HISTORIC EVENTS
   0001 1st Christmas, according to calendar-maker Dionysus Exiguus
   0337 Earliest possible date that Christmas was celebrated on Dec 25th
   0352 1st definite date Christmas was celebrated on Dec 25th
   1223 St Francis of Assisi assembles 1st Nativity scene (Greccio, Italy)
   1651 Massachusetts General Court ordered a fine (five shillings) for
"observing
any such day as Christmas"
   1818 1st US performance of Händel's Messiah, Boston
   1818 1st known Christmas carol ("Silent Night" by Franz Joseph Gruber &
Joseph Mohr) performed (Austria)
   1923 In Washington, D.C., during Calvin Coolidge's first Christmas as
president,
the first electrically-lit Christmas tree appeared in the White House.
   1939 Montgomery Ward introduces Rudolph, the 9th reindeer
                             and...
DIFFERENT CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS
       In Italy they have no Christmas trees, instead they decorate small
wooden
pyramids with fruit.
       In Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, it is customary for the
streets to
be blocked off on Christmas eve so that the people can roller-skate to
church.
       An artificial spider and web are often included in the decorations
on Ukrainian
Christmas trees. A spider web found on Christmas morning is believed to
bring
good luck.
       It is a British Christmas tradition that a wish made while mixing
the Christmas
pudding will come true only if the ingredients are stirred in a clockwise
direction.
       A traditional Christmas dinner in early England was the head of a
pig prepared
with mustard.
       Sending red Christmas cards to anyone in Japan constitutes bad
etiquette,
since funeral notices there are customarily printed in red.
       In Norway on Christmas Eve, all the brooms in the house are hidden
because
long ago it was believed that witches and mischievous spirits came out on
Christmas
Eve and would steal their brooms for riding.
Source:  GR8Humor
Received from: Teddi's Humor List