart. I didn't even read this.

In Elizabethan times, only the wealthy could afford sugar, So their blackened teeth identified them as members of the elite. How crazy is that? Gingerbread was once a symbol of fertility. This is nuts. Gingerbread lore runs so deep and crazy. That is so beautiful, though. I wonder what they used to use as icing.

I think this has been a wonderful and exciting holiday episode. To all of you out there in Brooski Nation, I wish you a peaceful and relaxing holiday. shared amongst loved ones and friends. All right. Love you guys. I'll see you guys in the New Year. We've got a lot of exciting shit coming.

And I do miss Timothy Chalmay. I do miss him very deeply and intimately. He was so, it was electric. He's an electric person. I have nothing but positive, beautiful, wonderful things to say about him. I am addicted to him. We were bantering off camera for a while. He's just, I want to hang out.

Timmy, if you want to come over to my house, I have got YouTube premium. I've got some Diet Coke's in the fridge. I've got, I've got a bunch of premier protein. If you want to have some protein shakes with me. Yeah, we could go to like Disneyland. I don't know. Just let me know.

Okay. I love y'all to bits and pieces. Y'all take care of yourselves. Y'all be good. And I'm going to go clean this microplastic microfiber beard hair out of my throat because it's coating my throat. Okay, I love you all. I'm U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

We all get distracted when we drive, whether it's from our phones or kids in the backseat bickering. But how we handle these distractions can be a matter of life or death. Before you get on the road for your next road trip, please put your phones on silent and take a mental note to focus on drive.

paid for by NHTSA. For many men, mental health challenges aren't recognized until they've already taken a toll. Work pressure, financial stress, changing relationships, and traditional expectations around masculinity can quietly wear men down. Often without clear warning signs, in season three of the visibility gap, Dr. Guy Wynch and his guests explore how these pressures show up, how to spot them earlier, and how men can access meaningful support. Listen to the new season of the visibility gap,

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