Quick answer
Christmas 2026 is on Friday 25 December, with Christmas Eve on Thursday 24 December and Boxing Day on Saturday 26 December. In the UK the Boxing Day bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December. The first Sunday of Advent is 29 November. Orthodox churches that follow the Julian calendar celebrate on 7 January 2027.
How many days until Christmas?
Christmas Day 2026 is on Friday 25 December.
The countdown runs on your own clock and time zone, to midnight at the start of Christmas Day. On 26 December it quietly starts counting to next year.
The Christmas quiz: 20 questions, six rounds
Twenty questions drawn from a bank of sixty, across six rounds: Christmas classics, songs and carols, Christmas films, where it all came from, Christmas around the world, and food and drink. Every answer comes with the reason behind it, and the result names the round you were weakest in. Nothing is stored and there is no signup.
Prefer the questions on paper, for a family quiz or a party? All 100 Christmas trivia questions with answers are in one post, sorted from easy to hard. There is also a Christmas movie trivia round and a set of Christmas riddles.
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When
Friday 25 December 2026. Christmas Eve is Thursday 24 December, and in 2027 Christmas falls on a Saturday.
Why that date
The first record of a 25 December Christmas is from Rome in 336. Why that day was chosen is still argued over, and the popular answer is only one of two serious theories.
Where the customs came from
The tree and the Christkind from Germany, Santa Claus from the Dutch Sinterklaas, the first Christmas card from London in 1843, the red suit from American illustrators.
Christmas 2026: the key dates
| Day | Date in 2026 | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| First Sunday of Advent | Sunday 29 November | The start of the church's Christmas season. Most Advent calendars start on 1 December instead |
| Saint Nicholas Day | Sunday 6 December | Presents in shoes across Germany, the Netherlands (the night before) and much of central Europe |
| Christmas Eve | Thursday 24 December | The main celebration in Germany, Scandinavia and much of eastern Europe |
| Christmas Day | Friday 25 December | The main day in the UK, Ireland, the US and most of the English-speaking world |
| Boxing Day / St Stephen's Day | Saturday 26 December | UK bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December |
| Twelfth Night | Tuesday 5 January 2027 | The last of the twelve days of Christmas |
| Epiphany | Wednesday 6 January 2027 | Three Kings' Day; presents in Spain and much of Latin America, La Befana in Italy |
| Orthodox Christmas | Thursday 7 January 2027 | Churches that keep the Julian calendar, including the Russian, Serbian and Ethiopian |
Christmas Day never moves, but the weekday does. It lands on a Friday in 2026, which gives most of Europe a long weekend, and on a Saturday in 2027.
Why is Christmas on 25 December?
The Bible gives no date for the birth of Jesus, and for the first three centuries Christians did not agree on one, or much care. The earliest firm record of a Christmas on 25 December comes from Rome in the year 336, preserved in a calendar known as the Chronograph of 354.
Two explanations compete for why that day was chosen. The popular one says the church placed Christmas on top of a pagan festival, the Roman feast of the Unconquered Sun or the winter revels of Saturnalia, to win converts. The other, taken seriously by many historians, is the calculation theory: some early Christian writers believed Jesus was conceived on the same date he died, which they put at 25 March, and nine months later is 25 December.
Neither can be proved from the surviving sources, and historians still argue about which came first. What is certain is that the pagan-borrowing story is not the settled fact it is often presented as. We go through the evidence, along with the origins of Xmas, the Twelve Days and Santa himself, in the Christmas facts that hold up.
Christmas around the world
Japan
Christmas dinner means KFC, thanks to a 1974 advertising campaign. Families order their bucket weeks in advance.
Germany and Austria
The Christkind, not Santa, brings presents on Christmas Eve in much of the south. Krampus stalks Bavaria and Austria on 5 December.
Iceland
Thirteen Yule Lads visit on the thirteen nights before Christmas, and most new books are given on Christmas Eve and read that night.
Sweden
Much of the country stops at 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve to watch the same Donald Duck special it has shown since 1960.
Italy
La Befana, a kind old witch on a broomstick, brings children presents on 6 January.
Catalonia
Children feed a smiling log, the Tió de Nadal, all December, then beat it with sticks until it drops sweets.
Christmas facts worth repeating
These are the ones that survive fact-checking, which is not true of most Christmas lists.
The red Santa is older than Coca-Cola
Santa appeared in red on magazine covers decades before Haddon Sundblom's 1931 Coca-Cola adverts. The adverts fixed the image; they did not invent it.
Xmas is not a modern shortcut
The X is the Greek letter chi, the first letter of Christos, used as an abbreviation by Christian scribes for centuries.
Jingle Bells went to space
On 16 December 1965 the Gemini 6 astronauts played it on a smuggled harmonica and bells. It was the first song performed in space.
England once banned Christmas
The Puritan Parliament outlawed it in 1647. It stayed illegal until the Restoration in 1660.
NORAD tracks Santa because of a typo
A misprinted phone number in a 1955 newspaper advert sent children's calls to a military air defence centre, and the colonel on duty played along.
Plum pudding contains no plums
In old English, plums meant raisins and other dried fruit. The name stayed after the meaning changed.
For the full set, with sources, see Christmas facts. For games that use them, try Christmas party games.
Frequently asked questions
When is Christmas 2026?
Christmas Day 2026 is on Friday 25 December. Christmas Eve is Thursday 24 December and Boxing Day is Saturday 26 December, with the UK bank holiday moved to Monday 28 December. In 2027, Christmas falls on a Saturday.
How many days until Christmas?
It depends on today's date, so the countdown at the top of this page does the sum live, in your own time zone. From 1 December there are 24 days to go, which is why most Advent calendars have 24 doors.
Why is Christmas on 25 December?
The Bible gives no date. The first record of Christmas on 25 December is from Rome in 336. Historians offer two explanations: that the church chose a date near pagan midwinter festivals, or that early Christians calculated it as nine months after 25 March, the date they believed marked both Jesus's conception and his death. Neither is proven.
When is Orthodox Christmas?
Orthodox churches that keep the Julian calendar for feasts, including the Russian, Serbian and Ethiopian churches, celebrate Christmas on 7 January. The next one is Thursday 7 January 2027.
When does Advent start in 2026?
The first Sunday of Advent in 2026 is 29 November. Advent always begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, which falls between 27 November and 3 December.
What is a good Christmas quiz for a family?
Mix an easy round for children with a songs round and a films round, around ten questions each. The quiz on this page does that automatically with twenty questions from a bank of sixty, and the written version has 100 questions sorted from easy to hard.
Read next
100 Christmas trivia questions
Seven rounds with answers, from an easy round for kids to a hard one for adults.
FilmsChristmas movie trivia
From Home Alone to Die Hard, with the stories behind the answers.
FactsChristmas facts that hold up
Why 25 December, why Xmas, where Santa came from, and the myths that don't survive a source.
RiddlesChristmas riddles
Easy ones for kids, harder ones for adults, all with answers.
GamesChristmas party games
Games for adults, families and office parties, plus would-you-rather and icebreaker questions.
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