Although now mostly vegetarian, in Victorian times, mince pies were made with beef and spices.
14
Gold-wrapped chocolate coins commemorate St Nicholas who gave bags of gold coins to the poor.
196
Coca Cola was the first beverage company to use Santa for a winter promotion.
251
In Greek legend, malicious creatures called Kallikantzaroi sometimes play troublesome pranks at Christmas time. In order to get rid of them, salt or an old shoe is burnt. The pungent burning stench drives off, or at least helps discourage, the Kallikantza
6
The Queen's Christmas speech was first televised in 1957.
18
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
The sun sets on 24 December at 3.55pm in the UK, and rises the following morning at 8.05am.
81
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
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