Interesting Christmas Facts

Christmas is a wonderful and happy time of the year

. It fills our thoughts with Snowmen, Candy Canes and Presents.

We all love the Christmas cheer and festivities. There are however a number of interesting facts about Christmas, many that few people are aware of.

You may already know that Christmas trees were first lighted using burning candles. Obviously this posed a huge fire risk. When Christmas trees were lighted in this fashion, large buckets of water were placed near the tree at all times.

The National Christmas Tree Association has maintained a presence in the White House since the 1960s. Each year they have donated a Christmas tree to the First Family.

The tradition of displaying a Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center was first established by a group of construction workers. These construction workers placed an undecorated tree at this location in the early 1930s. Today the tree and the lighting of the tree is a national tradition.

Christmas greeting cards originated in Britain sometime in the late 1830s. A man by the name of John Calcott Horsley began producing small cards with holiday scenes. Inside there was a holiday greeting. Around the same time a man by the name of R.H. Pease from Albany New York, along with Louis Prang who was a German immigrant, began producing cards here in the U.S.. It wasn't until about 10 years later, that mailing of the Christmas cards during the holiday season began to gain popularity. This coincided with the start of the new postal delivery service.

In 1880 the Woolworth Department Store first began selling manufactured Christmas Ornaments.

Popular in Europe since the 1500s, Xmas as the shortened form of Christmas, is believed to be derived from the Greek word Xristos. The meaning of Xristos is Christ.

In the original manufacturing process of tinsel, lead was used, resulting in the process being banned. Plastic is now the primary material used in the manufacturing of decorative tinsel.

Prior to Christianity evergreens held special meaning to people in the winter. Evergreen branches were believed to ward off evil spirits, witches, ghosts and illness. People would display evergreen branches over doors and windows for these purposes.

Christmas celebrations were banned in Boston from 1659 to 1681. Participating in any form of Christmas related celebrations or activity was punishable by a fine of 5 shillings.

For 200 years the only color that candy canes were produced in was white. All were produced by hand until the 1950s when the first machine was invented to automate the process. Today candy canes are available in every color imaginable.

I hope you have found these facts about Christmas as interesting as I did. History is always so very interesting and to see how far we have come is amazing.

Interesting Christmas Facts

By: Bobby Urbanek

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