Saturday 8 December 2012

Yule Love This


With Christmas fast approaching, I thought we would look at the facts around this special time of year and see why we follow on the traditions that come with it.



It was once calculated that Santa Claus would have to visit 822 homes a second and travel at 650 miles a second to deliver all the presents on Christmas Eve.

Each year there are approximately 60 million Christmas trees grown in Europe each year.

According to biblical scholars, Jesus was most likely to have been born in a cave and not a barn as suggested in the bible.

Before turkeys were eaten at Christmas, the traditional meal was a pigs head and mustard.

You can actually eat most of a Christmas tree with the needles being a very good source of vitamin C.

Ever since 1947, London has been sent a Christmas tree yearly from Oslo to thank them for their help in the Second World War.

Although it has become folklore in many countries, Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer didn't first appear until 1939 when the story was published in a leaflet. The song of the same name was sung commercially by Harry Brannon on New York radio in 1949, shortly before it was released by Gene Autry as a chart topping single. The song also holds the record for being the only song in history to fall from the US singles chart after hitting #1.

We all know the story of Jesus being visited by three wise men, but the bible never confirms how many there were. In Matthews Gospel, it only mentions 'wise men'.

In Germany, Italy, Spain or Greece, workers are given a one month salary as a Christmas bonus by law.

The first ever Christmas cracker was created in 1847 by Tom Smith a London sweet maker who based it on the sweet wrapper design.

Although they have been reported to date back to Pagan tradition, but the first reference of a Christmas tree is in Germany in 1570.

Electric Christmas tree lights were invented by Edward Johnson in America in 1882.

Gold wrapped Christmas coins are given to commemorate St Nicholas who ave gold coins to the poor.

The Beatles hold the record for the most Christmas number 1 singles topping the chart in 1963, 1965 and 1967.

Having a robin on a Christmas card 150 years ago was considered a joke to mock postman who wore a red tunics.

The tradition of giving an orange at Christmas comes from 12th century nun who would give small socks filled with fruit and nuts to the poor.

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