Black Friday in the UK is the Friday before Christmas. Instead of shopping, many people get very drunk!
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The first Christmas card was designed in 1843 by J.C. Horsley.
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The first postage stamp to commemorate Christmas was issued in Austria in 1937.
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One town in Indiana is called Santa Claus. There is also a Santa, Idaho.
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The sun sets on 24 December at 3.55pm in the UK, and rises the following morning at 8.05am.
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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
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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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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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