Welcome Hello, I’m Lucy! I’m going to be taking you on a festive journey through time. We will start off in the Medieval times in 1470 and finish in 2020. We will stop off every 50 years to see what Christmas was like at that time. On each page you will learn all about how Christmas was celebrated as well as what was going on in England at the time. I will be joining you in each year dressed in fashionable clothing ready to join the Christmas celebrations. I will share some facts with you about my outfits and the fashions of the era. You can also check out the table filled with festive treats from each year (some definitely look taster than others!) Then, don’t forget to answer the quiz question on each page. The answers can be found in the exhibition. When we are done in that year turn the page to fast forward 50 years to see what’s next! Let’s go!
Thanks to the following for information about Christmas in different eras used in parts of this booklet: World History .org Hever Castle Shakespeare and Beyond Donington le Heath National Army Museum Historic UK Charlotte Betts English Heritage Dawn Foods Yorkshire Evening Post
King Edward IV’s former ally the Earl of Warwick forces the King to flee England.
Warwick releases Henry VI from the Tower of London and restores him to the throne.
Henry VI is murdered in the Tower of London.
King Edward V of England, one of the Princes in the Tower is born.
Building of York Minster completed.
This year I am wearing a fashionable Medieval outfit that is perfect for those cold winter days. I wear many thick layers to keep me warm. The sleeves of my dress show the linen beneath, I also have a thick woolen sleeveless dress on top. The outfit is completed with a big green cloak. I wear my hair braided as many fashionable ladies did.
Christmas was one of the highlights of the medieval calendar, not only for the rich but also for the peasantry. For the longest holiday of the year, typically the full twelve days of Christmas, people stopped work, homes were decorated and a Yule log burned in the hearth. Gifts were exchanged, colourful church services enjoyed and merry feasts were eaten by all where there was better food and more of it than at any other time in the year. There were plenty of songs, dancing, pantomimes and games, too. For many, just as today, it was the best of times. Naturally, in the very religious communities of medieval times, the local church was a focal point for the Christmas celebrations and services were well-attended by all classes. Over time the traditional services for major Christian holidays became more elaborate and Christmas was no exception.
King Henry VIII and King Francis I of France meet at the Field of the Cloth of Gold.
Emperor Charles V and Cardinal Wolsey agree to declare war on France.
Pope Leo X bestows Henry VIII with the title Defender of the Faith.
Cardinal Wolsey gives Henry the lease of Hampton Court Palace.
William Tyndale’s New Testament Bible translation into English is made.
This year I am wearing a simple, yet elegant outfit as befits a noble Lady of the court. The deep red colour is very fashionable as well as the square neckline. My long sleeves show off my wealth as they demonstrate how much fabric I can afford. I also wear a cross necklace as religon is very important at this time.
A Tudor Christmas was a time for communities to come together, to visit neighbours and tenants.Christmas Eve was for fasting and you were not allowed to eat cheese, eggs or meat. Christmas Day for the Tudors saw religion practised with masses and religious pieces sung before tapers were lit and it was time to return home for a meal such as a boar’s head. Food for a big part of a Tudor Christmas. Turkey as a Christmas tradition was introduced in the 1520s and King Henry VIII was among the first to enjoy it as part of a festive meal.Mince pyes’ were also enjoyed as part of a Tudor Christmas and had a religious significance, containing 13 ingredients to mark Christ and his disciples including dried fruits and spices as well as chopped mutton.
Pope Pius V excommunicates Queen Elizabeth I.
Ridolfi plot is formed to assassinate Elizabeth and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots.
Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Horncastle, is founded in Lincolnshire.
Treason Act forbids criticism of the monarchy.
Guy Fawkes, Gunpowder Plot conspirator, was born.
This year I am wearing a formal green outfit. The colour green was favoured by Queen Elizabeth. My dress has large puffed sleeves and a gold trim. I wear a ruff around my neck like almost everyone in the Elizabethan era. I also have a pomander hanging from my waist. Pomanders contain sweet smelling herbs.
The Twelve Days of Christmas, from December 25 to January 6, was the longest and most enthusiastically celebrated festival in the Elizabethan calendar. On Christmas Eve, people decorated with evergreens, ivy, and holly, burned a Yule log, sang carols, and visited neighbors. Wassail was dispensed by groups who carried the cauldron of beer and roasted apples from door to door. Presiding over the revelries throughout the twelve days was the Lord of Misrule, a clownish figure appointed to organize the entertainments, which could include plays performed by traveling mummers and games of chance or skill. Gifts were exchanged on New Year’s Day. Traditional presents included an orange stuck with cloves or a modest piece of ginger
Around 65 Pilgrims set off for America and land in New England.
Cornelius Drebbel demonstrates the first navigable submarine in the River Thames.
Captain Andrew Shilling, lays claim to Table Bay in Africa.
The first British baby is born in America. His name is Peregrine White.
A severe frost freezes the Thames.
This year I am wearing a gray spotted dress. My graceful sleeves are very specific to the early Stuart era. We still wear ruffs, but they are a very different style to the Elizabethan one I wore before. I have a flower in my hair for decoration as well as one on the front of my dress. The simple, plain colours were very popular in the Stuart era.
Christmas was one of the greatest feasts of the year, a time of excess and enjoyment. People would play cards and games and mummers would perform plays. These plays, performed mostly in rhyme, were taken round the houses and performed for money and food. Meanwhile in America The Plymouth Pilgrims had just landed and they hated Christmas. They put their loathing for the day into practice in 1620 when they spent their first Christmas Day in the New World building their first structure in the New World – thus demonstrating their complete contempt for the day.
One of the first women to earn a living writing plays. Aphra Behn’s first play is performed.
The secret treaty of Dover is signed between the King and France.
Rock salt is discovered near Northwich in Cheshire.
Spain recognises Jamaica and the Cayman Islands as English possessions.
John Dryden is appointed as historiographer royal.
This year I am wearing a brown patterned dress. Wide necklines are now popular and I have short floaty sleeves. Charles II’s reign was all about fun and partying following the Puritan rule, so my dress is perfect for those joyful court parties. My hair is worn in perfectly styled in the latest fashion.
A few years earlier in 1647, the feast days of Christmas, Easter and Whitsun were all abolished by Parliament. Soldiers of the New Model Army were sent to break up church services and festivals, as well as to stop secular celebrations in public places. In London, soldiers patrolled the streets and took by force any food being cooked for a Christmas celebration when people should have been fasting. Traditional decorations like holly and ivy were banned and singing carols was outlawed. On the Restoration of King Charles II in 1660, the traditional celebration of Christmas was also fully restored.
Pirate captain “Calico Jack” Rackham is brought to trial.
Edmond Halley (Halley’s Comet) is appointed Astronomer Royal.
The Theatre Royal Haymarket opens in London.
Actor and dramatist Samuel Foote was born.
The “South Sea Bubble” scheme begins. To takeover Britain’s government debt.
This year I am wearing a small powered white wig, which was the height of fashion thoughout most of the Georgian times. My dress is in pastel pinks and greens and it is decorated with large bows. My sleeves have elegant floaty material. My dress is a very fashionable shape for the times with both under and over skirts.
A great blazing fire was the centerpiece of a family Christmas. The Yule log was chosen on Christmas Eve. It was wrapped in hazel twigs and dragged home, to burn in the fireplace as long as possible through the Christmas season. The tradition was to keep back a piece of the Yule log to light the following year’s Yule log. The day after Christmas, St Stephen’s Day, was the day when people gave to charity and the gentry presented their servants and staff with their ‘Christmas Boxes’. This is why today St Stephen’s Day is called ‘Boxing Day’. Twelfth Night was marked by a party. Games such as ‘bob apple’ and ‘snapdragon’ were popular at these events, as well as more dancing, drinking and eating.
Rubber erasers are first used to remove pencil marks.
Captain James Cook begins his first journey aboard HMS Endeavour.
The term ‘hotel’ is used for the first time in England.
The London Evening Post is the first newspaper to publish parliamentary reports.
Captain Cook discovers the Great Barrier Reef.
This year I am wearing an outfit that is probably the most recognised style of the Georgian era. The dress has a very wide skirt and features lots of floaty fabric. The fabric around my shoulders and neckline is for modesty during the daytime. My white powered wig is now large and towering. Women often decorated theirs with fruit.
Georgian Christmas was very much all about parties, balls and family gettogethers. The Georgian Christmas season ran from December 6th (St. Nicholas Day) to January 6th (Twelfth Night). On St. Nicholas Day, it was traditional for friends to exchange presents; this marked the beginning of the Christmas season. Christmas Day was a national holiday, spent by the gentry in their country houses and estates. People went to church and returned to a celebratory Christmas dinner. Food played a very important part in a Georgian Christmas. Guests and parties meant that a tremendous amount of food had to be prepared, and dishes that could be prepared ahead of time and served cold were popular.
Famous Crimean War nurse Florence Nightingale was born.
The HMS Beagle was launched which would take Charles Darwin on his scientific voyage.
King George IV ascends the Throne on the death of his father George III.
Anne Brontë, the youngest of the Brontë sisters was born.
Royal Navy captain Edward Bransfield is the first person to identify Antarctica as a land mass.
This year I am wearing a simple yet elegant Regency outfit. During this era straighter dresses are fashionable and many are made with soft, pale colours like mine. You may recognise this style from the works of Austen and Brontë. The floaty design was perfect for all the romantic dances that I will be engaging in.
In the Regency era Christmas festivities began on the 6th December, St Nicholas’s Day, with the exchange of small gifts and ended on January 6th, Twelfth Night. This month was a time for parties, suppers and balls with family and friends and for charity to the poor, especially on Saint Thomas’s day, the 21st December. There was little financial help other than the workhouse for the poor widows of soldiers who had died in the Napoleonic wars. They would go ‘thomasing’ by calling at the kitchen doors seeking alms or food parcels. A candle was lit on Christmas Eve to dispel the winter gloom and the Yule log was brought in from the woods. Holly and evergreens were also gathered by both the gentry and the poor and brought inside to decorate the house.
Postcards and halfpenny stamps where introduced.
The first international football game was played against Scotland.
Married Women’s Property Act means wives may now own their own property.
Charles Dickens died aged 58 before finishing Edwin Drood.
The first underground passenger “tube” railway is opened in London.
This year I am wearing an elegant burgandy dress with a fashionable bustle at the back. It has large bows and many layers of skirt. At this time women tended to be completely covered and even showing one’s ankle was very rude! My hair is in a simple updo with a ribbon at the back.
Several of the traditions we know and love today are rooted in Germanic heritage thanks to Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert. The prince, who moved to England to marry the queen, embraced his childhood traditions and introduced them to his family. In the early years of Victoria’s reign, the royal family celebrated Christmas at Windsor Castle. However after Albert’s death in 1861, the queen began celebrating the festive season at Osborne, their holiday home on the Isle of Wight. Continuing these festive traditions after his death was a tangible way of keeping Albert’s memory alive. It also inspired a nation and we start to see many of these customs in the private homes of Victorian England.
The Imperial War Museum was opened.
The first 1st World Scout Jamboree is held in London.
The first radio broadcasts are made by the Marconi Company.
The first night bus services are introduced in London.
Rupert Bear first appears in a cartoon strip in the Daily Express.
This year I am wearing an outfit in the “flapper girl” style. Shorter dresses are now popular because it makes it easier to dance.The dresses are quite straight and rather than being fitted, they tend to drape. My outfit has a fun green and rose colour scheme which is perfect for Christmas. In this era short hairstyles are popular.
The Victorian tradition of real Christmas trees were still prevalent in the 1920s though they were not dressed until Christmas Eve. Indeed it was common practice for all household decorations to go up on Christmas Eve, but if you wanted an artificial tree then you would have to wait another decade, because the first bristle-style artificial tree was made by Addis Housewares Company in 1930, which they created using the same machinery it employed to make toilet brushes. Most trees were lit with naked flame candles and adorned with crepe paper crackers, mercury glass baubles and home-made decorations. Elaborate, honeycomb paper decorations in the designs of bells, stars and robins were very popular and children could be amused making paper garlands.
The age of majority was reduced from 21 to 18.
Black Sabbath released their self titled debut album in the UK.
Paul McCartney announces he has left the Beatles.
The first Glastonbury Festival was held, as the Worthy Farm Pop Festival.
The album musical Jesus Christ Superstar was released.
This year I am wearing a casual party outfit that’s perfect for Christmas day. I’m wearing flared jeans with a halter neck top that features a disco print. I also have an orange disco belt and matching platform boots and headband. I wear my hair long and straight. This outfit is great for dancing and many singers of the time dressed like this.
In most homes in the 1970s the tree and decorations only went up about a week before the big day. As a special treat on Christmas Day you might be allowed to let off some indoor fireworks. That’s right, indoor fireworks. TV was important The Basil Brush Show, Bruce Forsyth’s Generation Game, Billy Smart’s Christmas Circus, To The Manor Born, the annual star-studded BBC panto and The Good Old Days were all among the festive favourites. The 1970s was the decade when the Christmas record truly came into its own. Wizzard’s I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day lost out to Slade’s Merry Christmas Everybody for the number one spot in 1973.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle step down as senior members of the Royal Family.
In June many Black Lives Matter protests were held all over the world
Argos announces an end to its printed catalogue after almost 50 years of publication.
The PlayStation 5 is released in the UK. Delivery problems are reported, due to huge demand.
The UK completes its final separation from the EU, four and a half years after the referendum.
This year I am wearing a dress style that was very popular with young people in 2020. Short and tight dresses are favoured to show off curves. I also have matching strappy heels and wear my hair loose. While this style of outfit is probably the most fashionable look for a party in 2020, there is more variety than ever within fashion.
In 2020 the world was hit with a Covid 19 pandemic. After a whole year of lockdowns, masks and social distancing, Christmas was a bit different than usual. Many people were unable to meet with loved ones and many parties and celebrations were held on online via Zoom. Sitting on Santa’s knee wasn’t really possible, but social distanded visits were popular as well as drive through winter wonderland experiences. Most theatres planned to reopen with a pantomime during the festive season, but the winter lockdown forced them to close once more. Many pantomimes were made available online. Due to lockdown, online Christmas shopping was more popular than ever, with many people just ordering from Amazon.
Join Lucy for a festive journey through time. From the banquets of the Medieval period all the way to a very lockdown Christmas in 2020 and everything in between. When was swan on the menu? Why was Christmas once illegal? Where did Christmas trees come from? How did Father Christmas get his jolly look and what does it have to do with Coca-Cola? Find out all this and more in this booklet. The perfect companion and keepsake to North Lincolnshire Museum’s “Fragments of Christmas Past” exhibition.