Facts about Christmas

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There are many facts about Christmas out of which a few may be very common and a few just very surprising and new. Christmas has facts related to all what is done in this festive season. It is also believed that the birth of Jesus also has a few hidden facts! There are facts about its food, decoration, places it began, why it is celebrated etc.

Let us see a few facts about Christmas: -

Facts about Father Christmas or Santa Clause: - Father Christmas or Santa Claus has two addresses: North Pole & Edinburgh
The letters which are addressed to 'The North Pole' go to North Pole and the letters addressed to 'Snow land' or 'Toy land' go to Edinburgh.
Name of Santa deer: - Santa has many reindeers and they all have names. Their names are as follows Cupid, Dancer, Dasher, Comet, Vixen, Prancer, Donner / Donder, Blitzen and the very famous Rudolph. These are the most famous names of the Deer that were always seen with Santa. It is said that the names are taken from "A Visit From St. Nicholas" a book by Clement .C. Moore
White Christmas: - In the entire 20th century, England has only seven white Christmas. If the metrological department reports are to be believed, snow fell in the years 1938 and 1976. The last time when United Kingdom saw white Christmas was in the year 2004.
Christmas Food: -
- One of the most strange yet true Christmas fact is that, if you bake bread on Christmas eve, it will never be moldy
- The famous Christmas pudding was initially like a thick soup. This was made with the help of wine and raisins
- The Jesuits imported the Christmas turkey to France and it is still considered as 'Jesuite' in a few French dialects
- Another fact about Christmas pudding is that it is originally an old Celtic dish which is known as Frumenty.
Christmas day: -
- Till 440 AD, Jesus Christ's birthday was not celebrated on 25th December
- The Christmas speech of the queen to telecasted in the year 1957 for the first time
Christmas Carols: -
- Guitar was the first instrument which played the Christmas carol "silent night'
- The popular and very famous "Jingle Bells" was composed by James Pierpont in the year 1857. The original name of this carol was "One-Horse Open Sleigh".
- The main reason for composing was for singing it at thanksgiving and not Christmas
- Christmas carols were introduced as church services by St. Francis of Assisi

Few Other Facts:

Alabama was the first state to recognize Christmas as an official holiday in the year 1836.
Many people during the Christmas season treat their pets as humans. Almost 60 percent of Americans sing for their pets!
There are more than 21000 Christmas tree growers in USA every year
Till 2008, all the Christmas trees came from the forests!
The year 1510 observed the first ever decorated Christmas tree of the world. This was done in Riga Latvia
Christmas Trees are advantageous to the nature too; they remove pollen and dust from the air
evergreen trees were used to decorate the winter season even before Christ was born
Almost 35 million, real Christmas trees are sold in the United states of America every year
Electric lights on Christmas trees were used in the year 1895 for the first time
the word 'Christmas' is derived from the old English word Christ's mass
Maximum number of Diamonds is sold during the time of Christmas!
Charles Dickens wrote "a Christmas Carol" in just six weeks in the year 1843
Holly berries are poisonous
It is believed that an angel told Mary that she is going to have a baby and that too a boy!
In 1893, Mistletoe was chosen as the state flower of Oklahoma which was later changed to the flower emblem
The American Puritans did not want Christmas to be their prime festival, they wanted thanks giving instead.

There are several facts of Christmas, the above mentioned are just a few. Christmas season is not what it is said to be today, the origin of this season is very old. The activities which are performed today for celebrating this festival are very different than what it used to be initially.