Merry Christmas to Everyone.God Bless u All.

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The History of Christmas Crackers

We’ve all pulled a Christmas cracker with the family over a Christmas dinner before, but where did this tradition come from? And what’s with the rubbish jokes? Find out the facts on Christmas crackers here!

So let’s start basic. A Christmas cracker often contains a paper hat, a really bad joke and a small gift, the quality of the gift really depends on how much you pay for the cracker, whilst most people would have received a whistle, pencil sharpener or tape measure, there’s some out there that offer jewellery, expensive gadgets & perfume.

Christmas crackers were invented in 1846 by the British confectioner, Thomas Smith, whilst on a trip to Paris, he stumbled upon a bob-bon, which for those of you that don’t know.. it’s basically a sugar almond wrapped up in tissue paper, with a twist either side of the bon-bon. Thomas thought the idea could be a festive way of enjoying sweets and produced other candy wrapped in a similar way, for the lead up to Christmas. Thomas’ bon-bons was a bestseller at Christmas, which lead to his next idea.

These Christmas bon-bons were mainly bought by men for their partner to unwrap, so in the early 1850’s, Thomas came up with the idea of including romantic poems wrapped around the sweet.

In 1860, Thomas was inspired by the crackling of the logs in his fireplace, and decided his crackers needed a bang! He added two strips of chemically impregnated paper, which makes a loud noise on being pulled apart, which is still used today. Originally, these were called cosaques, but were almost instantly referred to as crackers, due to the cracking sound when pulling.

Like any good idea, it was soon copied by other businesses, which meant for Thomas’ crackers to keep selling, he would have had to make them more original, so he decided to replace the bon-bon with a surprise gift. Tom Smith Crackers is still one of the largest manufacturers of crackers in the world, and are pulled by thousands of people around the world, including the Royal family! His cracker company is now owned by Brite Sparks.

In the early 1990’s, Thomas’ son, Walter, took over the business and introduced the paper hat to keep battling against the other cracker rivals. By the end of the 1930’s the romantic poems had been replaced by terrible jokes.

What did one snowman say to the other?

Do you smell carrots?!

So yeah, the last thing to talk about is why the jokes are so awful! It’s not because the joke writers don’t have a sense of humour, but rather because that’s what people love and expect from a cracker. Cracker’s have had complaints in the past of having jokes which can be seen as offensive or in bad taste, which doesn’t fit well around the dinner table, they don’t want people feeling uncomfortable whilst pulling the crackers, otherwise nobody would want them! The jokes are intentionally bad so that all the family can understand them, and laugh at how stupid the joke is, rather than laughing at the person reading them, it’s the best way to keep anyone from being singled out.

Well, that’s all folks! But before you go, let us know what the best/worst joke you’ve had from a cracker, and what your favourite gift is you’ve received.. for me, I was lucky to receive a small Christmas bear, with a hat & scarf (they were posh crackers)!

christmas trees

Facts - Interesting Facts on Christmas

Here are some Christmas related facts that will arouse your interest :

1. During the auspicious Christmas time many of the pet owners think their pet as human beings. It is noticed that almost 56 percent of Americans sing to their pets.
   
   
2. During Yuletide season people sell foil and make considerable money at Reynolds et al. It is a fact that more than 3000 tons of foils are used yearly to wrap the Turkeys.
   
   
3. If you are interested to go for a Christmas shopping, then it’s a word to remember. Statistics reveal that you are going to be elbowed thrice if not more while shopping.
   
   
4. Most of us have made it a tradition to send Christmas cards to our friends. If we consider Americans, then it is true that they send 28 cards on average annually to their near and dear ones. Most of the Americans will also receive 28 cards yearly as well.
   
   
5. Scraps of Christmas can make problems for you many times. The Christmas scraps are responsible for 400,000 cases of disease and sickness after the Christmas time.
   
   
6. Listen to the song "Twelve Days of Christmas" and count the number of gifts in the song. You will realize that gifts were exchanged 364 times. Thus the gifts are exchanged everyday of the year.
   
   
7. Oliver Cornwell, the leader, stopped the celebration of Christmas during 1647- 1660. According to him it was immoral to celebrate the holiest day of the year. It was a criminal offence. He or she could find him or her behind the bars if he/she was found guilty of celebrating Christmas.
   
   
8. The customary Christmas dinner in England included a pig head with mustard sauce. However, this is not followed anymore In England.
   
   
9. It was obligatory to visit the church during Christmas day. The tradition of fasting still continues. No vehicle is allowed to be used in any Christmas service.
   
   
10. According to an old wives’ tale if you bake bread on the Christmas Eve then it will be fresh forever. It’s yet to be known that how many people actually believe in this story and how many of them have ever tried it.
    
    
11. Father Christmas has two addresses, Edinburg and the North Pole. If someone writes a letter and wants to send it to "Toyland" or "Snow land", then that particular letter goes to Edinburg. But, if someone sends the letter to "The North Pole", then it has to go to the North Pole because there is a place called North Pole.
    
    
12. The American Puritans wanted to make the festival of Thanksgiving Day the prime festival instead of Christmas.
    
    
13. The first state to recognize Christmas as an official holiday was Alabama in 1836.
    
    
14. Noel is the word which is used in place of Christmas in France. The word was derived from the French phrase "les bonnes nouvelles" which means "the good news" and it refers to the gospel.
    
    
15. In the Ukraine, if you find a spider web in the house on Christmas morning, it is believed to be a harbinger of good luck! There once lived a woman so poor, says a Ukrainian folk tale, that she could not afford Christmas decorations for her family. One Christmas morning, she awoke to find that spiders had trimmed her children’s tree with their webs. When the morning sun shone on them, the webs turned to silver and gold. An artificial spider and web are often included in the decorations on Ukrainian Christmas trees.
    
    
16. At Christmas, it is traditional to exchange kisses beneath the mistletoe tree. In ancient Scandinavia, mistletoe was associated with peace and friendship. That may account for the custom of "kissing beneath the mistletoe".
    
    
17. 'Klaxon' is a name that does not belong to one of Santa’s reindeer. A klaxon is actually a powerful electric horn. Its name comes from a German word meaning "shriek".
    
    
18. In many households, part of the fun of eating Christmas pudding is finding a trinket that predicts your fortune for the coming year. For instance, finding a coin means you will become wealthy. A ring means you will get married; while a button predicts bachelorhood. The idea of hiding something in the pudding comes from the tradition in the Middle Ages of hiding a bean in a cake that was served on Twelfth Night. Whoever found the bean became "king" for the rest of the night.
    
    
19. Frumenty was a spiced porridge, enjoyed by both rich and poor. It was a forerunner of modern Christmas puddings. It is linked in legend to the Celtic god Dagda, who stirred a porridge made up of all the good things of the earth.
    
    
20. In Greek legend, malicious creatures called Kallikantzaroi sometimes play troublesome pranks at Christmas time. In order to get rid of them, salt or an old shoe is burnt. The pungent burning stench drives off, or at least helps discourage, the Kallikantzaroi. Other techniques include hanging a pig’s jawbone by the door and keeping a large fire so they can’t sneak down the chimney.
    
    
21. The poinsettia is a traditional Christmas flower. In Mexico (its original birthplace), the poinsettia is known as the "Flower of the Holy Night".
    
    
22. Louis Prang, a Bavarian-born lithographer who came to the USA from Germany in the 19th century, popularized the sending of printed Christmas cards. He invented a way of reproducing color oil paintings, the "chromolithograph technique", and created a card with the message "Merry Christmas" as a way of showing it off.
    
    
23. The "Urn of Fate" is part of the Christmas celebrations in many Italian households. The Urn of Fate is brought out on Christmas Eve. It holds a wrapped present for everyone. The mother tries her luck first, then the others in turn. If you get a present with your name on it, you keep it; otherwise, you put it back and try again.
    
    
24. In Sweden, a common Christmas decoration is the Julbukk, a small figurine of a goat. It is usually made of straw. Scandinavian Christmas festivities feature a variety of straw decorations in the form of stars, angels, hearts and other shapes, as well as the Julbukk. 

As the weather turns cold, and daylight becomes shorter, we begin to feel the Christmas Season approaching, and our hearts begin to glow with feelings of warmth, and goodwill towards each other.
Christmas is a time of beauty from the inside out. For a brief period, we seem to give ourselves permission to let go of all the little stressors that constraint us, and we open our hearts to love, to giving and receiving. It is a time when hearts are filled with joy, and minds are filled with caring thoughts much more than at any other time. 

I love Christmas. There’s no other time of the year that excites me the way Christmas does, no other season that evokes in me warm, cozy childhood memories as Christmas does. I revel in the beauty of the season, in the colors, the aromas, and in the myriads of colorful twinkling lights that are  a celebration of life, hope, and all that’s fine, and good about humanity.
Christmas is simply a Magical season. It’s that time of the year when the air is filled with lively exuberance, when spirits soar in joyous merriment, and families and friends get together to share love and re-live old traditions..

This blog is dedicated to everyone who still gets excited, and is inspired by the wonderful magic of the Christmas season. For the children, it’s an exciting time, and for the grown-ups, we become children again. I hope that as you read these pages, you’ll feel the spirit of the Holiday Season stirring inside of you, warming your heart with fond memories, and  nice cozy feelings.

I invite you to make A-Magical-Christmas.com a place to get together during the Christmas season, to connect with like minded folks who love Christmas, and who feel inspired and transformed by its magic.

 How "Merry Christmas" is said .....

Afrikaans: Geseënde Kersfees
Afrikander: Een Plesierige Kerfees
African/ Eritrean/ Tigrinja: Rehus-Beal-Ledeats
Albanian:Gezur Krislinjden
Arabic: Milad Majid
Argentine: Feliz Navidad
Armenian: Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand
Azeri: Tezze Iliniz Yahsi Olsun
Bahasa Malaysia: Selamat Hari Natal
Basque: Zorionak eta Urte Berri On!
Bengali: Shuvo Naba Barsha
Bohemian: Vesele Vanoce
Bosnian: (BOSANSKI) Cestit Bozic i Sretna Nova godina
Brazilian: Feliz Natal
Breton: Nedeleg laouen na bloavezh mat
Bulgarian: Tchestita Koleda; Tchestito Rojdestvo Hristovo
Catalan: Bon Nadal i un Bon Any Nou!
Chile: Feliz Navidad
Chinese: (Cantonese) Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun
Chinese: (Mandarin) Sheng Dan Kuai Le
Choctaw: Yukpa, Nitak Hollo Chito
Columbia: Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo
Cornish: Nadelik looan na looan blethen noweth
Corsian: Pace e salute
Crazanian: Rot Yikji Dol La Roo
Cree: Mitho Makosi Kesikansi
Croatian: Sretan Bozic
Czech: Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok
Danish: Glædelig Jul
Duri: Christmas-e- Shoma Mobarak
Dutch: Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! or Zalig Kerstfeast
English: Merry Christmas
Eskimo: (inupik) Jutdlime pivdluarit ukiortame pivdluaritlo!
Esperanto: Gajan Kristnaskon
Estonian: Rõõmsaid Jõulupühi
Ethiopian: (Amharic) Melkin Yelidet Beaal
Faeroese: Gledhilig jol og eydnurikt nyggjar!
Farsi: Cristmas-e-shoma mobarak bashad
Finnish: Hyvaa joulua
Flemish: Zalig Kerstfeest en Gelukkig nieuw jaar
French: Joyeux Noel
Frisian: Noflike Krystdagen en in protte Lok en Seine yn it Nije Jier!
Galician: Bo Nada
Gaelic: Nollaig chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ùr!
German: Fröhliche Weihnachten
Greek: Kala Christouyenna!
Haiti: (Creole) Jwaye Nowel or to Jesus Edo Bri'cho o Rish D'Shato Brichto
Hausa: Barka da Kirsimatikuma Barka da Sabuwar Shekara!
Hawaiian: Mele Kalikimaka
Hebrew: Mo'adim Lesimkha. Chena tova
Hindi: Shub Naya Baras (good New Year not Merry Christmas)
Hungarian: Kellemes Karacsonyi unnepeket
Icelandic: Gledileg Jol
Indonesian: Selamat Hari Natal
Iraqi: Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah
Irish: Nollaig Shona Dhuit, or Nodlaig mhaith chugnat
Iroquois: Ojenyunyat Sungwiyadeson honungradon nagwutut. Ojenyunyat osrasay.
Italian: Buone Feste Natalizie
Japanese: Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto
Jiberish: Mithag Crithagsigathmithags
Korean: Sung Tan Chuk Ha
Lao: souksan van Christmas
Latin: Natale hilare et Annum Faustum!
Latvian: Prieci'gus Ziemsve'tkus un Laimi'gu Jauno Gadu!
Lausitzian:Wjesole hody a strowe nowe leto
Lettish: Priecigus Ziemassvetkus
Lithuanian: Linksmu Kaledu
Low Saxon: Heughliche Winachten un 'n moi Nijaar
Luxembourgish: Schèine Chreschtdaag an e gudde Rutsch
Macedonian: Sreken Bozhik
Maltese: IL-Milied It-tajjeb
Manx: Nollick ghennal as blein vie noa
Maori: Meri Kirihimete
Marathi: Shub Naya Varsh (good New Year not Merry Christmas)
Navajo: Merry Keshmish
Norwegian: God Jul, or Gledelig Jul
Occitan: Pulit nadal e bona annado
Papiamento: Bon Pasco
Papua New Guinea: Bikpela hamamas blong dispela Krismas na Nupela yia i go long yu
Pennsylvania German: En frehlicher Grischtdaag un en hallich Nei Yaahr!
Peru: Feliz Navidad y un Venturoso Año Nuevo
Philippines: Maligayang Pasko!
Polish: Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia or Boze Narodzenie
Portuguese:Feliz Natal
Pushto: Christmas Aao Ne-way Kaal Mo Mobarak Sha
Rapa-Nui (Easter Island): Mata-Ki-Te-Rangi. Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua
Rhetian: Bellas festas da nadal e bun onn
Romanche: (sursilvan dialect): Legreivlas fiastas da Nadal e bien niev onn!
Rumanian: Sarbatori vesele or Craciun fericit
Russian: Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom
Sami: Buorrit Juovllat
Samoan: La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou
Sardinian: Bonu nadale e prosperu annu nou
Scots Gaelic: Nollaig chridheil huibh
Serbian: Hristos se rodi.
Singhalese: Subha nath thalak Vewa. Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa
Slovak: Vesele Vianoce. A stastlivy Novy Rok
Slovene: Vesele Bozicne Praznike Srecno Novo Leto or Vesel Bozic in srecno Novo leto
Spanish: Feliz Navidad
Swedish: God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt År
Tagalog: Maligayamg Pasko. Masaganang Bagong Taon
Tamil: (Tamizh) Nathar Puthu Varuda Valthukkal (good New Year not Merry Christmas)
Trukeese: (Micronesian) Neekiriisimas annim oo iyer seefe feyiyeech!
Thai: Sawadee Pee Mai or souksan wan Christmas
Turkish: Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
Ukrainian: Srozhdestvom Kristovym or Z RIZDVOM HRYSTOVYM
Urdu: Naya Saal Mubarak Ho (good New Year not Merry Christmas)
Vietnamese: Chuc Mung Giang Sinh
Welsh: Nadolig Llawen
Yoruba: E ku odun, e ku iye'dun!