The Queen's Christmas speech was first televised in 1957.
18
The word Christmas comes from Cristes maesse, or "Christ's Mass." There is no set date for his birth in scripture and it wasn't celebrated on any particular day. However Christmas was first celebrated on the 25th of December in Rome in 336AD with an aim t
16
The first Christmas card was designed in 1843 by J.C. Horsley.
38
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
Nearly 60 million Christmas trees are grown each year in Europe.
74
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
Many theologians estimate that Jesus wasn't born on December 25 but sometime in September between 6BC and 30AD.
42