Nearly 60 million Christmas trees are grown each year in Europe.
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Robins on cards were a joke 150 years ago when postmen wore red tunics and were named after them.
20
Carols began as an old English custom called wassailing, toasting neighbours to a long life.
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The tradition of putting tangerines in stockings comes from 12th-century French nuns who left socks full of fruit, nuts and tangerines at the houses of the poor.
42
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was invented for a US firm's Christmas promotion in 1938.
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Gold-wrapped chocolate coins commemorate St Nicholas who gave bags of gold coins to the poor.
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Frumenty was a spiced porridge, enjoyed by both rich and poor. It was a forerunner of modern Christmas puddings. It is linked in legend to the Celtic god Dagda, who stirred a porridge made up of all the good things of the earth.
5
One town in Indiana is called Santa Claus. There is also a Santa, Idaho.
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