13 Christmas Facts You Probably Never Knew

1. Christmas originated from the Old English word Crīstesmæsse, which was first recorded in 1038. Crīstes was derived from the Greek Khrīstos, meaning Messiah, and mæsse, meaning celebration of the Eucharist.

2. The first Christmas celebration took place in Rome in 336.

3. The popular abbreviation, Xmas, has been receiving flak since time immemorial as most people think the term takes “Christ” out of Christmas. But, did you know that in Greek alphabet, the letter “X” is actually the first letter of the Greek word for Christ?

4. Due to widespread deforestation in 19th century, Germany developed what has been considered as the first artificial Christmas trees. What were they made of? Goose feathers that were dyed green!

5. The popular Christmas tune Jingle Bells was originally meant for Thanksgiving and not for Christmas. Initially called ‘One Horse Open Sleigh’, some sort of a tribute to the Medford sleigh races, it was written by James Lord Pierpont in 1857 to be played at his Sunday school class.

6. The term “12 Days of Christmas” refers to the 12 days following Christmas.

7. Basing from early illustrations of Santa Claus wherein he was holding a birch rod, he was more like a symbol of punishment and discipline rather than this jolly bearded guy we’ve all known him to be.

8. The first Christmas tree ornaments were apples! Actors of the medieval times would decorate paradise trees with apples during their performance of Paradise Plays, which depict Adam and Eve’s creation and fall.

9. In 2014, A French man invented the “Father Christmas” pill, which makes your fart smell like chocolates.

10. A 2014 analysis of Facebook posts by London-based journalist David McCandless revealed that couples tend to break up two weeks before Christmas. Christmas Day, on the one hand, turned out to be their least favorite time to call it quits.

11. In Japan, where Christian population is almost non-existent, people traditionally spend their Christmas dinner at KFC, thanks to the fast food chain’s 1947 campaign “Kentucky for Christmas!” that offered dinner consisting of chicken and wine.

12 Rudolph’s infamous red nose has a medical explanation. In his book, The Physics of Christmas: From the Aerodynamics of Reindeer to the Thermodynamics of Turkey, the reindeer’s nose became inflamed due to a parasitic infection.

13. There’s also a scientific explanation as to why Santa can deliver gifts to every single child in the world within an impossibly short amount of time. According to Larry Silverberg, a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor at North Carolina State University, Santa somewhat stretches time by using relativity clouds, which allow him to deliver gifts in months that only feel like minutes to us ordinary people.