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Random Christmas Facts
1. Ukrainian’s traditional produce a twelve course meal for Christmas. It’s also tradition for the youngest child to watch out of the window for the evening star to appear, signaling that the meal can begin.
2. Swan’s and Peacocks were sometimes served at Christmas Banquets on the Middle Ages. They were served endored. This meant that the flesh was painted with a butter / saffron dye and then wrapped back up in their own skin and feathers.
3. Dicken’s considered a few other names for his famous character Tiny Tim from “A Christmas Carol”. These included Small Sam, Puny Pete and Little Larry.
4. Oregon is the USA’s top Christmas tree producing state. In 1998 they produced 8.6 million tress. Other top producers are North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Washington, Michigan and California.
5. Originally candy Canes were straight sticks of candy. The Master of the Choir at Cologne Cathedral decided to bend the ends to look like a shepherds stick. He passed them out to the children to keep them quiet during a service. This also made them convenient for hanging on trees. They gained their red stripes sometime at the beginning of the 20th century.
6. The famous quote “Bah Humbug” from Dicken’s character Scrooge was initially going to be “Bah Christmas”. It just does not work as well!
7. The hit pop song “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” was sung by a child named Jimmy Boyd. He was just under 13 years old.
8. The tradition of singing Christmas Carols door to door in the neighborhood came from the old English custom names Wassailing. This was originally to toast the neighbors to a long and healthy life.
9. In the Ukraine you can choose what day to celebrate Christmas on. December 25th lines up with the Roman Catholic Gregorian calendar. January 7th is the other date which lines up with the Orthodox (Julian calendar) church holy day.
10. Christmas is a summer holiday in South Africa. Children are partial to producing and performing the old tradition of pantomimes such as “Babes in the Wood”. This is supposedly one of the oldest ballads in the English language.
One Response to “Random Christmas Facts”
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December 12th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Totally Random Christmas Facts! Nice looking site too. Thanks