Holiday Fun Facts

Jingle Bells' was the first song played in space

On the 16 December 1965, the song 'Jingle Bells' made history by becoming the first song to be played in space during NASA’s Gemini 6A space flight.

KFC is a traditional dinner in Japan

Christmas in Japan is a secular holiday with less than 1% of the Japanese population identifying as Christian. When KFC launched their “Kentucky for Christmas” marketing campaign in 1974, it was an instant hit and now KFC is a popular choice for Christmas dinners in Japan.

The song 'We wish you a merry Christmas' was originally used as a threat

The song was often sung by crowds of lower-class servants as they demanded alcohol from their masters during the festive period. The lyric 'We won’t go until we get some' was used to get their point across.

Children who write to Santa Claus in the US have a good chance of getting a reply

In the United States, campaigns such as 'Operation Santa' have been running for decades with hundreds of volunteers around the country having the responsibility of replying to letters from children that are addressed to Santa Claus. This allows children who write to Santa to get a response from old Saint Nicholas!

In Austria instead of getting coal if you’ve been bad, you get Krampus

Krampus is a half man, half goat creature that punishes naughty children at Christmas time by chasing them around or even dragging them to hell and is the Austrian equivalent of getting coal in your stocking from Saint Nicholas. In some parts of Austria, adults will still dress up as Krampus every year and scare children into behaving.

Queen Victoria sent the first official Christmas card

Queen Victoria was the first official person to send a Christmas card, but the first commercial card came in 1843 when Sir Henry Cole produced 1000 and sold them for one shilling each. There are currently only 12 of these cards left in the world with one going up for auction a couple of years ago for £30,000.