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Yuletide Yarns: 71 Fascinating Facts About Christmas

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51Christmas in Nazi Germany

Christmas in Nazi Germany

The Nazi party tried to turn Christmas into a nonreligious holiday celebrating the coming of Hitler, with Saint Nicholas replaced by Odin the "Solstice Man" and swastikas on top of Christmas trees.


52. Charles Dickens grew up during a 'Little Ice Age' and hence it snowed for each of his first 8 Christmases influencing his writing and hence today's tradition of a 'White Christmas'.


53. There is a traditional British army drink called gunfire made of black tea and rum. Officers serve it to lower ranks on Christmas. During the Korean War, British soldiers once gave gunfire to some American MPs, causing them to drive an ARV and some Jeeps into a fence.


54. In 1919 after becoming an officially secular country, Uruguay renamed the holidays of Christmas Day to "Family Day", Holy Easter Week to "Tourism Week", and Epiphany to "Children's Day"


55. Mariah Carey's single "All I want for Christmas is you" has amassed over 50 Million in royalties since 2013.


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56Earring Magic Ken doll

Earring Magic Ken doll

Mattel made an Earring Magic Ken doll in 1993, complete with frosted hair, a purple mesh shirt, lavender vest and an earring in his left ear. Dubbed the "Alternative Lifestyle" Ken, the doll was almost completely sold out of stores by Christmas, due to the gay community's interest.


57. Brenda Lee was 13 years old when she recorded Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree


58. About half of Sweden's population watches Donald Duck every Christmas Eve since 1960


59. Telling "scary ghost stories" is an old Christmas Eve tradition that has died out in the past century


60. Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax was a devout Christian who refused to celebrate Christmas because he thought it was a pagan holiday


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61William the Conqueror

William the Conqueror

On Christmas 1066, when William the Conqueror was crowned king of England, people cheered so loudly that the guards outside attacked people and houses near to Westminster Abbey were burned down in a riot.


62. President Bill Clinton said he would personally pay the bill to keep the National Christmas Tree lit during the government shutdown resulting from disagreements on the 1996 federal budget


63. The majority of popular Christmas songs were written by Jews


64. In Spain, employees get 14 monthly paychecks a year (a double pay in Christmas and summer)


65. The 10-year-old singer of "I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas" got her wish and donated it to the local zoo


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66Charging Bull

Charging Bull

The charging bull sculpture on Wall Street was itself installed as an act of guerrilla art - as a "Christmas gift to the people of New York" by the artists in 1989.


67. Christmas trees can be recycled. Louisiana uses them to build shoreline fences to reduce erosion and form new marshes.


68. A Finnish Christmas film called Rare Export in which Santa Claus is a killer monster


69. Up to 3% of Switzerland's population of 8 million (240,000 people) eat dog and/or cat meat. It is most popular during the Christmas holidays.


70. During Christmas time in Newfoundland, people called mummers dress up in crude disguises and go from house to house. At each house they visit, they start dancing, playing music, and get wasted drunk while the hosts try to discover their true identities.


71Ellen and William Craft

Ellen and William Craft

Ellen and William Craft were slaves from Macon, Georgia who escaped to the North in 1848 by traveling openly by train and steamboat, arriving in Philadelphia on Christmas Day. She posed as a white male planter and him as her personal servant

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