Christmas around the world
Why Japan Eats KFC for Christmas
An overheard complaint in a Tokyo KFC and a 1974 slogan created a national Christmas dinner. Fifty years of Kentucky for Christmas.
Christmas around the world
Christmas in Iceland: The Thirteen Yule Lads
Thirteen troll brothers, a child-eating mother, and a cat that devours anyone without new clothes. The best folklore in Europe.
Christmas history and traditions
A Short History of the Christmas Market
Dresden’s Striezelmarkt began in 1434 as a one-day meat market. How the German original became a global format.
Christmas history and traditions
The Christmas Number One: A Very British Battle
Slade vs Wizzard in 1973, the X Factor years, and the sausage-roll dynasty that beat the Beatles’ record.
Christmas history and traditions
Oh Yes It Is: A History of the Pantomime
Italian street theatre, John Rich’s Harlequinades, and the dame Dan Leno built. Three hundred years of licensed shouting.
Christmas history and traditions
The First Royal Christmas Broadcast, 1932
George V at Sandringham, words by Rudyard Kipling, twenty million listeners. Why 3pm still structures Christmas Day.
Christmas history and traditions
White Christmas: The Song and the Snow
Fifty million copies for Bing Crosby, and a Met Office definition where one falling snowflake counts. Both obsessions, measured.
Christmas history and traditions
Elf on the Shelf: The Newest Christmas Tradition
A 2005 self-published book turned one family’s habit into millions of parents’ nightly staging duty. The canon is still open.
Christmas history and traditions
Silent Night: The Carol Written in a Day
Christmas Eve 1818, a village church near Salzburg, two voices and a guitar. How the world’s most famous carol was finished hours before its premiere.
Christmas history and traditions
Why Are Robins on Christmas Cards?
Victorian postmen wore red and were nicknamed robins — so illustrators drew the bird delivering the post. The pun that outlived its joke.