Christmas facts!

Did you know # 11

The Christmas season has set in and we look forward towards celebrating this festival of joy and celebration on December 25.

Here are some enlightening facts related to Christmas:

1)     Thomas Nast was the cartoonist who created the traditional image of Santa Claus.

2)     There are nine reindeer's in the sleigh of Santa Claus.

3)     Santa Claus is associated with Saint Nicholas of Myra. The birthplace of this saint is Demra in Lycia, a part of modern Turkey.

4)     There is a placed called ‘Christmas’ in Orange county in USA.

5)     There is an island in the Indian Ocean, called Christmas Island.

6)     The poinsettia is a traditional Christmas flower. In Mexico (its original birthplace) it is known as the ‘Flower of the Holy Night’

The 'traditional' Christmas flowers

7)     In France, Christmas is called ‘Noel’

8)     The first printed reference to Christmas trees appeared in Germany in 1531

9)     In 1937, the first postage stamp to commemorate Christmas was issued in Austria

10)Hallmark introduced its first Christmas cards in 1915, five years after the company was founded.

11)The popular Christmas song ‘Jingle Bells’ was composed in 1857 by James Pierpoint and was originally called ‘One-Horse Open Sleigh.