Parliamentary Law passed in the late 1640s forbade celebrating holy days and singing Christmas carols in public, a situation that persisted until the 1660s when it was reversed. Meanwhile, it is said that the devout worshiped furtively at home - one of their carols, the lengthy "12 Days of Christmas" was actually a song in code!
"Two turtle doves" were the Old and New Testament
"10 Lords a'leaping" represented the 10 Commandments
"Three French Hens" substituted for "Faith, Hope and Love."
If you've ever given tried to total up all of the items sung about and given it up in despair, here's good news! Someone with infinite patience has done it for the rest of us: final day gift count is 364 total gifts.
More Trivia
The words for "Silent Night" were written first in 1816; the music didn't come along until 1818 and it was written for guitar.
St. Francis of Assisi took the nativity news on the road by performing it as a play for the poor and illiterate. He did it to show these people that Jesus was born in similar circumstances to their own births. It may have been one of the first spins re accepting religious beliefs..
A great Christmas tradition exists in Great Britain and it is a tribute to the average Brit male's fascination with things that go BOOM! They are called "Christmas crackers" and are pulled apart for two things - a satisfying "pop!" noise and a paper hat or crown to be donned immediately for further table jollity. Also included in this cracker are slips of paper with genuinely terrible jokes printed on them. Contain your groans to a bearable level, and consider:
"Why did Rudolph cross the road?
He was tied to the chicken!"
"Why are Christmas trees so bad at sewing?
They always drop their needles!"
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