Friday, December 14, 2007

In the spirit of the Holidays!

In the spirit of the holidays, here are some fun holiday facts:

*It is believed the Druids lit fires on Halloween (just like how we light candles inside pumpkins) to ward off evil spirits.

*The tradition of bobbing for apples and lighting candles inside pumpkins came from the Romans.

*In 1995, 35 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate were sold for Valentine's Day.

*The world record for the most people kissed is held by Alfred Wolfram of Minnesota who kissed 11,030 people in 8 hours, at a festival in 1998.

*Wedding rings are worn on the fourth finger of your left hand because people used to believe that the vein in this finger goes directly to your heart.

*In Germany there are many different characters for Christmas. Nikolaus comes on December 5th and on December 24th when the actual opening of the gifts is happening ,they have been brought either by Knecht Ruprecht, Weihnachtsmann, or the Christkindl, (Christ child) wich is an angelic child dressed in a white and or golden dress much like a long nightgown. It has wings, and has usually a small horse or a donkey as a companion.

*In Yemen, children went from house to house, tins in hand, to collect wicks for the Chanukah Menorah.

*In Germany, the eighth and last night of Chanukah used to be very special. All the leftover wicks and oil were lit in giant bonfires. People sang songs and danced around the fire, often until the small hours of the night.

*"Silent Night" was first sung as part of a church service in Austria. A guitar was used because the church organ was so badly rusted it couldn't be played.

*Guatemalan adults do not exchange Christmas gifts until New Year's Day. Children get theirs (from the Christ Child) on Christmas morning.

*When distributing gifts in Holland, St. Nicholas is accompanied his servant, Black , who is responsible for actually dropping the presents down their recipients' chimneys He also punishes bad children by putting them in a bag and carrying them away to Spain.

*The popular Christmas song "Jingle Bells" was actually written for Thanksgiving. The song was composed in 1857 by James Pierpont, and was originally called "One Horse Open Sleigh".
Artificial Christmas trees have outsold real ones since 1991.

*Christmas has different meanings around the world; Christmas Eve in Japan is a good day to eat fried chicken and strawberry shortcake.

*Many of the traditions associated with Christmas (giving gifts, lighting a Yule log, singing carols, decorating an evergreen) date back to older religions.

*In 1647, the English parliament passed a law made Christmas illegal. The Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell, who considered feasting and revelry on what was supposed to be a holy day to be immoral, banned the Christmas festivities. The ban was lifted only when Cromwell lost power in 1660.

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