FESTIVE FACTS
1 Father Christmas is a figure with complicated origins, but he’s at least partly based on St Nicholas of Myra, known for giving away his fortune to the poor. In one story he saved three young women from prostitution by giving them purses or balls of gold as dowries with which to attract husbands. For this reason, St Nicholas is considered the patron saint of pawnbrokers, who adopted his three balls as their emblem.
2 The first- ever Christmas greetings cards are commonly thought to have been created in 1843 by publisher Sir Henry Cole, who was too busy to follow the usual tradition of the time of writing letters to friends and relatives. The cards featured a colourful illustration of a family merrily making a festive toast.
3 In the 12th century, a man known as Roland the Farter (probably a professional jester) was given Hemingstone Manor in Suffolk, along with 30 acres of land, by King Henry II, in payment for his services: he was obliged to perform ‘Unum saltum et siffletum et unum bumbulum’ – ‘A jump, a whistle and a fart’ – at the royal court each Christmas.
4 English folk eagerly anticipate ‘White Christmas’, despite the fact that England only occasionally receives heavy snow on 25 December. True, snowy Yules might have been more common in the past, notably during the ‘Little Ice Age’ that chilled Europe between the 14th and 19th centuries. In addition, the switch to the Gregorian calendar in 1752 moved Christmas forward 11 days, reducing the chances of snow that day. Eugene Byrne