Is Santa Claus Turkish? Are Christmas decorations tax deductible? - 2018's most Googled Christmas questions

You might think Britons know all they need to about Christmas by now, but according to new research, there are still some big questions left unanswered.

Using Google's own data, analysts at a Manchester-based online security consultancy have been collating the most asked Christmas-related questions and their findings are... a little strange to say the least.

Is tinsel recyclable? was one of the UK's most commonly Googled questions about the festive season.

From festive scrimpers looking to find out if their decorations are tax deductible to devoted Catholics checking to see if Christmas eve mass covers their obligations for the whole festive season, the most asked questions paint a quirky and wonderful picture of the UK’s take to Christmas.

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, it turns out, is entirely valid.

Saint Nicholas of Myra, who is believed to have inspired 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, who 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.”

2018’s most asked Christmas questions

Does Christmas have a capital C?
Does Christmas start in November?
Does Christmas start too early?
Does Christmas have a smell?
Is Christmas a proper noun?
Is Christmas pagan?
Is Christmas a festival?
Is Christmas eve time and a half?
Does Christmas eve mass count for Christmas
Does Christmas eve mass count for Christmas
Does Christmas eve vigil mass count?
Does Christmas eve mass fulfil obligation?
Does Christmas eve vigil mass count?
Is Christmas eve a bank holiday?
Are Christmas presents pagan?
Are Christmas presents tax deductible?
Christmas decorations
are Christmas decorations VATable?
are Christmas decorations pagan?
are Christmas decorations tax deductible?
Is tinsel flammable?
Is tinsel recyclable?
Is tinsel tacky?
Are Christmas trees poisonous to rabbits?
Are Christmas trees pagan?
Are Christmas trees pine?
Are Christmas trees religious?
Are Christmas trees ethical?
Is Christmas dinner tax deductible?
Is Christmas dinner religious?
Is Christmas dinner healthy?
Is Santa Claus Turkish?
Is Santa Claus American?
Is Santa Claus married?
Does Santa Claus live in Lapland?
Does Santa Claus have a son?
Does Santa Claus have a wife?
Does Santa Claus live in the North Pole?
Does Santa Claus have a pilot license?
is Christmas pudding vegetarian?
is Christmas pudding vegan?
is Christmas pudding British?
is Christmas pudding fattening?
is Christmas pudding dairy free?
is Christmas pudding the same as Christmas cake?
is boxing day religious
is boxing day a bank holiday

ENDS



______________________________________________________



Notes to Editors

For more information, contact Sean O'Meara.
e - sean.omeara@essentialcontent.co.uk
t - 0161 710 3286


About Online Spy Shop



Online Spy Shop is a trading name of OSS Technology Ltd, a Manchester-based surveillance and security equipment specialist founded in 2005. Online Spy Shop supplies equipment and consultancy to private businesses, police forces, government agencies and private individuals throughout the UK and worldwide.



*About the study:
Google search data was collected from Google.co.uk (the UK specific version of Google) using Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari and Opera (in incognito mode where possible to prevent previous search history from influencing results). Data was collected from a UK-based IP address between the dates of November 1st and December 15th 2018. Google autocomplete data sometimes changes day-to-day, so the research team controlled for this by recording data over multiple weeks and identifying averages. In most cases, the suggestions remained consistent over the research period period.