A worldwide wish at Christmas is often that it be white. It’s hardly possible to go through the festive period without hearing Bing Crosby’s classic track, ‘I’m dreaming of a white Christmas’ – a radio favorite at Christmas for decades.
Dreaming of a White Christmas
A White Christmas or snow on Christmas day is something not all of us have experienced. Indeed, the chance of a white Christmas is something that attracts a lot of interest, it’s even something people may take a seasonal bet on, choosing carefully to pick a time to place their bet when they feel good odds are being offered.
This excitement over a white Christmas is something that has been with us through generations. It has been said by historians that our association with snow at Christmas is so embedded in our culture because the recurring Christmas stories, visual images, and music have themed snow over many generations. Some of these songs and images date back to an era known as the little ice age, between 200 and 700 years ago. This was a colder period in history which gave fuel to the imagery depicting snow. With many mountain tops covered with snow during winter, often draped with reindeer and fir trees – much like the images we would see on a Christmas card today.
What’s So Great About Having a White Christmas?
One of the things about a white Christmas is that it is not something that many of us get to experience often if at all depending on where in the world you live. Research from Betway Casino looked at which countries are most likely to have a White Christmas and even those that have a history of white Christmases aren’t guaranteed to see new snowfall on Christmas day. For example, Moscow in Russia has had 9 white Christmases out of the last 12 – good odds by anyone’s bet but certainly not guaranteed. That isn’t to say that the country won’t have snow or be freezing cold, but it does mean that new snow falling on that day is not guaranteed.
If you live somewhere that is likely to see snow all of the time, then having a dusting of snow on Christmas day probably doesn’t seem like much of a magical prospect. However, if you live in the UK where the last real white Christmas was over 10 years ago, you might well look forward to something a little different. Whether or not you have children, Christmas is all about experiencing a little bit of magic and there is something really magical about seeing the world you are so used to seeing look so different.
Movies, postcards, and a whole host of other imagery give us a romanticized view of Christmas day being covered in snow, which might well not live up to expectations should it actually happen. That said, it doesn’t stop people from dreaming of it – after all, who wouldn’t want a little dusting of magic to happen on Christmas Day?