Christmas and New Year

History of Christmas Cards

Sir Henry Cole, a wealthy British businessman, wanted a card he could proudly send to friends and professional acquaintances to wish them a "Merry Christmas."

The card showed a typical English family enjoying the holiday, and people performing acts of charity. An important part of Victorian Christmas spirit. A thousand copies of the card were printed and sold for one shilling. This is reportedly the first Christmas card to be produced and sold to the public.

Did you know?
The average person in Britain sends 50 Christmas cards each year.

We have special songs which we sing during the Christmas season. The songs are known as carols and they are about Jesus and the time when he was born. They were written for a special purpose, often to accompany performances of religious dramas dating from medieval times.

Caroling (singing carols in the street) is one of the oldest customs in Great Britain, going back to the Middle Ages when beggars, seeking food, money, or drink, would wander the streets singing holiday songs.

In the Middle Ages, carols were dances accompanied by singing. It is thought that they were introduced to England from France.

Over the years, the word 'carol' changed its meaning, referring only to certain kinds of songs, the word carol became known as Christmas songs.

Christmas Carols were onced banned
Christmas carols were banned between 1647 and 1660 in England by Oliver Cromwell who thought that Christmas should be a solemn day.

The tradition of carol singers going from door to door came about because they were banned from churches in the Middle Ages.

Carol Singing
People today still go carol singing. This is where people go from house to house singing carols and collecting money for charity.

The traditional period to sing carols was from St Thomas 's Day (December 21) until the morning of Christmas Day.

What does the word carol mean?
The word carol comes from the ancient Greek choros, which means "dancing in a circle," and from the Old French word carole, meaning "a song to accompany dancing." .

Biggest selling Christmas Carol
White Christmas by Irving Berlin is the biggest-selling Christmas song of all time. It is estimated to have sold approximately 350 million copies on record and sheet music.

This is the favourite day of all children. They wake up very early in the morning to find their stockings have been filled by Father Christmas and excitedly unwrap the presents before going down to breakfast.

Why do we give presents?
The tradition of giving gifts is thought to be related to the gifts that the wise men (the Magi) brought to Jesus.

Did you know?

Up until the 1960's it was compulsory for all Roman Catholics to attend a Mass on Christmas Day. The law for this compulsory attendance was passed during the 16th century.

In 1551, playing sport on Christmas Day was made illegal. This law was later ignored.

In 1834, Christmas Day became one of only four days on which banks closed. The Bank Holiday Act of 1871 extended the official Christmas holiday to include the following day (Boxing Day).

Did you know?
Henry VIII was the first person to eat turkey on Christmas Day.

Around 10 million turkeys are consumed in the UK each year.

For 87% of people in the UK, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a traditional roast turkey

Why do the children in England hang up Christmas stockings?
Father Christmas once dropped some gold coins while coming down the chimney. The coins would have fallen through the ash grate and been lost if they hadn't landed in a stocking that had been hung out to dry. Since that time children have continued to hang out stockings in hopes of finding them filled with gifts.

From 1870 children have hung up Christmas stockings at the ends of their beds or along the mantelpiece above the fireplace. Today, children still hang Christmas stockings or bags up ready for Father Christmas, who will hopefully fill them up with presents, if the children have been good. The children then go to sleep and wait for Christmas morning to see if he has been.

Christmas Eve during the First World War
On the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve 1914, firing from the German trenches suddenly stopped. A German brass band began playing Christmas carols. On Christmas morning, the German soldiers came out of their trenches, approaching the allied lines, calling "Merry Christmas". At first the allied soldiers thought it was a trick, but they soon climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the German soldiers. The truce lasted a few days, and the men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings, sang carols and songs. They even played a game of Soccer

Christmas Facts

White Christmas
England has only known seven white Christmases in the entire twentieth century. According to the records of the Meteorological Office in London, snow fell on Christmas Day only in 1938 and 1976. (The definition of a white Christmas in England is when one snowflake falls on the roof of the London Weather Centre.)

Christmas Food
An old wives' tale says that bread baked on Christmas Eve will never go mouldy.

The Christmas turkey was imported to France by the Jesuits and it is still known in some French dialects as a 'Jesuite'.

Christmas pudding was first made as a kind of soup with raisins and wine in it.

Christmas Pudding originates from an old, Celtic dish known as 'frumenty'.

Christmas Day
December 25th was not celebrated as the birthday of Christ until the year AD 440.

The Queen's Christmas speech was televised for the first time in 1957.

Christmas crackers were invented by Thomas Smith. He had imported some French novelties to sell as Christmas gifts, but these were not popular until he wrapped them up and added a snapper.

Christmas Banned
In 1647, the English parliament passed a law that made Christmas illegal. Christmas festivities were banned by Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell, who considered feasting and revelry on what was supposed to be a holy day to be immoral. Anybody caught celebrating Christmas was arrested. The ban was lifted only when the Puritans lost power in 1660.

Twelfth Night
It is not until Twelfth Night that the figures of the Three Kings are supposed to be added to the Christmas crib.

In Germany, Twelfth Night is known as 'Three Kings Day'.

The "Twelve Days of Christmas " gifts: A partridge in a pear tree, two turtledoves, three French hens, four calling birds, five gold rings, six geese laying, seven swans swimming, eight maids milking, nine ladies dancing, ten lords leaping, eleven pipers piping, and twelve drummers drumming. There are 364 gifts altogether, one for everyday of the year.

The poem commonly referred to as "The Night Before Christmas" was originally titled "A Visit From Saint Nicholas." This poem was written by Clement Moore for his children and some guests, one of whom anonymously sent the poem to a New York newspaper for publication.

The most Famous Christmas Tree in Britain.
In London, near the statue of Lord Nelson in Trafalgar Square, a giant Christmas tree is set up and decorated with great ceremony each year. The tree is a thank you gift from the people of Oslo, Norway. During the Second World War, King Haakon of Norway was forced into exile in England when the Germans occupied his country. Since 1947, Norway has expressed its thanks for the help of the British people by continuing to send a huge Norwegian spruce to be shared by all.

History of Mince Pies

Mince pies became a regular part of Christmas celebrations as early as the 16th century (Tudor times), when mince pies were coffin or cradle shaped, rather than round as they are now. At that time, they contained quite a bit of shredded meat in addition to the usual melange of dried fruits.

The crusaders returned from the Holy Land with spices, and it was deemed appropriate to celebrate Christ’s birthday with a pie containing spices from his native land. It was important to add three spices (cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg) for the three gifts given to the Christ child by the Magi.

History of Pantomimes

Originally silent productions, the pantomimes are a mix of fairy stories, folk tales and much loved cartoons, which encourage audience participation. The audience becomes very involved in the performance, with lots of hissing and booing of the villain and cheering for the hero. Some pantomimes include a song for the audience to join in with, and others invite children up on stage to chat to one of the performers.