List of 10 Christmas Facts You’d Probably Be Surprised To Hear
CHRISTMAS FACTS – Here are ten (10) facts about this holiday season meant for celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.
Countless people across the globe love the Christmas celebration. Many individuals are often out to shop for gifts and prepare foods for parties that take place left and right. However, there are still a lot of things that many people don’t know about the event.
There are not only Christmas trivia but as well as some Christmas facts that remain unpopular in many countries across the globe. These detail range from the food preparations to the characters associated with the celebration, and the name “Christmas” itself.
Below, you can check some of the facts about the celebration that you may have yet to know.
1. “Christmas” came from the Old English phrase Cistes maesse which means “Christ’s mass”. The other term usually replaced to it is “Xmas”. However, other people say that the name of Christ must not be replaced with “X”.
Actually, in Greek language, “X” represents the letter “Chi” which is the first letter in the Greek word for Christ, Χριστός (pronounced ‘Christos’).
2. Most of the festive traditions in the United Kingdom today were from the Victorian era which includes the giving of Christmas gifts and cards and the traditional foods like the roast turkey and mince spies. Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, were fond of celebrating Christmas.
3. Santa Claus is not the only Christmas character. In Italy, they have the La Befana which is described as a kind witch flying around on a broomstick delivering toys to children.
4. In 1644, Christmas celebrations were illegal in the English colonies but there are those who secretly celebrate it. It was only after 20 years that the people were allowed to celebrate it.
5. Santa Claus is based on Turkish monk St. Nicholas who is popular for helping the poor and the sick. The Dutch eventually called the man “Sinter Klaas” and his story was brought to New York.
6. Fridays and Saturdays before have always been the busiest shopping days of the year. Statistics in the United States consistently showed that the Fridays and Saturdays before the Christmas eve are the busiest days when a lot of people are out to buy gifts, foods, and other things needed for the celebration.
7. Prince Albert of Germany made the “Christmas tree” which became a tradition popular after he got a tree for his wife, Queen Victoria. The couple both loved Christmas.
8. The eight reindeers had lots of name. While Rudolph was almost named Rollo or Reginald, the other reindeers were initially named Glossie, Pacer, Flossie, Racer, Feckless, Scratcher, Steady, Ready, and Fireball.
9. Among the countless Christmas songs across the globe, the most-recorded song is the “Silent Night”. It has over 733 different versions copyrighted since 1978.
10. Ham has always been the food most popular to be associated with Christmas celebrations but, across the globe, recent Google Trends data showed that another Christmas food, roasted Turkey, has outranked the ham.