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Ten surprising facts about Christmas traditions and Christmas around the world

Ten surprising facts about Christmas traditions and Christmas around the world

1.  In Brazil, where Christmas falls in the summer, Brazilians often put cotton wool on pine trees to represent the snow that often falls in  Europe and America

2.  When Christmas cards were invented in Britain in 1843 the first print run was 1,000 which were priced one shilling each, in today's money that would be equivalent to £6, though as an antique one of them recently sold at auction for around £8,000

3.  Christmas is associated with snow and lots of snowflakes fall in the US each year - typically one septillion which is 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000  (one with 24 zeros)

4. It's technically illegal in England to eat mince pies on Christmas day - Oliver Cromwell outlawed it and the law was never taken off the statute book

5. The term Xmas is not disrespectful - the X was the Greek abbreviation for "Christ"

6. In the UK more than 1 in 4 families watch the Queen's Christmas speech on Christmas day

7. The tallest ever Snowman was built in 1999 in Maine, USA, and was 113 feet high

8. The Christmas wreath was originally meant to be a symbol of Jesus' death with the holly representing the thorns at his crucifixion and the red berries representing his blood

9. In Sweden a large part of the population watches Donald Duck cartoons on Christmas Eve, a tradition that started in 1960

10. In Japan eating KFC chicken (Kentucky Fried) for Christmas dinner is very popular and demand is so strong that you have to order it two months before Christmas to be assured of getting your KFC  Christmas dinner.



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