Carols began as an old English custom called wassailing, toasting neighbours to a long life.
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English Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell banned Christmas between 1647 and 1660 because he believed such celebrations were immoral for the holiest day of the year.
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7.6 million Christmas trees are sold each year.
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Gold-wrapped chocolate coins commemorate St Nicholas who gave bags of gold coins to the poor.
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The first Christmas card was designed in 1843 by J.C. Horsley.
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In 1999, residents of the state of Maine in America built the world's biggest ever snowman. He stood at 113ft tall.
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Although now mostly vegetarian, in Victorian times, mince pies were made with beef and spices.
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The typical image we have of Santa Claus dressed in red clothes with white fur trim, is an amalgamation of cultural input over many years. Some people claim the image of Santa we know today is from Coca-cola advertising, but this simply isn't true. The st
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