50 Fun Facts About Hard Christmas

The Christmas truce took place during which year of the First World War?

The Christmas truce came in 1914, the war's first December: informal ceasefires along the Western Front brought carols, gift swaps and joint burials.

Which country's 1970s advertising campaign turned KFC fried chicken into a national Christmas custom?

In Japan, a successful 1970s ad campaign made eating KFC around Christmas a national custom, so effective that by the 2020s families were booking buckets weeks in advance.

Who composed the song "White Christmas"?

Irving Berlin wrote "White Christmas"; Bing Crosby's recording became the best-selling single of all time, and the song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for 1942.

'Silent Night', first sung in 1818, was added to which organisation's intangible cultural heritage list in 2011?

UNESCO declared the carol intangible cultural heritage in 2011, nearly two centuries after it was first sung.

Boxing Day's name is most often traced back to what?

One leading theory points to the alms box in a church narthex, opened to distribute collections to the poor.

Which carol's words did Charles Wesley write in 1739?

Charles Wesley wrote "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" in 1739; its familiar tune was adapted in 1855 by William H. Cummings from a Mendelssohn cantata.

Krampus traditionally accompanies Saint Nicholas on the night of which date?

Krampusnacht falls on 5 December, the eve of the Feast of Saint Nicholas on 6 December; Krampus handles the punishments while Nicholas hands out gifts.

Who wrote the melody of "Silent Night"?

Franz Xaver Gruber, Oberndorf's schoolmaster and organist, composed the melody on 24 December 1818 to words by the priest Joseph Mohr, scored for voices and guitar.

"White Christmas" was first introduced in which 1942 film?

Bing Crosby introduced "White Christmas" in Holiday Inn (1942), a musical about an inn open only on holidays; the song later got its own 1954 film.

Which body outlawed the observance of Christmas in England in 1647?

Parliament dismissed it as a festival with no scriptural basis and an excuse for excess.

Who commissioned the first commercial Christmas card in 1843?

Sir Henry Cole commissioned the first commercial Christmas card in 1843; about a thousand copies were printed and sold for a shilling each.

Joel Roberts Poinsett, who gave the poinsettia its English name, held which post?

Joel Roberts Poinsett was the first US minister to Mexico (1825-29); he sent cuttings of the plant home to his South Carolina greenhouses in the late 1820s.

Saint Nicholas served as bishop of which ancient city?

Nicholas was bishop of Myra in Lycia, today's Demre in southern Turkey, in the fourth century; his reputation for secret gift-giving spread from there.

Which writer created the red-nosed reindeer character in 1939?

Robert L. May wrote the Rudolph story in 1939 as a work assignment for Chicago retailer Montgomery Ward; the song based on it charted ten years later.

Who wrote the song "Jingle Bells"?

James Lord Pierpont wrote "Jingle Bells", first published as "One Horse Open Sleigh", a song about winter sleigh racing that had no original connection to Christmas.

Roughly how many British and German troops took part in the Christmas truce?

Accounts of carols, gift swaps and joint burials come from stretches all along the Western Front.

Whose recording of the red-nosed reindeer song topped the US pop chart at Christmas 1949?

Gene Autry's recording reached number one on the Billboard pop chart for Christmas week 1949, turning a Montgomery Ward booklet character into a permanent fixture.

Estimated physical sales of the best-known "White Christmas" recording exceed how many copies?

Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" has estimated physical sales above 50 million copies, making it the best-selling single of all time.

Which publication's 1848 engraving of the royal family made Christmas trees fashionable in Britain?

The Illustrated London News printed the engraving of Victoria and Albert around a decorated tree in December 1848; the custom then spread through Britain and East Coast America.

In what year was "Jingle Bells" first published?

"Jingle Bells" was first published in September 1857 as "One Horse Open Sleigh"; it picked up its familiar title on republication in 1859.

Which artist illustrated the first commercial Christmas card?

His triptych showed a family at table flanked by scenes of people helping the poor.

Boston's 1659 law against keeping Christmas carried a fine of how much?

The 1659 Massachusetts Bay law set a fine of five shillings for anyone found feasting or refraining from work on Christmas; it was repealed in 1681.

Which poet is usually credited with "A Visit from St. Nicholas", though the attribution is disputed?

Clement Clarke Moore acknowledged the anonymous 1823 poem as his in 1837 and printed it in his 1844 collection; Henry Livingston Jr.'s descendants have long claimed it for him.

Moravian Germans in Pennsylvania set up a community Christmas display in 1747 in what form?

The Moravians of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania built a candle-decorated wooden pyramid in 1747, about 70 years before the state's earliest record of a cut Christmas tree.

In the original 1823 printing of "A Visit from St. Nicholas", two reindeer were named what?

The 1823 Troy Sentinel printing named them Dunder and Blixem, from the Dutch for thunder and lightning; later editions reshaped them into Donder and then Donner and Blitzen.

On which day of the month did the Roman festival of Saturnalia begin?

By the 1st century BC the party had been stretched to the 23rd, a full week in which masters waited on their own slaves and a mock 'King of the Saturnalia' barked orders.

Which Ukrainian composer arranged the folk chant 'Shchedryk' that became 'Carol of the Bells'?

Mykola Leontovych arranged the New Year chant 'Shchedryk', first performed in Kyiv in 1916; Peter J. Wilhousky's 1936 English lyrics turned it into "Carol of the Bells".

Which carol did Adolphe Adam compose in 1847 to a poem by Placide Cappeau?

Adolphe Adam set Cappeau's poem 'Minuit, chrétiens' in 1847; it became "O Holy Night" in John Sullivan Dwight's 1855 English version.

An East India Company captain named Christmas Island on Christmas Day of which year?

Captain William Mynors of the Royal Mary named the island on Christmas Day 1643; it is an external territory of Australia, famous for its annual red crab migration.

Which US president lit the first National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse in 1923?

Calvin Coolidge pressed the button to light the first National Christmas Tree, a 48-foot balsam fir from Vermont, on 24 December 1923.

Handel's Messiah, a fixture of the Christmas concert season, actually premiered at Easter time in 1742 in which city?

Seven hundred people packed Dublin's Fishamble Street hall on 13 April 1742; Handel had written the whole score in about 24 days.

The 1826 Eggnog Riot, a Christmas drinking spree, took place at which institution?

The riot broke out at West Point on Christmas Eve 1826; twenty cadets and one enlisted soldier were court-martialled, while the young Jefferson Davis joined in but escaped trial.

Which Swedish city's giant straw Yule goat, first erected in 1966, has been burned by arsonists dozens of times?

The Gävle goat first stood 13 metres tall and weighed three tonnes; it has been burned or vandalised in most years since 1966, starting with its very first New Year's Eve.

NORAD's Santa tracking began in 1955 thanks to a misprinted number in which retailer's ad?

A 1955 Sears ad in Colorado Springs printed a number one digit off the Continental Air Defense Command hotline, and Colonel Harry Shoup ended up fielding the children's calls.

Christmas Day did not become a public holiday in Scotland until which year?

Christmas Day became a Scottish public holiday only in 1958; a 1640 act of the Scottish Parliament had abolished the 'Yule vacation', and Boxing Day followed in 1974.

Nine Lessons and Carols, famous from King's College, began in 1880 at which cathedral?

Bishop Edward White Benson devised the service at Truro in Cornwall on Christmas Eve 1880; Eric Milner-White brought it to King's College Chapel, Cambridge, on Christmas Eve 1918.

Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker premiered in December 1892 as a double bill with which of his operas?

The Nutcracker shared its 18 December 1892 premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg with Tchaikovsky's one-act opera Iolanta; the ballet itself was not judged a success.

In Catalan tradition, what do children do to the Tió de Nadal log to make it 'defecate' presents?

Children beat it with sticks while singing Tió de Nadal songs; the hollow log, about 30 cm long, is kept warm and 'fed' for weeks beforehand, and the custom survives in Aragon, Andorra and parts of Occitania.

In Italian folklore, the witch-like Befana delivers gifts to children on the eve of which feast?

She fills stockings on the night of 5 January, with coal for the badly behaved, and her name is thought to be a corruption of 'Epifania' itself.

Which Danish postal clerk invented Christmas seals in 1904 to help children with tuberculosis?

Einar Holbøll, a Copenhagen postal clerk, proposed the charity stamp; Denmark issued the world's first Christmas seal in 1904, and the idea spread across Scandinavia and to the United States.

Saint Lucy's Day, when a Swedish girl wears a white dress and a wreath of candles, falls on which day of December?

The 13th of December is Saint Lucy's Day; the white dress stands for a baptismal robe and the red sash for the martyr's blood, and the day is also marked in Italy and on the island of Saint Lucia.

Records show a Christmas tree placed in which cathedral in 1539 under the reformer Martin Bucer?

A tree stood in Strasbourg Cathedral in 1539 under the reformer Martin Bucer; the custom grew up among Protestants in Germany and Livonia, the region that is now Estonia and Latvia.

The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree is an annual gift to London from which Scandinavian capital city?

The City of Oslo sends the tree as thanks for British support of the Norwegian resistance during the Second World War.

The word 'Christmas' is first recorded, as Crīstesmæsse, in which year?

The form Crīstesmæsse is first recorded in 1038, with Cristes-messe following in 1131; it shortens 'Christ's Mass', though Anglo-Saxons more often said midwinter or Yule.

According to the OED, 'wassail' derives from an Old Norse salutation meaning what?

Old Norse ves heill means 'be in good health' and matched Old English wes hál; the word began as a plain salutation, 'hail' or 'farewell', with no drinking implied.

The first solid evidence of the Yule log tradition comes from a manuscript of which year?

A German document of 1184 entitled the manse of Ahlen to a whole tree for the Christmas Eve fire; the name 'Yule log' itself is not recorded until centuries later.

In 17th-century recipes, mince pie filling was baked in a thick, often discarded pastry case known as what?

The case was called a coffin, or coffyn, and was usually thrown away uneaten; Gervase Markham's 'minc't pies' used mutton and suet.

One of the earliest plum pudding recipes appears in a 1714 book by which cookery writer?

Mary Kettilby's 1714 'A Collection of above Three Hundred Receipts' includes an early plum pudding recipe; the tale that George I, the 'Pudding King', demanded it that Christmas is unsubstantiated.

The Roman Chronograph of 354, the first calendar to place Jesus's birth on December 25, also names the date as whose birthday?

The Chronograph lists 25 December as 'N(atalis) Invicti', the birthday of Sol Invictus, the Invincible Sun whose cult the emperor Aurelian promoted from AD 274.

Which Stuttgart publisher was licensed by US occupiers in December 1945 to print Advent calendars?

Richard Sellmer of Stuttgart got permission from the US occupation authorities for 50,000 calendars; his 'Die kleine Stadt' of 1946 revived a tradition halted by wartime paper shortages.