10 Christmas Facts You Didn't Know

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01

Queen Victoria sent the first official Christmas card.

Queen Victoria was the first official person to send a Christmas card, but the first commercial card came in 1843 when Sir Henry Cole produced 1000 and sold them for one shilling each.

02

Celebrating Christmas used to be illegal for 260 years in the US.

You might be aware that Oliver Cromwell banned the Pagan holiday of Christmas for 12 years from 1647 in the UK, but did you know that the ban was only lifted in Oklahoma, USA in 1907.

03

In Austria, instead of getting coal if you’ve been bad, you get Krampus.

Krampus is a half man, half goat creature that punishes naughty children at Christmas time by chasing them around or even dragging them to hell.

04

Children who write to Santa Claus in the US have a good chance of getting a reply.

In the United States, campaigns such as 'Operation Santa' have been running for decades with hundreds of volunteers around the country having the responsibility of replying to letters from children that are addressed to Santa Claus.

05

The song 'We wish you a merry Christmas' was originally used as a threat.

The song was often sung by crowds of lower-class servants as they demanded alcohol from their masters during the festive period.

06

In Japan, a traditional Christmas dinner is to
 go to KFC.

When KFC launched their “Kentucky for Christmas” marketing campaign in 1974, it was an instant hit and now KFC is a popular choice for Christmas dinners in Japan.

07

Legend has it, candy canes were created to make choirboys quiet.

The legend tells that candy canes date back to 1670, when a choirmaster in Germany gave out sugar sticks to the choirboys to keep them quiet during services.

08

Coca-Cola is not actually responsible for how we perceive Santa Claus.

The Coca-Cola company is often credited with creating the red-coated modern image of Santa Claus we know and love today, but this isn’t true! Most of his modern image was put together by Thomas Nast in the 1870s.

09

It was Princess Charlotte who popularized Christmas trees in England.

The first known Christmas tree was set up at Queen’s Lodge, Windsor in December 1800 by Princess Charlotte.

10

Jingle Bells' was the first song played in space.

On 16 December 1965, the song 'Jingle Bells' made history by becoming the first song to be played in space during NASA’s Gemini 6A space flight.