Christmas

**Christmas** is a real-world Christian holiday. It is the backdrop for the *Jungle Cruise* overlay, the *Jingle Cruise* along with other Christmas themed overlays at the Disney Parks.

## History

### Background

Christmas is a Christian holiday held on December 25th, traditionally to celebrate the birth of the Christian messiah Jesus Christ, though the date is not actually affiliated with the birth of Christ in the bible or history. The date was chosen by Christian imperialists during their subjugation of Western Europe as a means of eradicating the winter solstice celebration of Yule that was actually held in that time by natives of the conquered land. Practices of the Christmas celebration were blended with native festivities and the Roman celebration of Saturnalia.

By the 20th century, mainstream Christmas traditions involved colourful decor and gift-giving. The most recognizable figure of the celebration is Santa Claus, a magical figure based on various pagan entities from across the world, the historic St. Nicholas of Myra (270- 343), and who was designed in his mainstream form by the company *Coca-Cola* as part of a 1931 marketing campaign. Claus is a magical gift-bringer from the *North Pole* who travels the world in a flying sleigh pulled by eight magical reindeer to deliver presents to good children.

### The Jingle Cruise

#### Origins

The *Jungle Navigation Company* was an early 20th century colonial company originating from the British Empire. In 1935, the Jungle Navigation Company held their first, "Jingle Cruise", a holiday-themed tour of the supernatural *Rivers of Adventure*. Their boat the *Ganges Gertie* had particular significance during this event, having been renamed to the, "Garland Gertie" for the event. The practice of continuing the Jingle Cruise would continue for the following years, being an event promoted by flyers and *The Daily Gnus* newspaper.

During one of these tours (potentially even the inaugural Jingle Cruise), an air shipment of holiday decoration missed its marker and was dumped in the rivers. Because of this, the jungles became polluted with Holiday decor that the Jungle Navigation Company condoned as an improvised decoration (despite the harm it caused to the local wildlife). Other events in this incident included a troop of gorillas ransacking a JNC camp holding Christmas presents and cooking-ingredients within the Congo Basin, a tiger seemingly killing a skipper in the Cambodian ruins of the Mekong river, the famous, "Lost Safari" of the African Veldt being spotted run up a makeshift Christmas tree by a rhino, and the events having been reported by *Daily Gnus* journalist Tallahassee Glover.

During or between this event and 1938, the prevalence of Christmas influence brought in by the Jungle Navigation Company influenced the Indigenous peoples who called the jungles claimed and colonized by the JNC their home. Amongst these were the Umbala tribe of North Africa who were traditional enemies of the Jungle Navigation Company, leading attacks on the British business for intruding on their territory. During the holidays, the Umbala sometimes still performed these attacks but could also be found dancing to Christmas music in ugly-sweaters, and drunkenly cheering on *Jingle Cruise* boats as they passed.

Holiday themed pollution would appear to become a standard tradition of the Jungle Navigation Company's *Jingle Cruise* celebrations. The company's South American Indigenous affiliates, "Trader Sam" and his cousin Chief Nah-mee would make a business of these tours. Sam would sell commodities such as champagne to boat-riders for the coming *New Year's Eve* while Nah-mee assumed a Santa costume and the identity of, "Trader Sam-ta" to trade shrunken-heads as Christmas presents. JNC member Nigel Greenwater would make special Christmas broadcasts on his radio company *The Global Broadcasting Service* as a tie-in for the Jingle Cruise.

#### Missing Tour

In 1938, the Jingle Cruise coincided with a VIP Jungle Cruise aboard the Kwango Kate being lost along the rivers of adventure and stranded on the African Veldt. The marooned passengers were encountered by at-least two tours with unknown results.

### Tropical Snowstorms

Trader Sam would oversee Christmas-themed overlays of his Polynesian bars, one opened in Adventureland in the mid-1930s and the other in the Great Ceremonial House of a Polynesian Village around 1960. These celebrations coincided with paranormal incidents of snowstorms affecting the tropical jungles. Some of these snowstorms appeared connected to snow-flakes and blizzards being blasted from the nearby volcanoes. Patrons of the bar included the likes of excavator Sallah Mohammed Faisel el-Kahir, the British, "Witch Doctor" Colonel Nedley "Shrunken Ned" Lostmore and *Adventurers Club* members such as Otis T. Wren, Prof. Fletcher Hodges, Colonel Critchlow Sunchbench, Emil Bleehall, Samantha Sterling, their butler, "Graves", and club ventriloquist's dummy, "Slappy".

## Jungle Cruise appearances

### Adventureland

In 2023, Patrick Begorra's tree was given some miniature holiday decorations.

#### Adventure Trading Company

In the Daily Gnus newspaper were advertisements for the JNC's *Jingle Cruise*.

#### Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye

In a message to Sallah, Indiana Jones compares the popularity of tourism in the Temple of the Forbidden Eye to that of Santa Claus. The Temple of the Forbidden Eye is also passed by on the Jingle Cruise with skippers sometimes acknowledging Jones' relationship with the holidays.

#### Jungle Cruise

In Disneyland's Jingle Cruise, there is a box of Jingle Cruise decorations left behind in the jungle which came to reside in *Trader Sam's Gift Shop!*. In the Magic Kingdoms' Jungle Cruise, there is a life-preserver from the Garland Gertie in the *Amazon River Base* from the inaugural Jingle Cruise. There is also a photograph of, "Junior Skippers" setting up the first Jingle Cruise in 1935.

#### Skipper Canteen

On the bulletin board is an advertisement for the Jingle Cruise tours, a box of Christmas decorations on a shelf, and a couple of books referencing the Holidays in the library.

### Trader Sam's

Around the holidays, the bars of Trader Sam go through Christmas-themed overlays.

## Trivia

* The, "Tropical Snowstorm" affiliated with Christmas at Trader Sam's parallels the backstory of *Disney's Blizzard Beach* where a rare tropical blizzard struck Florida in the 1990s.
	+ Blizzard Beach is loosely connected to the Jungle Cruise's continuity via its story connections to sister-park *Disney's Typhoon Lagoon*, a water-park connected to the characters of Trader Sam and Captain Mary Oceaneer.
* British author Charles Dickens' 1843 Christmas novella *A Christmas Carol* is often referenced in the Jingle Cruise.
* With Polynesian theming, Disney will sometimes use, "Mele Kalikimaka" as a stand-in for, "Merry Christmas" in reference to the 1949 song *Mele Kalikimaka*. Mele Kalikimaka is not actually any Hawaiian language's natural translation of the phrase, instead being the English, "Merry Christmas" being applied to the Hawaiian language's phonetic system.
* The winter holidays of New Year's Eve and Hanukkah are referenced in lesser capacities at Jungle Cruise holiday overlays.
* Amongst the dumped cargo in the African Veldt from the 1938 Jingle Cruise was a crate addressed to Nilo Nemolato, a character from the Jungle Cruise film.

## Gallery

The Tropical Snowstorm at the Polynesian VillageThe Tropical Snowstorm of Adventureland
## References

1. ↑ https://www.mousewait.com/disneyland/lands-talk/745792/The-back-side-of-the-Jungle-Cruise-tree
2. ↑ https://wdwnt.com/2021/08/photos-new-life-ring-props-come-to-jungle-cruise-at-magic-kingdom/
3. ↑ https://www.disneytouristblog.com/christmas-trader-sams/
4. ↑ https://wdwnt.com/2021/08/photos-new-trophy-wall-alberta-falls-and-map-murals-added-to-jungle-cruise-queue-at-the-magic-kingdom/
5. ↑ https://touringplans.com/blog/s6\_skippercanteen/