Are you keen to find out some intriguing facts about Christmas? Keep reading on to find out more!

Christmas originated from the words “Cristes Maesse”, which means “mass of Christ”.

When we think about Christmas, the first image that comes across to our mind is that of Christmas trees.But why do we even put up Christmas trees and decorate them during Christmas? People putting up Christmas trees can be traced back to the 1500s in Eastern Europe. The first recorded tree put up for Christmas can be found in 1510 in Latvia and 1521 in Slovakia. However, the tradition of putting trees in homes during wintertime, and not just Christmas, goes back even further to the pagan times.    

Did you ever wonder why the holidays of Christmas are referred to as the ‘12 days of Christmas’? Legend has it that the three kings took 12 days to travel to the birthplace of baby Jesus, hence the holiday of Christmas is known as ‘12 days of Christmas’.

Those who celebrate Christmas, exchange gifts on Christmas; December 25th every year, but in Germany, gifts are exchanged on Christmas Eve rather than on Christmas Day.  Visa credit cards are used about 6,000 times every minute during the Christmas season to purchase items. This is the period of highest transactions around the world every year. 

Few countries don’t celebrate Christmas; do you know which those are? They are Afghanistan, Algeria, Bhutan, amongst others..

When the Candy Cane was invented in Germany, it was made into a ‘J’ for Jesus. The red stripes symbolize his blood. Aside from candy canes, Christmas cards are popular too. Americans purchase 1.6 billion Christmas cards every year. 

Do you know the song “Jingle Bells” was first played in space? It became the first song played in space on 16 December 1965 during a broadcast in NASA’s Gemini 6A space flight. The song, written by James Lord Pierpont in 1857, was originally titled “One-Horse Open Sleigh.” 

With this, I hope that you have a deeper insight into what are the more exciting facts about Christmas!