12 Facts of Christmas

1. The word Christmas comes from the old English word, “ Christmas Mass”. It is often called Xmas because the first letter for Christ in the Greek New Testament is X.

2. The famous Christmas song “ Jingle Bells” was first written for Thanksgiving Day but it became popular around Christmas time.

3. The character of Santa Claus is actually based on two Christmas legends: Saint Nicholas and Father Christmas. Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of children, who generously gives gifts to the poor and orphans while Father Christmas just visits every home along his way, not giving gifts to the children, but merely feasting with the family.

4. According to historical accounts, the first Christmas in the Philippines was celebrated 200 years prior to Ferdinand Magellan's discovery of our country.

5. The Philippines is one of the few countries in the world known to celebrate Christmas weeks before and after the actual Christmas Day.

6. Fond of the song “ Twelve Days of Christmas”? The song after refer to the 12 days between the Christmas day ( December 25) and the Feast of Epiphany ( January 6).

7. How many reindeer's does Santa really have? He actually has lots of them. It's just that the most famous among them are the nine reindeer's who pull Santa's Sleigh and were included in the song Rudolph the Red Nosed Reinderr and they are: Rudolp, Dasher, Dancer, prancer, Vixen, Donder, Blitzen, Cupid and Comet.

8. Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of children and sailors ans was a 4^th century bishop from Asia Minor. He was famous for giving gifts to children.

9. Christmas is the fourth most important Christian date after Easter, Pentecost and Epiphany.

10. American natives tales say that bread baked on Christmas Eve will never go moldy.

11. Each year between 36-38 million trees are produced to cope with the holiday demand.

12. In 1647, the English parliament under Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell passed a law that made celebrating Christmas illegal. Anybody caught celebrating was arrested. The ban was only lifted when the Puritans lost power in 1660.