Thursday, 20 December 2018

A Top 10 Googled Question is: Is Christmas Pagan?

"Is Christmas Pagan?" was one of the most asked questions this year according Google's data.

Analysts at a Manchester-based online security consultancy collated the most asked Christmas-related questions. Among the most commonly asked questions were queries relating to the history of certain Christmas traditions, the nutritional benefits of popular Christmas food and the origins and location of the man himself, Santa Claus.

One of the top Santa Claus related searches was, "Is Santa Claus Turkish?" This question is entirely valid. Saint Nicholas of Myra, who is believed to have been one of the inspirations for the ‘Father Christmas’ figure has origins in ancient Greece, parts of which are in modern day Turkey, so Santa Claus does have Turkish roots.

The researchers also noticed that a high number of queries were related to the environmental impact of Christmas. “Is tinsel recyclable?” was the top hit for questions related to the unfashionable decoration and “Are Christmas trees ethical?” was the fourth most common search related to Christmas trees.

A spokesperson for Online Spy Shop, which conducted the research, said: “As a company, we take a keen interest in online search behaviour. The queries people make can highlight knowledge gaps, biases and even upcoming consumer trends. But in other cases, you just spot something that’s interesting enough to investigate further for curiosity’s sake. This was the case here and we couldn’t resist finding out the answers to the most popular questions, which we published on our blog.”

Several of the most-Googled questions this year involved paganism, including:
  • Is Christmas Pagan?
  • Are Christmas presents Pagan?
  • Are Christmas decorations Pagan?
  • Are Christmas trees Pagan?
I'm sure anyone who reads my blog will know that the answer to all of those is yes - they all have some pagan origins that pre-date Christianity.

If you want to find out all the most asked questions about Christmas, or find out the longer answers to those I've blogged about, go over to the Online Spy Shop Blog here: https://www.onlinespyshop.co.uk/blog/biggest-christmas-questions-2018-answered/

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