The word Christmas comes from Cristes maesse, or "Christ's Mass." There is no set date for his birth in scripture and it wasn't celebrated on any particular day. However Christmas was first celebrated on the 25th of December in Rome in 336AD with an aim t
16
In 1999, residents of the state of Maine in America built the world's biggest ever snowman. He stood at 113ft tall.
103
The abbreviation Xmas isn't irreligious. The letter X is a Greek abbreviation for Christ.
273
Black Friday in the UK is the Friday before Christmas. Instead of shopping, many people get very drunk!
10
US scientists calculated that Santa would have to visit 822 homes a second to deliver all the world's presents on Christmas Eve, travelling at 650 miles a second.
415
Louis Prang, a Bavarian-born lithographer who came to the USA from Germany in the 19th century, popularized the sending of printed Christmas cards. He invented a way of reproducing color oil paintings
, the "chromolithograph technique", and created a car
, the "chromolithograph technique", and created a car
1
7.6 million Christmas trees are sold each year.
100
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