50 Fun Facts About Christmas Traditions

The first recorded Christmas trees were put up by Lutherans in which country in the 16th century?

A tree was placed in Strasbourg Cathedral in 1539, and the custom later spread from guild halls into family homes.

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

It thanks Britain for supporting the Norwegian resistance during World War II, and Oslo sends one to Washington, DC too.

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

It was designed by John Callcott Horsley and showed a family raising a toast, which scandalised temperance campaigners.

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

His son Walter added the paper hats and little gifts to beat off copycat rivals.

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

Early ones hid pictures from Bible stories behind 24 little doors; the chocolate came much later.

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

One bag supposedly landed in a stocking hung by the fire to dry, and the rest is history.

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

Once the berries were gone, the kissing had to stop.

In which German city did a choirmaster supposedly bend candy canes in 1670 to keep children quiet at Mass?

The bend was meant to remind them of the shepherds' crooks in the nativity story.

Boxing Day, 26 December, gets its name from which old custom?

In Britain tradesmen collected their Christmas boxes on the first weekday after Christmas as thanks for a year of good service.

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

Nicholas hands out small gifts to the good kids while his companion swings birch rods at the rest.

Which broomstick-riding old woman delivers gifts to Italian children on the eve of Epiphany?

Her name is thought to come from Epifania, the Italian word for Epiphany.

How many nights does the Mexican celebration of Las Posadas last?

The nine nights stand for Mary's nine months of pregnancy, and each one re-enacts the search for an inn.

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

They feed the log for days beforehand and keep it warm under a blanket, then order it to deliver.

Iceland's Jólabókaflóð, or Christmas book flood, makes what the country's most popular Christmas gift?

It grew out of World War II, when paper was one of the few imports not tightly rationed.

How many Yule Lads visit Icelandic children in the nights before Christmas?

Good children find small gifts in their shoes; naughty ones get a rotten potato.

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

Torching it is a crime that normally carries three months in prison, but the arsonists keep coming.

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

They wear white gowns with a red sash and hand out saffron buns.

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

He then rides over the rooftops while children leave shoes out for gifts.

The Christmas pickle ornament is said to be a German custom. What did a poll of over 2,000 Germans find?

It is now thought to be a German-American invention from the 1890s, when glass ornaments began arriving from Europe.

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

Its original Nahuatl name is cuetlaxochitl, and despite the rumours it is not dangerously poisonous.

Decorated gingerbread houses are often linked to which fairy tale?

The tradition took off in the early 1800s, around when the Brothers Grimm published the story.

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

Snegurochka became a fixture of Soviet New Year parties after Christmas was pushed aside.

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

Its five points stand for the Star of Bethlehem, and the city of San Fernando builds enormous electronic versions.

The Elf on the Shelf, now a global tradition, started as a book published in which year?

Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell based it on their own family's elf, and the company now makes about $100 million a year.

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

The store gave away 2.4 million copies in the first year alone.

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 Italian town of Greccio in 1223?

He set it in a cave with a manger, and Saint Bonaventure described the scene a few decades later.

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?

KFC's Christmas buckets are so popular that families order them weeks in advance.

In Venezuela and Colombia, who is said to actually deliver the toys that Santa makes?

It blends the imported Santa story with the older tradition of El Niño Jesús bringing gifts.

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

Some people read their fortunes for the coming year in the sparks.

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

Whoever found the silver threepence or sixpence in their slice was promised wealth in the coming year.

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

The name comes from that day's church prayer, which begins with the words Stir up.

Eggnog probably developed from which medieval hot milk drink, once used as a cold remedy?

Monks were drinking a version with eggs and figs as early as the 13th century.

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

The idea is to wake the trees and scare off evil spirits so the cider harvest is good.

The Twelve Days of Christmas end on the evening of which date?

The Council of Tours declared the twelve days a festive season back in the year 567.

At Christmas, mistletoe was linked with protection from what?

Kissing under it was recorded as a favourite among servants in 18th-century England.

The first commercially produced Christmas tree decorations of the 1860s were inspired by what?

They went on sale in the country that would soon be exporting glass ornaments to the world.

The English phrase Christmas tree was first recorded in which year, borrowed from German?

Prince Albert's tree at Windsor a few years later made the custom fashionable across Britain.

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

Children leave a shoe by the fireplace, often with a carrot in it for the horse.

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

The same shift moved the gift-giving date from 6 December, the feast of Saint Nicholas, to Christmas Eve in many Protestant regions.

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

The city's ruins lie about three kilometres from modern Demre in southwest Turkey, and his feast day of 6 December became a gift-giving day across Europe.

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

The 8th-century account has him praising the fir's triangular shape as a symbol of the Trinity, one origin story offered for the Christmas tree.

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

By the 1880s his Santa had settled into the familiar figure, which advertisers then standardised in the 1920s.

Which royal first introduced the Christmas tree to Britain, before Prince Albert popularised it?

She was the German-born wife of George III; by 1841, during Victoria's reign, the custom had spread widely across the country.

Greek children traditionally receive their presents on New Year's Eve from whom?

The timing matches the eve of his liturgical feast on 1 January, rather than Christmas itself.

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

They often depict not just the Holy Family but a whole village of local tradespeople, from bakers to lavender sellers.

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

It sits alongside France's bûche de Noël and Italy's panettone among Europe's signature festive bakes, and is typically filled with walnuts.

The Mount Ingino Christmas Tree, described as the world's tallest, overlooks which Italian town?

Rather than a single tree, it is a giant tree-shaped light display running up the mountainside above the town in Umbria.

In Greater Poland, gifts come from the Gwiazdor, a figure whose name translates as what?

Poland's gift-bringers vary by region: Upper Silesia alone has the Dzieciątko, while the south favours the Little Star or Little Angel.