There is no more wonderful a sight than a beautifully decorated Christmas tree situated in a living room or shop entrance way. The image helps to evoke a real sense of the Christmas spirit and once the trees start adorning the streets and stores of the high street it really starts to feel like Christmas. The smell of a tree like the Wellingborough Real Christmas Trees you can find at www.welfordchristmastreefarm.co.uk/ also helps to get you in the mood for Christmas celebrations and in 2004 in a survey about the nations favourite smells the Christmas tree ranked at number 8 ahead of the smell of perfume.
There are lots of traditions, superstitions and historical facts surrounding the festive season, some of them you may be aware of and others may be more obscure in their origin.
Christmas tress- facts around Christmas trees include many surrounding their history and their decoration traditions. The first recorded Christmas tree that was decorated is thought to have been a tree in Riga, Latvia in around 1510. Prince Albert is credited with bringing about the popularity of the Christmas Tree during the 1840s. It is thought that around 8 million natural Christmas trees are purchased during the Christmas period in the UK alone and it is unsurprising that the statistics show that for every artificial tree that is sold, three natural trees are sold. As a way of creating sustainable trees at least three Christmas trees are planted for every tree that is cut to be sold.
Food – Did you know that tradition suggests that you should eat a mince pie every day for the twelve days of Christmas as it is thought to bring you good luck. However, there is an old law surrounding the consumption of mince pies on Christmas Day. Oliver Cromwell banned mince pies and Christmas Pudding and anything that could be classed as glutinous and it is a law that has never been rescinded!
Here are some interesting Christmas statistics:
- Last year around 6 million rolls of sellotape were sold in the run up to Christmas here in the UK.
- Over 80% of people in the United Kingdom own a Christmas jumper with some of these having been bought for a works Christmas jumper day and others to be worn as a family tradition on Christmas day.
Do you have any family traditions for Christmas Day or perhaps a festive tradition for the run up to the big day?