Carols began as an old English custom called wassailing, toasting neighbours to a long life.
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Black Friday in the UK is the Friday before Christmas. Instead of shopping, many people get very drunk!
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Many theologians estimate that Jesus wasn't born on December 25 but sometime in September between 6BC and 30AD.
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Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was invented for a US firm's Christmas promotion in 1938.
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Electric lights for trees were first used in 1895.
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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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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.
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The abbreviation Xmas isn't irreligious. The letter X is a Greek abbreviation for Christ.
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