eye - Christmas Traditions

GET UNDER THE MISTLETOE & KISS ME NOW!

A decorated tree, a roast turkey dinner and a visit from Santa are all staples of a very British Christmas - or are they?

Where do these traditions actually come from? The Victorians? The Germans? Or was it Coca-Cola?” In reality, many have ancient origins and have been influenced by poetry, newspaper cartoons and royalty along the way. From stockings to mistletoe, here is how some elements have become ‘Essentially Christmas’.

LOVE A MINCE PIE?

Mince pies used to be known as Christmas pies, or crib pies, as their oblong shape was meant to resemble Jesus’ cradle. The pies were initially made of meat, usually mutton, and influenced by crusaders who came back from the Middle East with spices. In the 18th century the pies became sweeter, with the import of sugar from slave plantations in the West Indies.

WHY DO WE PULL CRACKERS?

Crackers are a Victorian invention, created by a sweet maker who wanted a novel way of selling his wares after sales slumped. Tom Smith was watching a fire crackle when he thought what a fun idea it would be if his sweets could be opened with a crack when their fancy wrappers were pulled in half. They were initially sold as “cosaques”, named after Russian Cossack soldiers who had a reputation for riding on horseback firing guns into the air!

EATING TURKEY

Turkey reigns supreme as the traditional Christmas Day meal in Britain and legend has it King Henry VIII was the first English monarch to eat turkey on Christmas Day, having had it imported from America. The introduction of refrigerators in the 1950s brought turkey into the mainstream and onto dining tables around the country.

But a roast dinner is not the norm for the rest of the world. The Germans eat goose with sauerkraut - and have been doing since 1350! In the Philippines, a spit-roasted pig is the main dish, served with cheese, pasta and spring rolls.

And who says marketing doesn’t work... After a successful advertising campaign by Kentucky Fried Chicken in the 70’s which convinced the Japanese into believing that KFC was a traditional Christmas meal, for the past four decades, nearly 4M Japanese enjoy a specially put together KFC Christmas box each year - it even includes a Christmas cake!

WHY WE HAVE TREES

Trees have been decorated throughout history - from the Pagans to the Romans - but the first known person to bring a tree indoors was the German religious reformer Martin Luther. Germans decorated their trees with edible goods and glass decorations. Silver tinsel was originally made in Germany, too. In 1846, Prince Albert (from Germany!) and Queen Victoria were sketched standing around their Christmas tree, after which they became a must-have.

BOXING DAY

Boxing Day has its origins in the practice of giving presents and money to poor people. One legend has it that the British upper classes gave tradespeople and servants boxes of food and fruit as a seasonal tip. Others believe that boxes full of alms - to give to the needy - were left in churches over the Christmas period and on Boxing Day these were collected and distributed.

WHY DO WE KISS UNDER MISTLETOE? WHO IS SANTA ANYWAY & WHY DOES HE WEAR RED?

By the 18th century, the practice of hanging mistletoe at Christmas began in Britain. It is unclear exactly where the link between Christmas and mistletoe arose. Druids had always viewed mistletoe as a symbol of life (because it grew even during the winter) and in Norse mythology, mistletoe has connotations of love and friendship.

In Britain, it was thought to be bad luck if you refused to kiss someone under the mistletoe. Charles Dickens described in the Pickwick Papers how young women “screamed and struggled, and ran into corners, and did everything but leave the room, until … they all at once found it useless to resist any longer and submitted to be kissed with a good grace.” How times change!

IT’S BEHIND YOU!

Try explaining what Panto is to anyone who isn’t British and you may struggle to articulate the concept. Say to a Brit “Oh no it isn’t”, and the stock response will usually be “Oh, yes it is!” Something we’ve become preprogrammed to chant thanks to our penchant for making the annual pilgrimage to the theatre to watch a slapstick comedy show based on a children s fairy tale.

Panto blends the traditions of the Italian Commedia dell Arte with British “Old Time” Music Hall shows. Always a family affair, panto almost always sees the lead played by a woman (often with a male sidekick friend), a ‘Dame’ who will be played by a man, a villain who we are encouraged to hiss and boo at every time they appear, a comedic animal and a whole bunch of innuendo (which will always go over the heads of the little ones) - throw in some obligatory audience participation and you’re all set. In a nutshell, panto means Christmas - OH YES IT DOES!

Legend has it that Saint Nicholas, a bishop who lived in the fourth century, dropped a bag of gold down the chimney of a poor man who could not afford his daughter’s dowry. Word got out that it was St Nicholas, and thereafter, any secret gift was said to be from him! His feast day became associated with December 25th.

People say that Santa’s suit is red because of a Coca-Cola advertising campaign but red and white were always the colour of the bishops’ robes. Saint Nicholas was drawn throughout history in various forms: thin, intellectual and even frightening, so CocaCola can take the credit for creating the lasting image of the rotund, jolly, white-haired man we know today.