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Yule
Time
Christmas is over, and
it's time to reel in the New Year! While we all celebrated this festival in our own way, by exchanging presents, going out for a family lunch or dinner, or just relaxing at home, most of us made sure to wish our loved ones a Merry Christmas. But how much do we really know about this holiday? Check out some fast facts about Christmas, and Father Christmas, our very own Santa!
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Christmas is also called Noel or Yuletide.
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Did you know that Santa lives in the
North Pole? That's right! He lives in a quiet town covered with snow, called
Lapland, which is in Finland.
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Santa Claus was modeled after a real
person, called St. Nicholas. Nicholas was a priest who lived in Myra, which
is now known as Turkey. He was very generous and used to give presents
to all the children.
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Santa has a tiny little toy factory,
in which he makes toys all year round, to give to all the children who
have been good during the year. He is helped by his workers, who are elves.
Sugarplum Mary, the female elf, is Mrs. Santa's helper in the kitchen,
and together they cook up yummy treats.
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Santa's sleigh is pulled by eight reindeer.
Their names are: Dasher, the captain of the reindeer team, Dancer and Prancer,
who are twins, Vixen and Cupid, the lovey dovey couple, Donder, who wants
to be captain and is Dasher's staunchest rival, Blitzen and Comet.
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While Rudolph is a good friend of Santa's
and a faithful reindeer, he is not on Santa's original reindeer team. Rudolph
was immortalized in the song Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.
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Santa's sleigh is guided by Blitzen,
who's been struck by lightening so many times while zipping around in the
sky, he's actually electrically charged! Blitzen's antlers constantly point
North, which is why he's Santa's compass!
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Can you guess how Comet got his name?
He was struck by a comet, on his very first assignment as Santa's reindeer
on Christmas Eve. The comet was headed straight for the earth, and Comet
banged into it, averted its path, and saved the earth!
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One of the most famous books based on
Christmas is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. He immortalized the
character of Scrooge, who is a mean miser and thinks Christmas, the festival
of giving, is nothing but 'humbug'! Scrooge is then confronted by the Ghost
of Christmas Past, Ghost of Christmas Present and Ghost of Christmas Future,
who place Scrooge's past, present and future in front of him. When Scrooge
sees himself dying alone, unloved, friendless and with no one at his funeral,
he resolves to change.
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People decorate their houses with the
fir tree and holly, which is a green plant with red berries. Red and green
soon came to be the colours of Christmas. The Poinsettia, which is the
traditional Christmas flower, is also red and green.
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Mistletoe is also used to decorate the
house on Christmas. According to tradition, if a girl is standing under
a mistletoe sprig, she cannot refuse to be kissed. Do you know how this
tradition of kissing under the mistletoe came about?
Click here and find out!
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