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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Carols began as an old English custom called wassailing, toasting neighbours to a long life.
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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.
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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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In 1999, residents of the state of Maine in America built the world's biggest ever snowman. He stood at 113ft tall.
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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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Nearly 60 million Christmas trees are grown each year in Europe.
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Gold-wrapped chocolate coins commemorate St Nicholas who gave bags of gold coins to the poor.
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