Since the beginning traditions are what makes Christmas so special. So are well known such as Christmas Trees, decorations, Stockings hung by the chimney with care, and good ole wassail. Some are not so well known. Such is the tradition of Christmas spankings. Which dates back to the middle ages and the Renaissance and has been the subject of many artists as seen below in Raphael's "The Whackin' at the Manger":
and carried through to the late 1800's as depicted in early "funny papers" of the time as depicted in the "Whackinjammer Kidz" strip:
This revelry carried through to the Roaring Twenty's where most of the roaring came from those flappers receiving a hearty whacking on the tush:
Christmas spanking hit its zenith during the war years where there was little else to give during Christmas due to mandatory rationing and the shortage of products from Japan, since most of their able bodied population were either in the war related industries, the army, or kamikaze corps. Hence, many Christmas movies of the time featured spanking scenes like the famous "Spanking of Baby Snookum's" series of movies:
With the post war years bringing a new wealth of inovation such as television, TV dinners, cars with fins, and dance crazes such as the twist, which actually originated when Chubby Checker's mom tried to give him his annual Christmas spanking,
the tradition of spanking was lost to the more lavish and glamorous traditions. As a matter of fact the last know instance of the tradition was part of the 1959 "Lassie Christmas Special" when Timmy at the urging of Lassie herself received his last public whacking:
You can now revive and relive this lost tradition of Christmas with:
available only at the local record store!
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