Carols began as an old English custom called wassailing, toasting neighbours to a long life.
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In the Ukraine, if you find a spider web in the house on Christmas morning, it is believed to be a harbinger of good luck! There once lived a woman so poor, says a Ukrainian folk tale, that she could not afford Christmas decorations for her family. One Ch
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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.
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The world's tallest Xmas tree at 221ft high was erected in a Washington shopping mall in 1950.
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In many households, part of the fun of eating Christmas pudding is finding a trinket that predicts your fortune for the coming year. For instance, finding a coin means you will become wealthy. A ring means you will get married; while a button predicts bac
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Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was invented for a US firm's Christmas promotion in 1938.
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Although now mostly vegetarian, in Victorian times, mince pies were made with beef and spices.
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The first postage stamp to commemorate Christmas was issued in Austria in 1937.
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