Christmas Trivia: 12 Things You Might Not Know about Christmas

Christmas is just around the corner. As the days go by, you would notice how everyone is excited for that big day. From buying of gifts, home decoration, up to preparation of bountiful meals for Christmas Eve, you would be very busy with these preparations.

With all the interesting stuff about Christmas, it would be great to know some trivia that you could share with your family and friends while you are spending Christmas with them. Below are some Christmas trivia that you might want to share with them:

1. In the Philippines, the first Christmas was celebrated 200 years before Magellan discovered the country, more likely between 1280 and 1320 AD.
2. The first artificial Christmas trees were made in Germany. These trees have metal wires that are covered with the feathers of goose, turkey, ostrich or swan.
3. Santa Clause is based on a non-biblical saint, St. Nicholas of Myra. St. Nicholas was born on the third century in the village of Patara, which is located on the southern part of Turkey. He was raised as a devout Christian. His parents died because of epidemic when he was still young.

4.  “Xmas”, the abbreviation of Christmas is derived from the Greek alphabet wherein “X” means “Chi”. “Chi” is the first letter of Christ’s name in the Greek alphabet.
5. The first United States President who decorated the official White House Christmas tree was Franklin Pierce.
6. The first Christmas tree that was decorated was in Riga, Latvia in 1510. This tree was decorated with artificial roses by the local merchant’s guild. The roses were considered as a symbol of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
7.  The largest artificial Christmas tree can be found in Brazil. It is 170.6 feet high. This tree was displayed in Moinhos de Vento Park from December 1 to January 6 2002. This tree was called the “Peace Tree” and was designed by Grupo Sonae Distribuição Brasil. This tree has a dove on top that made its total height reached 180.4 feet.

8. Cherry and hawthorns are the other types of trees that were used as Christmas trees in the past.
9. Playing sport on Christmas day was illegal in 1551. This law was eventually ignored later.
10. The largest Christmas stocking can be found in Italy. It measures about 168 feet in length and 70 feet in width. This stocking was produced by Pubblica Assistenza Carrara e Sezioni on January 5, 2011. The creation of the stocking was intended for a fund raising event to help the aged. The volunteers were able to fill the stockings with balloons containing sweets inside.
11. “White Christmas” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” were the two biggest selling Christmas songs.
12. Oklahoma is the last US state that declared Christmas as a legal holiday in 1907.

Christmas has a lot of interesting facts other than those mentioned above. But what really matters in this Yuletide season is to be able to express your love and gratitude to your family and friends, and to the birthday celebrant, Jesus Christ.

It is very important that you know the real meaning of the season. You should be generous enough in sharing love to others especially to those who need it most. You should exhibit the true meaning of Christmas by being grateful for all the blessings you have received and have been receiving by sharing some of your blessings to others. Doing such will make you feel and understand what’s the real essence of the said celebration.

May you have a meaningful Merry Christmas!