As Christmas is very nearly here, we though we would share some fun festive trivia to keep you all entertained!
Toilet Brush Tree
Fake Christmas Trees date back to 1886, and were made in London from green raffia, which was more commonly used to make grass hula skirts. Other early versions were made from dyed goose feathers, and bristles more traditionally used to create toilet brushes!Banana Christmas Trees
In the absence of the traditional fir tree, Christians in India celebrate by decorating banana and mango trees instead!
KFC for Christmas?
In Japan, KFC has become an important part of the Christmas tradition, with five to ten times the normal sales being made over the festive season!
Gifts in Shoes?
We're all familiar with the famous Christmas stocking, but in the Philippines, they have slightly different version on this tradition. Children leave their polished shoes and freshly washed socks on the window sill, for the Three Kings to leave presents in as they pass through the house at night.
This Nativity Stinks!
In Catalonia, a figure called 'Caganer' is included in their nativity scenes, which displays the form of a defecating man!
Pick the Pickle
In the United States, families hide a pickle decoration somewhere on the Christmas tree, for family members to hunt out. The first person to find it is usually rewarded with a small gift, and is said to have good fortune for the following year. Although this tradition was originally thought to have originated in Germany, people now believe it to be wholly American Christmas idea.
'Hark the Herald (silence)'
There is no mention of angels singing anywhere in the Bible, which means that your entire childhood nativity memories were all a lie!
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With Krampus being released in UK cinemas today, we thought it would be a great time to take a look at other creepy Christmas Monsters from folklore, that are used to scare kids into being nice. Quite honestly some of them have got us scared!
Krampus
The Krampus is a scary, furry, horned figure who is used as a tool to encourage good behaviour in children. It is believed that Krampus punishes children who have misbehaved by giving out sticks and coal, whereas Saint Nicholas rewards well-behaved ones with gifts. The Krampus has also been described as carrying around a chain behind him, that he would hurl at children that were in his way. He is believed to be the anti-Santa or his evil twin, though his origins are unknown, but one thing is certain; you certainly wouldn't want to be on this guy's list!
Jólakötturinn
Jólakötturinn is known as the Icelandic Yule Cat or Christmas Cat, and unlike regular, domestic cats, he's not very nice. In fact, he will probably eat you! In Iceland, in order to get people to work hard, they used to reward them with new clothes. The lazy family members wouldn't receive anything, so to encourage them to work, they were told the tale of Jólakötturinn. According to the tale, he could tell who the children were by the number of clothes they had, and that he would then proceed to eat the lazy children! If a killer giant cat doesn't motivate you to do chores, I don't know what will.
Frau Perchta
Frau Perchta is a witch who hands out both rewards and punishments from December 25 through January 6. She is more well known for her gruesome punishments to the misbehaving rather than being nice; apparently she will rip out the internal organs of the sinful and replace them with garbage, how lovely.
Belsnickel
Belsnickel comes to children sometime before Christmas, wearing old tattered clothing. Belsnickel carries a switch to frighten children, and candy to reward them for good behaviour. The switch is only used to warn children they still have time to be good before Christmas. Then, if the children are polite about the way they've been told, they get rewarded with sweets. So remember to be polite kids!
Yule Lads
They make look as innocent as the seven dwarves, but we can ensure you they're not. These Icelandic trolls stole things and caused trouble around Christmas time, and like the Yule cat it's used to scare children into behaving. There are 13 of these Yule Lads altogether, each with a name and their own distinctive personality.
Today, America will celebrate their annual Thanksgiving holiday, a custom that is said to have been initiated by a feast shared by a group of early settlers and Native Americans. Here in the UK we tend to be a little clueless on the finer details of these celebrations, so we thought it would be a great idea to share some fun facts about the day with you!
The Annual Turkey Pardon
Every year since 1989, the president of the USA is presented with two turkeys, one of which will be saved from the dinner table by being officially 'pardoned'. Read more about this strange tradition here.
Forks Wouldn't Have Been Used at the First Thanksgiving Feast
The now commonplace eating utensil wouldn't have been present at the first Thanksgiving feast, simply due to the fact that it wasn't invented until 10 years later, and didn't become popular for another 200 years!
They Probably Didn't Have Turkey Either...
While Turkey has become a firm staple of the modern Thanksgiving dinner, evidence suggests that the famous feast which inspired the holiday would have more likely consisted of passenger pigeon and seafood!
Speaking of Which, Americans Eat A LOT of Turkey!
The rough figure is around 46 million of the unlucky birds, more than double those eaten at Christmas!
Black Friday Origins
The day of deals and crazy shoppers was apparently named after it's ability to get business owners 'out of the red' and into positive profits.
There are Actually Two Thanksgivings
Canada celebrate their version on the second Monday in October!
Jingle Bells Was Originally Intended For Thanksgiving!
The famous tune was originally written for Thanksgiving and not Christmas, but was so popular that it kept being played into December and soon caught on as a popular Christmas song.
What do you call a Male Turkey?
Believe it or not, this isn't intended as a joke. Only male turkeys make the recognizable 'gobble' sound, which is why they are referred to as 'Gobblers'.
690 Million Pounds of Turkey?
We've told you how many Turkeys the US consumes each year, but apparently this is how much meat was consumed at it's height - that's roughly the same weight as the population of Singapore!
Arnie Loves Thanksgiving!
We'll leave you with some, errr, 'words of wisdom' from our favourite action star. Schwarzenegger was one quoted as saying 'I love Thanksgiving turkey. It's the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts'. And on that note...
