The sun sets on 24 December at 3.55pm in the UK, and rises the following morning at 8.05am.
81
At Christmas, it is traditional to exchange kisses beneath the mistletoe tree. In ancient Scandinavia, mistletoe was associated with peace and friendship. That may account for the custom of "kissing beneath the mistletoe".
27
Carols began as an old English custom called wassailing, toasting neighbours to a long life.
33
Many theologians estimate that Jesus wasn't born on December 25 but sometime in September between 6BC and 30AD.
42
One town in Indiana is called Santa Claus. There is also a Santa, Idaho.
122
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
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
The typical image we have of Santa Claus dressed in red clothes with white fur trim, is an amalgamation of cultural input over many years. Some people claim the image of Santa we know today is from Coca-cola advertising, but this simply isn't true. The st
33
