The unpredictable origins and etymologies of our cracking Christmas customs For something that happens every year of our lives, we really don´t know much about Christmas. We don´t know that the date we celebrate was chosen by a madman, or that Christmas, etymologically speaking, means ´Go away, Christ´. Nor do we know that Christmas was first celebrated in 243 AD on 28 March - and only moved to 25 December in 354 AD. We´re oblivious to the fact that the advent calendar was actually invented by a Munich housewife to stop her children pestering her for a Christmas countdown. And we would never have guessed that the invention of crackers was merely a way of popularizing sweet wrappers. Luckily, like a gift from Santa himself, Mark Forsyth is here to unwrap this fundamentally funny gallimaufry of traditions and oddities, making it all finally make sense - in his wonderfully entertaining wordy way.