“Jingle Bells” wasn’t meant to be a Christmas song—and that misunderstanding may be its greatest mistake.
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Jingle Bells is one of the most recognizable Christmas songs ever written… except it wasn’t written for Christmas at all. In this week’s Mistake of the Week, we unpack one of America’s most enduring cultural misconceptions: the belief that Jingle Bells has anything to do with Christmas.
Originally titled One Horse Open Sleigh, the song debuted at a Thanksgiving church service in the 1850s and was inspired not by Santa or reindeer, but by noisy, fast sleigh races in Medford, Massachusetts. No Christmas trees. No North Pole. Just winter racing, youthful chaos, and a catchy melody.
Over the decades, repetition turned assumption into “truth,” and a Thanksgiving song quietly shifted into a holiday anthem. It’s a perfect example of how knowledge mistakes spread — harmless, familiar, and rarely examined.
In this 3–4 minute episode, Mark explains:
- Why Jingle Bells was never meant to be a Christmas song
- How repetition and cultural habit transformed it anyway
- What this teaches us about assumptions, organizational habits, and the stories we never question
- Why small knowledge mistakes can persist for generations
If you care about learning, improvement, and understanding how mistaken beliefs take root, this episode offers a fun seasonal reminder: even our most cherished “facts” deserve a second look.
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Transcript:
Transcript:
It is Mark Graban for My Favorite Mistake.
Every December, there is a mistake we all make. I mean not just a few of us — practically everyone who can hum a tune. We treat “Jingle Bells” as a Christmas carol. It is one of the most popular songs, the one we learned in school, the one we sing at office parties, the one that follows us through every store starting, you know, around mid-October.
And it makes perfect sense — until you learn the truth.
Because “Jingle Bells” was not written for Christmas at all.
It debuted not in December, but at a Thanksgiving service in the 1850s, which makes this one of the most enduring, good-natured knowledge mistakes in American culture. A mistake so widespread, we do not even notice it.
We do not know about it. We just assume, repeat, and carry on. Like so many traditions, we never stop to question.
Let’s rewind about 170 years.
The song we now call “Jingle Bells” was originally titled One Horse Open Sleigh. Its writer, James Lord Pierpont, was inspired by sleigh races in Medford, Massachusetts — fast, loud, slightly chaotic winter competitions that were basically NASCAR on snow.
He wrote a song to capture that energy. There is no Santa, no tree, no reindeer — just young people having fun and sometimes wiping out in a snowdrift.
And historians say Pierpont’s song debuted at a Thanksgiving church service, where it was sung as a lively seasonal number celebrating the start of winter.
That’s right. Your favorite Christmas song began life as a Thanksgiving song.
But here’s where the mistake creeps in.
Over time, as people kept singing the song through December, it stuck. It felt Christmas-y, even without mentioning Christmas. Eventually, the title was changed to “Jingle Bells,” leaning into the catchiest part of the chorus.
Once that happened, the assumption became self-fulfilling. We hear the song during the holidays, so we associate it with the holidays. So we play it during the holidays. And the cycle repeats — until the original story quietly disappears.
It is a great example of how knowledge mistakes do not always feel like mistakes.
Sometimes they feel familiar. Comforting. Traditional.
Sometimes they even come with sleigh bells.
If you have got two towns fighting over where the song was written — Medford, Massachusetts, and Savannah, Georgia — you know the history is murky enough that even the plaques cannot agree. But on one point, historians are pretty united.
It was never meant to be a Christmas song.
So when I look at this through the lens of learning and improvement, there is a broader message.
Not all mistakes are dramatic. Some are quiet. Some come from repetition, from convention, from stories we inherit without ever stopping to check the source. And sometimes, the most persistent mistakes are the ones that simply feel true — especially in organizations.
This happens all the time.
“We’ve always done it this way.”
“We assume the process works.”
“We think we know why something happens.”
But the moment we get curious — the moment we ask, “How do we actually know this?” — that is when learning can begin.
So yes, “Jingle Bells” may be one of the world’s most beloved Christmas songs, but it started as a cheerful tune for Thanksgiving.
And the next time you hear it, maybe you can channel Oscar from The Office and say, “Well, actually…”
Yes, actually, it’s a Thanksgiving song.
But make sure you enjoy the party anyway.
For My Favorite Mistake, this is Mark Graban, wishing you a Merry Christmas and happy holidays.