There are numerous traditions around the world associated with Christmas, such as buying gifts and sending Christmas cards, which you may observe or have heard of. There are also many unique, strange Christmas traditions and Christmas customs or facts that people have never heard about. These certainly make interesting and fun conversation to share with family and friends. There are some unique and interesting facts about Christmas traditions and Christmas customs. Many people love taking a drive and looking at the wonderful Christmas light displays during the festive holiday season, but did you know:
*In the early 1900's, a Christmas tree electrically lighted was considered a status symbol.
*The earliest Christmas lights made, to replace candles, were so hot when they burned that they were actually as dangerous as candles.
*Because Christmas lights were so expensive early in their history, instead of buying them, most people rented them.
*Three years after Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, a colleague of his, by the name of Edward Johnson, was the first person to display lights on his Christmas tree at home. These lights were hand wired onto the tree in red, white, blue, and alternately flashed as the tree turned.
*It was not until after World War II that Christmas trees, electrically lit, became popular in the United States.
*Many people believed that early Christmas light bulbs burned longer when positioned upright on the Christmas tree. This was incorrect but people were very careful about keeping the lamps upright.
*By the late 1920's, milk glass was used to make figure Christmas lights. Turing the lights off and on caused them to expand and contract making the paint on the figure bulbs to peel and flake off. The industry felt that it looked better with milk glass showing, instead of clear class, when they flaked. The early lights, often in shapes such as holiday figures, fruit and flowers, were blown in the same molds as small ornaments and unbelievably, painted by the toy makers.
*Two weeks before Christmas in Lebanon, people plant wheat grains, beans, lentils and chickpeas in wool. They place these sprouted shoots around the manger in their nativity scenes
*In Winchester, England, Pilgrims' school provides choirboys for Winchester Cathedral on Christmas Day. It is a tradition for the choirboys to start Christmas day waking up their headmaster by singing Christmas carols outside his window.
*A unique Christmas tradition in Greenland is taking the raw flesh of an auk, which is a diving bird, and wrapping it in sealskin. Placed under a stone for several months until it decomposes, they say this gastronomical Christmas treat smells like old blue cheese and has a very pungent taste.
*Christmas morning in Portugal, they have the "consoda" feast where they set extra places at the dinner table. They offer food to the souls of the dead and ask for good luck in the coming year.
*Two Sundays before Christmas in Yugoslavia, children sneak in and bind their mother's feet to a chair. They chant, "Mothers Day, Mothers Day, what will you pay to get away?" Their mother then gives them gifts. They do the same to their father the following Sunday and he gives them more presents.
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