The 8 most surprising facts about Christmas
1. Letters to Santa
Have you ever sent a letter to Santa? In the United States, these letters always reach their destination. The letters addressed to Santa Claus go to Santa Claus, Indiana – a small town in Spencer County. If you were wondering where Santa spends his summer – then you found it. A majority of Santa Claus residents live within the gated community of Christmas Lake Village. The city is developed around three lakes: Christmas Lake, Lake Holly, and Lake Noel. The street names in Christmas Lake Village are all named after the Christmas season.
2. Christmas Song
The song “Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney, which was regarded as his worst by many critics, brings him nearly half a million dollars every year.
3. Christmas Movies
What comes to your mind when thinking about Christmas movies? Home Alone? Or maybe Elf? Whichever is your answer you’ll have an entirely different one if you’d ask a Swede! Did you know that a large part of Sweden’s population watches Donald Duck cartoons every Christmas Eve since 1960?
Who knew that the original ‘angry bird’ will become a Christmas symbol in the Nordic country. If you have any Swedish friends, it’s probably worth considering a present with Donald Duck print instead of the classic deer or snowman. You can take a look at our range of jumpers and hoodies.
4. Christmas tree
The modern Christmas tree (typically evergreen conifers-usually pine, balsam or fir species) originated in Germany in the 16th century and became popular in England by the mid-19th century thanks to Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, who was German. These were originally decorated with candles, nuts, berries and apples as “Paradise trees” in church plays.
Nowadays, the three traditional colours of most Christmas decorations are also linked to religious symbols. Red symbolises the blood of Christ, green symbolises life and rebirth, and gold represents light, royalty and wealth.
5. Christmas scary stories
Telling scary ghost stories is an old Christmas Eve tradition that has died out in the past century. Who knew that Christmas has so much in common with Halloween? Maybe ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ wasn’t that far from the last century’s reality.
6. Spiders as Christmas decorations
Continuing to reveal the dark side of Christmas – In Poland spiders and spider webs are often used as Christmas tree decorations. They are considered to be symbols of prosperity and goodness at Christmas. In fact, according to legend, a spider wove baby Jesus a blanket to keep him warm.
7. LEGO for Christmas
If you are a LEGO fan, then the next fact won’t surprise you much. Almost 28 sets of LEGO are sold every second during the Christmas season.
8. Christmas Island
You have probably heard about Christmas Island, but did you know there are two of them? One is in the Pacific Ocean and the other in the Indian Ocean. The one in the Pacific Ocean is also known as Kiritimati and has some beautiful beach scenery – probably not quite what you’d expect from a place named Christmas.