100 Fun Facts About Christmas Traditions

A child calling a Santa number from a 1955 newspaper ad reached which kind of place instead?

A military base: whether through a misprint or a misdial, the call reached Colonel Harry Shoup at the Continental Air Defense Command, and NORAD has tracked Santa every Christmas Eve since.

Which country sends the giant Christmas tree that stands in London's Trafalgar Square every year?

Norway: it has sent the tree to London every year since 1947 in gratitude for Britain's support during World War II.

Who commissioned the first commercially produced Christmas card, in London in 1843?

Sir Henry Cole had helped launch the cheap Penny Post three years earlier, so a printed card drawn by John Callcott Horsley was a shrewd idea.

Tradition says the Christmas cracker was invented in 1847 by a London confectioner named what?

Tom Smith had seen French bon-bons wrapped in twists of paper, and legend says the crackle of a log fire gave him the idea for the bang.

The Advent calendar, with a door to open each day, was first used by which group?

German Lutherans started it, printers such as Gerhard Lang made early paper versions, and the countdown has since spread far beyond Lutheran homes.

By legend, the Christmas stocking tradition began when Saint Nicholas threw what through a poor family's window?

Bags of gold: one is said to have landed in a stocking hung up to dry, which is why an orange or satsuma often sits in the toe of a stocking.

In one old version of the mistletoe custom, what had to happen after each kiss?

A berry was plucked: Washington Irving wrote that young men kissed girls under the mistletoe, plucking a berry each time, until none were left.

By one legend, a 17th-century choirmaster bent sugar sticks into canes to remind children of whom?

The shepherds: the bend was meant to recall a shepherd's crook, though no reference to the story appears before the mid-20th century.

Boxing Day, 26 December, is usually traced to which old British custom?

Giving out Christmas boxes: tradesmen and servants received gifts or money, and one account links the name to church charity boxes opened for the poor.

Which horned Alpine creature accompanies Saint Nicholas on 5 December to punish naughty children?

Krampus still stars in the Krampuslauf, when young men in horned, furry costumes run through Alpine towns rattling chains and bells to scare children.

Which broomstick-riding old woman delivers gifts to Italian children on the night of 5 January?

La Befana, in one legend, turned down the Three Wise Men's invitation to find the infant Jesus, and she has been searching and leaving gifts ever since.

The seven points of the traditional piñata broken at Las Posadas are said to stand for what?

The seven deadly sins: the blindfold worn by the player is said to stand for faith, and smashing the piñata for overcoming sin.

At Christmas, Catalan children beat the Tió de Nadal log with sticks so that it will do what?

Poop out presents: children 'feed' the log for days beforehand, then on Christmas strike it with sticks until sweets and small gifts appear beneath.

Iceland's Jólabókaflóð tradition makes what the country's most popular Christmas gift?

Books: during World War II currency limits cut imported gifts, but imported paper was less restricted, so books became the present of choice.

What do Iceland's Yule Lads traditionally leave in a naughty child's shoe instead of a small gift?

A rotten potato: the 13 lads were once menacing trolls, but in modern times they have softened into pranksters who also bring gifts.

The giant straw Gävle Goat in Sweden is famous for what repeatedly happening to it since 1966?

Being burned down: fire-proofing, guards and a webcam have all been tried, yet in 2001 an American tourist set it alight and spent 18 days in jail.

On Saint Lucy's Day, 13 December, Scandinavian girls lead processions wearing what on their heads?

Crowns of candles: under the old Julian calendar Saint Lucy's night fell on the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, so she brings light into the dark.

According to Dutch tradition, how does Sinterklaas arrive each year?

By steamboat from Spain: Dutch television broadcasts his arrival live each November, and he docks in a different town every year.

Which two cities argue over which of them put up the first recorded Christmas tree?

Riga and Tallinn: merchant guilds there raised trees in the 1400s and 1500s, and in one account young men danced around the tree and then set it on fire.

Joel Roberts Poinsett brought the poinsettia to the US in the 1820s from which country?

Mexico: Poinsett was the first US minister there, and despite its toxic reputation, researchers found no poisonous dose even at about 500 leaves.

Decorated gingerbread houses are often linked to which fairy tale?

Hansel and Gretel: the Grimms' witch lived in a house of bread and cakes, and some historians say the tale inspired the first decorated gingerbread houses.

Who is the Snow Maiden who helps Russia's Ded Moroz deliver New Year gifts?

His granddaughter: that role took hold after Soviet authorities, who had banned Christmas trees, brought them back as New Year trees in 1935.

The parol, a star-shaped lantern hung at Christmas, is a symbol of the holiday in which country?

Philippines: parols and carols often appear from September, in what is often called the world's longest Christmas season.

In the Elf on the Shelf tradition, what does the elf supposedly do every night?

Flies to the North Pole: the 2005 tale says the elf reports the day to Santa each night, and a child's touch could make its magic go.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was created in 1939 as a promotional booklet for which department store?

Montgomery Ward handed Robert L. May the copyright in 1947, and Johnny Marks turned Rudolph into the song Gene Autry recorded in 1949.

Which holiday recording is credited as the best-selling physical single of all time?

It has sold an estimated 50 million copies since Crosby first sang it on the radio on Christmas Day 1941.

Who is credited with staging the first live nativity scene, in the town of Greccio in 1223?

Saint Francis of Assisi recreated Bethlehem's manger at Greccio to celebrate the Nativity in a new way, and the popular devotion of the crib grew from it.

The Feast of the Seven Fishes is a Christmas Eve tradition of which community?

It reflects the old rule of no meat on the Christmas Eve vigil, so families feast on seafood instead.

What food has become a Christmas tradition in Japan thanks to a famous fast-food chain?

Fried chicken: a canny KFC advertising campaign in the 1970s turned a bucket of the chain's chicken into a national Christmas custom.

In which country's capital do worshippers traditionally roller-skate to early-morning Mass in the days before Christmas?

Venezuela: in Caracas, many streets have been closed to cars until 8 a.m. so that skaters can roll safely to the early services.

In the English tradition, part of the Yule log was burned each evening until when?

Twelfth Night: households burned a portion of the log each evening, and a leftover piece was often kept to light the following year's log.

What was traditionally hidden inside a British Christmas pudding for luck?

A silver coin: whoever found the sixpence or threepence in their serving could keep it and was promised luck in the year ahead.

The day the Christmas pudding is traditionally mixed, at the end of November, is known as what?

Stir-up Sunday: family members traditionally take turns stirring the pudding from east to west, in honour of the Wise Men, while making a wish.

Eggnog made with smuggled whiskey fuelled a Christmas 1826 riot at which US military academy?

West Point: the academy had banned alcohol, so cadets smuggled in whiskey for their party, and future Confederate president Jefferson Davis joined in.

Orchard wassailing, still practised in south-west England, involves singing to what?

Apple trees: in cider country wassailers go out to the orchards and sing to the trees to promote a good harvest in the year ahead.

In 567 a church council declared the days from Christmas to which feast a sacred festive season?

Epiphany: the Second Council of Tours made those days a sacred season and also set a duty to fast during Advent beforehand.

At Christmas, mistletoe was linked with protection from what?

Witches and demons: mistletoe was long believed to guard against witchcraft, which is why sprigs were hung over doorways.

When Silent Night was first performed on Christmas Eve 1818, which instrument accompanied it?

A guitar: the church organ in Oberndorf was reportedly out of action, so priest Joseph Mohr asked Franz Xaver Gruber for a melody with guitar accompaniment.

An 1848 newspaper picture of which royal family around a Christmas tree made the custom fashionable?

Queen Victoria's: when Godey's Lady's Book reprinted the picture in 1850, it even removed Prince Albert's moustache so the family would pass as American.

What does Sinterklaas ride over the rooftops after arriving in the Netherlands?

A white horse: while he rides the rooftops at night, gifts are said to come down the chimneys for well-behaved children.

The Christkind, adopted by Reformation-era Protestants, was corrupted in English into which name?

Kris Kringle comes from Christkindl, meaning the Christ child, so strictly the name belongs to the baby Jesus rather than to Santa Claus.

Nicholas, the 4th-century bishop behind Santa Claus, led the church in which city?

Myra: in 1087 merchants from Bari carried off his bones, and they still rest in the Basilica di San Nicola there.

Saint Boniface is said to have felled an oak dedicated to which god before pointing to a fir tree?

Thor: Boniface's 8th-century biographer says a mighty blast of wind brought the great oak down, and a chapel was built from its timber.

Which cartoonist drew a new image of Santa Claus every year from 1863, shaping the modern look?

Thomas Nast drew Santa for Harper's Weekly for about two decades, long before the Coca-Cola ads often wrongly credited with inventing his look.

Which queen introduced the Christmas tree to Britain, setting one up at Windsor for a children's party in 1800?

Queen Charlotte hung a yew with sweets, almonds, raisins, fruit and toys and lit it with small wax candles, a custom from her homeland.

Greek children traditionally receive their New Year presents from which saint?

Saint Basil gave away his fortune and founded a hospital for the poor, and his feast falls on 1 January, the day Greek children get their gifts.

Provençal nativity scenes are built from hand-painted terracotta figurines known as what?

Santons are sold at December fairs across Provence, and besides the Holy Family they include everyday village characters from local life.

What is the name of the traditional rolled Christmas bread prepared in Slovenia?

Potica: since 2021 the EU has registered Slovenska potica as a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed, so loaves sold under that name must follow a set recipe.

The giant Christmas tree on Mount Ingino above Gubbio is made of what?

Lights on the hillside: in 2014 Pope Francis switched the giant display on remotely, using a tablet computer.

When does the traditional Polish Christmas Eve supper, Wigilia, begin?

When the first star appears: it recalls the Star of Bethlehem, so children watch the evening sky hoping to be the first to spot it.

In Sweden, the Disney special broadcast every Christmas Eve since 1960 is named after which character?

Donald Duck lends the show its Swedish name, Kalle Anka, because he is far more popular there than Mickey Mouse. A 1970s plan to drop the special was abandoned after a public outcry.

In Central Europe, which fish bought live for Christmas Eve dinner was traditionally kept in the family bathtub?

Carp spent a few days swimming in clean bathwater to lose its muddy flavour. In Czechia and Slovakia a scale is tucked under the plate or into a wallet to bring wealth.

Ukrainian Christmas trees are traditionally hung with small paper-and-wire ornaments shaped like which creature?

Spiders earned their place through a folk tale in which webs spun over a poor widow's bare tree are transformed by the morning sun. The same story is one explanation offered for tinsel.

Every 23 December, carvers in the city of Oaxaca compete to sculpt nativity scenes from which oversized vegetable?

Radishes wilt soon after they are cut, so the sculptures at Oaxaca's Night of the Radishes are on show for only a few hours and visitors queue in long lines to see them.

Nova Scotia sends a Christmas tree each year to which US city, in thanks for help after the 1917 Halifax Explosion?

Boston dispatched a relief train of medical staff and supplies on the night of the blast. Nova Scotia has said thank you with a tree every year since 1971.

In 1965, two Gemini 6 astronauts smuggled a tiny harmonica into orbit to play which Christmas song?

Jingle Bells capped a prank: the Gemini 6 crew first radioed that they had spotted an unidentified object in a polar orbit, then struck up the tune. The harmonica went to the Smithsonian.

Illustrator Haddon Sundblom painted a jolly, red-suited Santa Claus from 1931 for which company's Christmas adverts?

Coca-Cola's Sundblom paintings proved so popular that the artist is often wrongly credited with creating the modern image of Santa Claus, red suit and all.

Canada Post volunteers answer children's letters to Santa Claus sent to which special postal code?

H0H 0H0 spells out Santa's laugh, and about a million letters arrive each Christmas. Every one is answered in the language it was written in.

Iceland's monstrous Yule Cat is said to eat anyone who has not received what before Christmas Eve?

New clothes were the reward for farm workers who finished processing the autumn wool before Christmas, so the cat was a threat aimed at anyone who slacked.

In Australia, which sport's Boxing Day Test begins before large Melbourne crowds every 26 December?

Cricket only made the date official in 1980, when Australia's board formalised the fixture alongside a new television deal with the Nine Network.

Russian and Serbian Orthodox churches celebrate Christmas on 7 January because they still follow which calendar?

Julian dates currently run 13 days behind the everyday calendar, and the gap is still widening: from 2101 the same feast will land on 8 January.

In Denmark, finding what hidden in the Christmas Eve dessert traditionally wins the finder a marzipan pig?

A whole almond is stirred into risalamande, a cold cream pudding served with cherry sauce. The name sounds French, but the dessert is a Danish invention.

Panettone, the tall domed Christmas bread studded with candied fruit, is most closely associated with which city?

Milan claims it through legend: in the best-known tale a nobleman wins a poor baker's daughter with the rich new loaf, named pan di Tonio after her father.

Japan's traditional Christmas cake is a sponge covered in whipped cream and decorated with which fruit?

Strawberries on whipped cream are so tied to the date that unmarried women over 25 were once nicknamed 'Christmas cakes', like stock left unsold after the 25th.

Which fish, dried and said to have a recipe for every day of the year, is Portugal's traditional Christmas Eve dinner?

Cod is one of the few fish the Portuguese do not eat fresh: dried and salted as bacalhau, it is regarded as the country's iconic ingredient.

Children in Puerto Rico leave fresh grass under their beds on the night of 5 January to feed whose animals?

The Three Kings arrive on horseback rather than camels in the island's own telling, and some children cut the grass themselves earlier that day.

Before the Christmas Eve festivities begin, Finnish families traditionally wash and unwind together in what?

The sauna also had a supernatural visitor: food and drink were left there at Christmas as gifts for the household elf.

The Christmas event nicknamed El Gordo, with results sung aloud by schoolchildren every 22 December, is what?

A lottery draw first held at Christmas in 1812, it is called out in song by school pupils. In 1987 they misread a ball that turned out to be the top prize.

At a traditional Polish Christmas Eve supper, an extra place is laid at the table for whom?

An unexpected guest gets the seat as a gesture of hospitality, which once stretched to the livestock: farm animals were given a special pink wafer of their own.

Which British monarch read the first royal Christmas broadcast, a 1932 radio message scripted by Rudyard Kipling?

George V was first asked in 1922 and stayed wary of radio for a decade, agreeing only after a visit to the BBC reassured him.

Widow Twankey, a comic dame traditionally played by a man, belongs to which British Christmas pantomime?

Aladdin gave her that name in an 1861 play, which borrowed it from Twankay, a cheap brand of China tea.

The Christmas Eve service of Nine Lessons and Carols is broadcast by the BBC from the chapel of which Cambridge college?

King's College made the service famous, but a bishop devised it at Truro in 1880, hoping to lure Christmas Eve drinkers out of Cornish pubs and into church.

Which part of Britain, long wary of the feast after its Reformation, made Christmas Day a public holiday only in 1958?

Scotland's Reformation did away with church feast days, and a 1640 act abolished the Yule holiday outright. Boxing Day waited until 1974.

In a Christingle service, which fruit, tied with a red ribbon, is used to represent the world?

An orange was a later addition of unknown origin: the first Christingle, made by a Moravian bishop in 1747 to get children thinking about Jesus, had no fruit at all.

Which New York landmark's Christmas tree began in 1931, when its construction workers pooled money for a small fir?

Rockefeller Center's first tree was unlit and hung with cranberry strings, paper garlands and a few tin cans. Since 2007 each tree has been milled into lumber for Habitat for Humanity homes.

Edward H. Johnson, who built the first known electrically lit Christmas tree in 1882, worked with which inventor?

Thomas Edison's company made the bulbs specially: 80 of them in red, white and blue, each the size of a walnut, wired by hand at Johnson's New York home.

Christmas seals, dreamed up by a Danish postal clerk in 1904, were sold to raise money against which disease?

Tuberculosis patients could then only be confined to a sanatorium, so the first six years of sales paid to build one at Kolding, which opened in 1911.

Which charity's red Christmas kettles began in 1891 as a single pot set out to pay for a free holiday dinner?

The Salvation Army's Captain Joseph McFee copied a charity pot he remembered from his days as a sailor in Liverpool, setting his own at a busy ferry landing.

Which of Santa Claus's eight reindeer has a name taken from a Dutch word for thunder?

Donner began as 'Dunder' in an 1823 poem, paired with 'Blixem' for lightning. The modern spelling became standard only in the early 20th century.

The Christmas greeting 'Mele Kalikimaka' comes from which US state, whose language reshaped the English words?

Hawaii's native language has no R or S sound and never ends a syllable on a consonant, so 'Merry Christmas' came out this way. The greeting is first recorded in print in 1904.

Which composer wrote the 1892 ballet, set on Christmas Eve, that ballet companies now stage every December?

Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker became a seasonal habit in America after San Francisco Ballet gave the first complete US performance on Christmas Eve 1944 and kept bringing it back.

Which Christmas gift-stealing party game takes its name from a ruinous gift said to come from the King of Siam?

White elephant comes from the story that Siam's king ruined courtiers who displeased him with sacred albino elephants too costly to keep, though no record shows he did.

Besides dried fruit and spices, what did the filling of an English Christmas mince pie originally contain?

Chopped meat such as beef, mutton or ox tongue went into the early pies, which is why the sweet filling is still called mincemeat.

Which Kansas City card company launched modern gift wrap in 1917 by selling fancy French envelope linings as wrapping?

Hallmark's founders, the Hall brothers, had simply run out of plain tissue paper in their shop. The improvised linings sold so well that patterned wrap became a business.

Which Roman December festival, when masters waited on their slaves, may have influenced later Christmas customs?

Saturnalia revellers swapped gag gifts and small wax or pottery figurines, and gambling, normally forbidden, was allowed for the holiday.

The X in 'Xmas' stands for which Greek letter, the first in the Greek spelling of Christ?

Chi has stood in for 'Christ' in English writing since about 1100, so Xmas is a scribe's shorthand rather than a modern attempt to drop him from the word.

In Nordic folklore, what food must be left out on Christmas Eve to keep the household nisse or tomte content?

Porridge has to come with butter: in the tales, a nisse who finds it badly prepared or served without any takes offence and retaliates against the farm.

The caganer, a figurine that children hunt for in Catalan nativity scenes, is shown doing what?

Defecating with his trousers down, the caganer usually wears the traditional red Catalan cap, and he is tucked out of the way so that finding him becomes a game.

Which Finnish city near the Arctic Circle, home to Santa Claus Village, is regarded as Santa's official home town?

Rovaniemi was rebuilt after wartime destruction to an Alvar Aalto plan whose main roads trace the head and antlers of a reindeer.

Gena, the Ethiopian Christmas kept on 7 January, shares its name with a traditional village game resembling which sport?

Hockey-like gena is played between villages on a pitch of about 100 yards with no fixed boundaries, and imperial soldiers once trained with it from childhood.

Which French name for a long, lavish Christmas Eve dinner also features on New Orleans restaurant menus each December?

Réveillon comes from réveil, 'waking', because diners are expected to stay awake until the meal finally ends towards morning.

Which Quebec pie filled with ground pork, veal or beef is a fixture of French-Canadian Christmas Eve feasts?

Tourtière crossed the border with Quebec emigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, taking root in New England states such as Maine and Vermont.

The chichilaki, a small Christmas 'tree' of curled shavings from hazelnut branches, is traditional in which country?

Georgia's chichilakis are shaved from pruned branches, so making them is considered good for the health of the trees they come from.

Which Latin name is given to the blessing the Pope delivers from St Peter's Basilica at noon on Christmas Day?

Urbi et Orbi means 'to the city and to the world': the Pope speaks first as bishop of Rome and then as head of the Church worldwide.

At Peru's Takanakuy festival, held every 25 December, villagers settle the year's grudges by doing what?

Fighting each other is the purpose: the name is Quechua for 'to hit each other', and masks hide the fighters' faces so that grudges do not carry into the new year.

In Newfoundland, what are the disguised Christmas house-visitors called, whose hosts must guess their identities?

Mummers stay masked until the hosts work out who they are; only then do they unmask, accept food or drink, and move on together to the next house.

In 1897, eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote to which New York newspaper asking whether Santa Claus was real?

The Sun was slow to reprint its famous reply, then ran it every Christmas season from 1924 until the paper closed in 1950.

Which fur-clad Pennsylvania Dutch Christmas figure carries a switch for naughty children and sweets for good ones?

Belsnickel came over with settlers from the Palatinate, on the Rhine. In old accounts he scattered cakes and nuts on the floor, then swatted the children who scrambled for them.

Which crimson-flowering coastal tree, in full bloom in late December, is nicknamed the New Zealand Christmas tree?

Pōhutukawa forests had shrunk by over 90% by the 1990s through farming and introduced pests, so a trust named Project Crimson now works to restore the tree.

Across Latin America, Christmas Eve midnight Mass is known as Misa de Gallo, the Mass of which bird?

The rooster recalls cockcrow: a fifth-century pope began the custom in Rome with a Mass said after it, the moment Romans reckoned the new day had begun.