- The word “Christmas” means “Mass of Christ”, later shortened to “Christ-Mass”.

- Christ was not born on the 25th of December. The date was chosen to coincide with the pagan Roman celebrations honoring Saturnus (the harvest god) and Mithras (the ancient god of light), a form of sun worship.

- The Bible does not mention Christmas, and early Christians did not observe the birthday of Christ. Christmas as we know it became widely popular only in the 19th Century.

- The most popular Christmas carol is “Silent Night, Holy Night”. It was written in 1818 by an Austrian assistant priest Joseph Mohr. He was told the day before Christmas that the church organ was broken and would not be repaired in time for Christmas Day. Saddened, he sat down to write three stanzas that could be sung by choir to guitar music. In Brazil, the song is also very famous: the Portuguese version is “Noite Feliz”.

- The traditional Christmas dinner in USA consists of roast turkey or roast ham, vegetables, salad and special desserts like fruit cake, pumpkin pie and special Christmas cookies.

Source: Did you know?
British and American Festivities by Gina D.B. Clemen