Christmas Explained: Z is for Zagmuk

The Mesopotamian holiday of Zagmuk lasted for twelve days and featured the symbolic sacrifice of the king (replaced by a convenient convict) which compensated for the sins of the people. Sound familiar?

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Explained: Y is for Yule Cat

Don't complain when you get given socks and a home-knitted sweater again this Christmas - the gift-giver might just be saving your life!

In Iceland, the Yule Cat - or Jólakötturinn - is a carnivorous monster that will devour you if you do not make it an offering. But it’s not just any offering; you must specifically put out new clothing - a wool sweater, socks, anything - for the cat to have in the cold winter.

The clothing is put out because you are supposed to show off the new clothes you got for Christmas. And be warned, the demon cat will know if the clothing is old!

The emphasis on the legend is to ensure that everyone has presents at Christmas, encouraging Icelanders to work hard prior to the festive period, so that they can afford to purchase their loved ones new gifts. And if you do not receive new clothes, you can’t offer anything to the Yule Cat, and you will most assuredly be eaten.

You will find a host of other such unusual, and downright disturbing, Christmas traditions described inside Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts!

Christmas Explained: X is for Xmas

Every year more than 400 million people celebrate Christmas around the globe, which makes it one of the biggest religious and commercial festivities in the world. But have you ever wondered why Christmas is so often shortened to Xmas?

In fact, the practice dates back further than you might suspect, ans has nothing to do with devaluing the Christian festival, as many people believe. In reality, both Christ and Christmas have been abbreviated for at least 1,000 years. The word Christ appears in Medieval documents as both 'XP' and 'Xt' and can even be found in this form in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle from 1021. By why were those particular letters used?

To find out more you'll have to pick up my book Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts!

Christmas Explained: W is for Wassail

The word 'wassail' comes from the Old English 'waes hael' meaning 'be healthy', but came to denote the practice of travelling from house to house, demanding food and drink in return for a few verses of whatever carol the singers could remember at the time.

Did you know...?

The expression 'to drink a toast' originates with the custom of wassailing?

You will find many other such tasty morsels of information in my book Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts.

A Wassail Bowl, full to the brim!

Christmas Explained: V is for Vikings and Victorians

Two different groups of people, separated by hunderds of years, that have both had a huge impact on the way we celebrate Christmas today.

To find out more, read Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts!

Christmas Explained: U is for Unbelievable Value

Unbelievably, this year Christmas dinner could cost you as little as £21.46 for a family of eight, which works out as £2.68 a head!

To find out more, follow this link, and to find out more about the history of the traditional Christmas dinner, order yourself a copy of Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts.

Christmas Explained: T is for Turkey with all the Trimmings

Surveys show that on average we will eat our way through as many as 6,000 calories on Christmas Day alone which, according to the British Dietetic Association, may be a result of overindulging on second helpings, snacks and alcohol.

Whilst we are likely to put on an average 5lbs (2kg) in weight over the Christmas period, the Christmas meal is not the main culprit. In fact, the traditional turkey roast can be very good for us.

The problem is that over Christmas we can eat roughly three to four times more food than we actually need. Meaning that we can end up in the New Year weighing a lot more than we did. It also means we are storing up problems for the future. After all the extra calories have to go somewhere. These extra calories will be laid down as fat, and it’s those extra few pounds that can do you harm in the long term.

So what does the average Christmas Dinner mean for our bodies? Here are the nutritional facts:

CHRISTMAS DINNER

Christmas Dinner	Calories	Fat
Roast turkey(90g)	149 kcal	4g
Roast potatoes(85g)	127 kcal	4g
Stuffing(100g)	231 kcal	15g
Bread sauce(45g)	42 kcal	1g
Roast parsnips(90g)	102 kcal	6g
Boiled carrots	14 kcal	0g
Brussel Sprouts	32 kcal	1g
Gravy(50g)	17 kcal	1g
Cranberry sauce(30g)	45 kcal	0g
Pork sausage(20g)	62 kcal	5g
Bacon(40g)	135 kcal	11g
TOTAL	956 kcal	48g

CHRISTMAS DINNER EXTRAS

Christmas Dinner Extras	Calories	Fat
1 slice of Christmas cake(70g)	249 kcal	8g
1 portion of chocolate log (30g)	101 kcal	3g
1 portion of cheese and biscuits	394 kcal	27g
1 portion of mixed nuts (40g)	243 kcal	22g
1 portion Christmas pudding (100g), custard and brandy butter	587 kcal	22g
1 mince pie and double cream	368 kcal	25g
1 glass of mulled wine	245 kcal	0g

Of course there are plenty of ways of ensuring you don't overindulge over Christmas - but what would be the fun in that?

* * * *

You will find many other such tasty morsels of information in my book Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts.

Christmas Explained: S is for Snowballs

You might think that snowball fights are a relatively modern invention, but snowball fights have been taking place ever since there was snow and people to mould it into balls to throw at each other.

A Medieval snowball fight.

Talk of snowball fights may make you wonder when the first snowman was built. Well, you can find out more about the history of the snowman* in Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts.

But, in the meantime, meet Angus.

He was built in the western Maine town of Bethel ten years ago, and when this photo was taken he was the tallest snowman in the world.

Angus, King of the Mountain, stood 113 feet, 7 inches tall. He weighed 9,000,000 lbs, was made up of 200,000 cubic feet of snow, had 4 ft. wreathes for eyes, his carrot nose was made from 6 ft. of chicken wire & muslin, 6 automobile tires formed his mouth, with another 3 skidder tires for his buttons, he had a 20 ft. fleece hat, a 120 ft. fleece scarf and two 10 ft. trees for arms.


The photo above was taken on 19 February 1999. Angus didn't melt until 10 June 1999.

There are plenty more facts like this to be found in What is Myrrh Anyway? and Christmas Miscellany, both of which can be bought by clicking the appropriate link in the left-hand sidebar.

* Yes, seriously.

Christmas Explained: R is for Radio

Before the Age of the Television, people used to listen to the Queen's Speech on the radio. And thanks to my Christmas book, I have made a number of radio appearances around Christmas time.

Last year I was on BBC Wilshire, as I had been the previous year, and I was actually on air on Christmas Day 2008, along with Dom Joly and Danny Wallace.

However, the highlight of my Christmas radio appearances probably has to be when I sang on Radio 1. Yes, really...



I'm second to 'sing', and yes, this really did get a brief airing on Radio 1 around Christmas 2007. So there you go.

Christmas Explained: Q is for the Queen's Speech

The Queen’s Speech is as much a part of Christmas as over-eating and spending far too much money on presents. And yet it is also one of the more recently-developed popular Christmas traditions.

The practice of the monarch making a speech to the nation was begun in 1932, when the then king George V, father of our own monarch, broadcast a Christmas message to the British people over the radio.

Recently I was fortunate enough to be at Broadcasting House, where the original microphones used by George V (and that you can see in the image above) are on display. And here they are...

Christmas Explained: P is for Presents

Ask most children - in fact, ask most people - what they look forward to most about Christmas and the venal lot will probably say, "Presents!"*

The Twelve Days of Christmas is one of the most popular Christmas carols, telling of a zealous suitor’s extravagant Christmas gifts to his sweetheart. The familiar words of the carol were published in London, around the year 1780, in a collection of children’s rhymes called Mirth without Mischief. It was included in this context as a memory game with accompanying forfeits for the forgetful.

The Twelve Days of Christmas is the source of much amusement among mathematicians in that it provides the basis for a suitably festive mathematical brainteaser, that of ‘How many gifts does the young lady, who narrates the carol, receive?’

Looking at the lyrics closely it soon becomes apparent that on day two his sweetheart receives two turtle doves and another partridge. On the third day of Christmas she gets the French hens, another pair of turtle doves and yet another partridge, pear tree, the works. And so it goes on...

There is actually a mathematical formula you can use to work out the total number of gifts given by the extravagant ‘my true love’ celebrated in The Twelve Days of Christmas on any one day of the twelve days. Where N is a particular day out of the twelve, the total number of gifts given on that day = N(N+1)(N+2)/6.

So, rather than receiving a total of 78 gifts over the twelve days, the narrator of the carol actually receives 364 individual items, one for each day of a traditional year, minus Christmas Day.

You can find out more about why we give presents each Christmas inside Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts, which would itself make the perfect present for your loved ones this Christmas.

* And if they don't, then they probably deserve a present for being so virtuous!

Christmas Explained: O is for Outstanding!

On 14 December 1911, the first expedition to reach the geographic South Pole, led by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, arrived at the pole, exactly 105 years ago today!

Amundsen's party arrived five weeks ahead of a British party led by Robert Falcon Scott as part of the Terra Nova Expedition. Amundsen and his team returned safely to their base, but later learned that Scott and his four companions had died on their return journey.

To find out more about snow and ice and its festive associations, read Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts, available now, appropriately enough, from Snowbooks.

Christmas Explained: N is for Nutcracker

At Christmas time it is not uncommon for many families to attend the only ballet the will see all year. The name of that ballet? The Nutcracker. But how did a ballet about a mechanical device for cracking nuts become such a popular festive tradition?

The story itself is quite old, older than the one we see portrayed on stage, which is actually an adaptation by the French author Alexandre Dumas, possibly better known for such titles as The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.

The Nutcracker was actually Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky's final and least satisfying ballet, after he took on the project with a marked lack of enthusiasm. It is ironic then that it would be The Nutcracker that was to become one of the most beloved Christmas traditions.

The Nutcracker premiered in Tchaikovsky's native Russia in 1892. It wasn't until 1944 that an American ballet company decided to perform the entire ballet. That year, the San Francisco Ballet took on the task, from then on performing the ballet as an annual tradition.

But it was really George Balanchine who really set The Nutcracker on the path to popular fame. In 1954 he choreographed the ballet for a New York company, and not a year has passed since when the ballet hasn't been performed in New York City.

You will find many other such tasty morsels of information in my book Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts.

Christmas Explained: M is for Myrrh

In the immortal words of Brian's mother, in The Life of Brain, "What is myrrh anyway?"

To find out, read Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts.

Christmas Explained: L is for the Lord of Misrule

Who was the unruly Lord of Misrule?

What were his duties?

And what does he have to do with Christmas?

Read Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts to find out!

Christmas Explained: K is for Kings

How many kings visited the infant Christ child in the stable? Three? Twenty? More?

Find out in Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts!

Christmas Explained: J is for Jingle Bells

Did you know that Jingle Bells wasn't originally written as a Christmas song? To find out which seasonal event it was written for, pick up a copy of Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts today!

Christmas Explained: I is for Ice

Did you know...?

1. The average snowflake has a top speed of 1.7 metres per second.
2. For it to snow the tops of the clouds must be below zero degrees Celsius (or 32 degrees Fahrenheit).
3. The largest piece of ice to fall to earth was an ice block 6m (or 20ft) across that fell in Scotland on 13 August 1849.
4. The largest hailstone recorded fell on 14 April 1986 in Bangladesh weighing 1kg (2.25lbs). The hailstorm reportedly killed 92 people.
5. The largest snowflakes in the world fell across Fort Keogh in Montana (USA) on 28 January 1887.
6. Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is the only permanent snowcap within sight of the equator.
7. Permanent snow and ice cover about 12% (21 million square kilometres) of the Earth's land surface.
8. 80% of the world's fresh water is locked up as ice or snow.
9. A single snowstorm can drop 40 million tons of snow, carrying the energy equivalent to 120 atom bombs.
10. There is not a law of nature that prohibits 2 snowflakes from being identical.
11. In Australia, snowfalls are common above 1,500m in the Alps during the winter, but there are no permanent snowfields anywhere on the continent.
12. The most snow produced in a single snowstorm is 4.8m (15.75ft) at Mt Shasta Ski Bowl, California (USA) between 13 and 19 February 1959.

At a thickness of two inches, ice will support a man. At a thickness of four inches, it will support man on horseback. At a thickness of six inches, it will support teams with moderate loads. At a thickness of eight inches, it will support heavy loads. At a thickness of ten inches, will support 1,000 pounds to the square foot.

Between 1400 and 1814 (which was the last time it happened) the River Thames froze over 26 times. And when it froze solid, Londoners made the most of it, holding Frost Fairs on the ice.

For more seasonal facts about ice and snow, and for more on the Frost Fairs of London, order your copy of Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts today!

Christmas Explained: H is for Hats

As in party hats, or the paper crowns you find in crackers. But how far back do hats and their association with Christmas go?

Well you're have to read Christmas Explained: Robins, King and Brussel Sprouts to find out, but you might be surprised...

Christmas Explained: G is for Grandfather Frost

Today, 6th December, is the Feast of Saint Nicholas, of whom you can find out all sorts of interesting things in Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts.

However, it is on this day that children in Poland, and other Slavic countries, are visited by Ded Moroz, or 'Grandfather Frost', an ancient Russian deity given a more secular twist by Russia's Communist regime during the 20th Century.

Check out the horns on that get-up!

You can find out more about Ded Moroz here and here.

Ded Moroz in his troika pulled by three steeds, accompanied by his granddaughter Snegurochka.

Ded Moroz and his granddaughter Snegurochka traditionally wear blue.

Ded Moroz gives Sputnik a run for its money, by the look of things.