Did you know that many zoos take trees after the holidays and then let them feed animals?
Have you heard that on Christmas holidays in a village in Peru, everyone, old and young, can resolve their conflicts with a fight? Below - 25 most interesting and unusual fact about Christmas.
1. In the early illustrations, Father Frost / Santa Claus embodies the image of a strict discipline symbol and is not at all like the good-natured pot-bellied elf, as it is known today ...
2. All letters to Santa in America go to Santa Claus, Indiana.
3. The calculations of engineers involved in the development of Voyager spacecraft flight paths exclude the possibility of planetary clashes on Thanksgiving Day (November 24) and Christmas Day (December 25).
4. In Peru, there is a village where residents settle all last year's conflicts and disagreements with the help of fisticuffs. After the New Year's fight, they begin with a clean slate.
5. In ancient times there was such a tradition - on Christmas Eve telling terrible stories. But it remained in the last century.
6. Many zoos willingly accept Christmas trees after the holidays. It turns out that conifers - but not dried and not fallen - are a real delicacy for some animals.
7. The song of Irving Berlin - White Christmas - became the most successful single in history. In the world, more than 100 million copies of it were sold.
8. At Christmas in Newfoundland, a group of people dresses in costumes, hiding faces, walks to their homes, and while the hosts try to identify guests, they sing festive songs and dance.
9. Every year Paul McCartney earns about half a million dollars for his Christmas song, which many critics have called his worst creation.
10. A large part of the population of Sweden during the Christmas holidays is revising cartoons with Donald Duck in the 60s.
11. Most of Denny's restaurants were built without locks. And this was a real problem for employees, when in 1988 they first decided to close for Christmas.
12. During the Christmas holidays in 2010, the Colombian government conducted one very unusual operation.
In the jungle, a few dozen trees were decorated with garlands. Lights with traffic sensors lit up when the rebels were walking alongside. On some trees, banners with inscriptions that reminded that at Christmas any miracles are possible, including the beginning of a new life. The encouraging slogans helped to restore 331 rebels to the society, for which the operation received an award in the field of strategic marketing.
13. Many famous Christmas songs were written by the Israelites.
14. On Christmas Day in 1914 - during the First World War - a truce was established between Germany and Great Britain.
Representatives of different nationalities decorated shelters and dwellings, exchanged presents, and even played soccer matches in neutral territory.
15. In 1918 and for the last 40 years, the Canadian province of Nova Scotia sent giant New Year trees to Boston as a token of gratitude for the support provided to the victims during the explosion in Halifax in 1917.
16. In 1867, one industrialist heard the Christmas carol of Dickens. The work so touched him that he immediately closed the factory for the holidays, and each employee was given a turkey.
17. The interval between the 16th and 19th centuries is usually called the "small ice age" - the temperature during it kept at a few degrees below normal. That is why in many songs and carols of that time Christmas is called "white".
18. "Bohemian Rhapsody" - Queen - the only song that hit the British Christmas chart twice - the first time in 1975, and the second - in 1991.
19. In Nazi Germany, attempts were made to turn Christmas into a non-religious holiday celebrating the arrival of Hitler. St. Nicholas was to be replaced by Odin, and swastikas were to appear on the tops of the Christmas trees.
20. American company Bicycle during the Second World War created a special deck of cards.
If you wet your shirts, they showed a plan to escape from the Nazi camps. These cards became gifts for all prisoners of war in Germany. And none of the Nazis could reveal this secret.