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What is it about a mistletoe that says \\u201csmooch?\\u201d And what the heck is figgy pudding anyway?\\xa0The holidays are here again, and with\\xa0them come songs, foods, and rituals so familiar we may not think to ask where they come from...until now! In this holiday special, we track down the origins of some puzzling Christmastime traditions, jingling all the way from Norse mythology to Victorian home cooking, the Emancipation Proclamation, and even out of this world.

Guests:

Margaret Weitekamp, chair of the Space History Department of the Smithsonian\\u2019s National Air and Space Museum; curator of cultural and social history of spaceflight

Ashley Rose Young, food historian at the Smithsonian\\u2019s National Museum of American History

Teddy Reeves, curator of religion at the Smithsonian\\u2019s National Museum of African American History and Culture

Jim Deutsch, curator at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage