Christmas Stuff

THE ORIGINS OF THE CHRISTMAS TREE – THE VICTORIAN WAY

For the Victorians, the ideal Christmas tree had to be six branches tall and it was placed on a table covered with a white damask tablecloth. The tree was then decorated with garlands, assorted candies and delicate paper flowers.

PLUM PUDDING

Plum pudding is a famous and almost typically English dessert.
It got its name of plum pudding in the 17th century because plum was one of the ingredients.
But quite why they settled on plum pudding as the plum was only one of more than two dozen of the finely chopped ingredients folded into the dough.
The finished steamed pudding adorned with a sprig of holly would be brought flaming to the table and served with great ceremony.

THE YULE LOG

The Yule log custom existed in most Europeans countries and dates back as far as the 12th century.
The custom happened on Christmas Eve when an enormous log of freshly cut wood predictably called the Yule log would be carried to the house amidst great ceremony.
It would be placed on the hearth On Christmas Eve, by the master of the house would make a traditional libation by sprinkling the trunk with a combination of oil, salt and mulled wine and say an appropriate prayer.
If possible the young girls of the household would light the log with splinters from the previous year’s log which would have been kept safely stored away. If no young girls were available the honor and privilege fell to the mother of the house.
Superstition says that the cinders of the burnt log should be kept to protect the house from a variety of mishaps including lightning strikes and even protect against the malevolent attentions of the devil.
The tradition had all but died out by the end of the 19th century mainly due to changes in the way houses were heated the magnificent hearths of the great house began to be replaced by boilers of stoves and then in the 20th century houses began to be built with no fireplace at all.
The great Yule log has now been replaced by a small log decorated with candles, holly and other Christmas embellishments to be placed in the centre of the Christmas table as a festive decoration.
Also today we have the marvelous Yule log cake which is a firm favorite it our house made from a delicious Swiss roll cake covered in chocolate icing and sugared decorations.

THE CHRISTMAS CAKE

Christmas fruit cake is derived from the famous English Christmas or plum pudding.
The recipe was much simpler with fewer ingredients although it included large quantities of candied fruit, raisins, dates and nuts and is generally prepared long in advance of Christmas and is liberally laced with Brandy.
Like plum pudding it would originally have been flaming when served but in time this changed and soon the cakes were being decorated with marzipan and icing instead.

THE HUMBLE MINCE PIE
The mince pie was originally oblong in shape which was supposed to symbolize the cradle of Christ.
The pie was covered with a thick crusty pastry cover which had an indentation in the center in which a small doll also made from pastry supposed to be the Christ child was placed.
The original mince pie was filled with minced lamb's tongue and mutton.
It wasn’t until returning medieval Crusaders brought back spices from the East which replaced the meat filling.
It was also at this time the pies became the familiar round shape.
Even though few people are aware of their origins the mince pie remains one of the most popular Christmas treats.

CHRISTMAS CANDLES – A DIVINE LIGHT

The lighting of candles during religious festivals precedes Christianity by many centuries originally part of pagan ritual practiced by early sun worshippers. When Christianity was well established the church tried in vain to eradicate the ritual use of candles.
Then in the spirit of “if you can’t beat them join them” they gradually incorporated the lighting of candles into Christian services.
The candles were invested with a new meaning and they came to symbolize the divine light that illuminated the world, Christ.

CHRISTMAS CANDLES – A SIGN

There is a popular belief that candles are used at Christmas as a rememberance of people at the time of Jesus Christ's birth.
These people are said to have put lighted candles in their windows as a signal to Mary and Joseph that they would be welcome in their homes.

BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR

The star is eternally linked to Christmas and takes pride of place at the very top of the Christmas tree.
When we look at the star we should recall the star seen 'in the East' by the three wise men.
On Christmas Eve In ceremonies all over the world the Christmas celebration begins with the arrival of the first star.
In various traditional ceremonies from Poland to Alaska the Festival of the Star is celebrated in various forms.
The Christmas star is a powerful symbol to Christians in the Bible it is called "the bright and morning star."

AN IRISH BOXING DAY

St. Stephen's Day in Ireland is celebrated in a different way, but is similar to Boxing Day in other places in so much as it also has to do with the solicitation of money.
The Young men is extravagant dress with some of them wearing masks parade through the streets noisily in what is known as the Wren Boys' Procession.
The young men carry a long pole on top of which is attached a holly bush and the bush is supposed to contain a captured wren, and it’s for the wren sake the young men beg for money.

OLD YEARS NIGHT IN SCOTLAND

In Scotland Christmas has been celebrated with considerably less exuberance than elsewhere in the British Isles although that has changed latterly.
The Scots have always reserved their merriment for New Year's Eve, which they call Hogmanay.
The word Hogmanay is believed to derive from a kind of oatcake that was given to children on New Year's Eve as part of the tradition.
The “first footer” is the first person to set foot across the threshold in a house after midnight on New Year’s Eve.
The superstition is thought to profoundly affect the fortunes of the inhabitants it should if possible be a stranger preferably dark-haired but fair-haired is ok if that’s all you can get.
This tradition is generally known as "first footing."

BOXING DAYOver the Christmas season alms boxes are placed in churches to collect for the poor and these are what are opened on Boxing Day the day after Christmas day.
The contents of the boxes are then handed out to the poor of the parish on December 26th, Boxing Day, also known as the Feast of St Stephen.
Stephen was a Christian martyr who was stoned to death for being a follower of Christ's shortly after his crucifixion.
Boxing Day is celebrated in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada and it has become a public holiday in the last century.
This has been a godsend to many families by having Christmas Day and Boxing Day as holidays this allowed them the time to travel to visit family members and celebrate with them.
It made it much easier for people to get together with those who were important to them.
It is perhaps better known today as a day of outdoor sports and horse racing and hunting rather than for any religious significance.

CHRISTMAS ROSE

The Legend of the Christmas Rose links this winter blooming flower with the birth of the Christ Child.
The legend says that the three wise men accompanied by the shepherds were traveling to the east when they met with a shepherdess named Madelon who was tending to her sheep.
She began to weep when she saw the gifts for the Christ child because she had had nothing to give.
An angel saw her crying and brushed the snow away where her tears had fallen and revealed a beautiful white flower tipped with pink, the Christmas Rose.

A NOBLE BOXING DAY
There has long been a rather fanciful notion that Boxing Day dates from the middle Ages with the noble lords and ladies of England presenting Christmas gifts in boxes to their servants on December 26th there is no evidence to support this but it is a nice idea though unlikely.

CAROLING IN WALES

The welsh are a very musical nation so Caroling is particularly popular in Wales where it is called eisteddfodde and is amongst other things often accompanied by a harp.
One custom in some rural areas a person is chosen to travel around the town draped in white and carrying a horse's skull on a long pole.
If anyone is given a "bite" by the horse's jaws they must pay a fine.

BAUBLES

The Baubles we use to decorate our Christmas trees are representative of the Apples found on the Tree of Life in Paradise.
This is the popular belief even though the Bible doesn’t actually state that the tree of life was an apple tree.
To most people modern Baubles are not replicas of the fruit but are just colorful ornaments which reflect the light of candles and fairy lights and contribute to the festive spirit.

LAUREL

The early Christians in Ancient Rome were the first to decorate their homes with laurel.
They adopted the idea from the Pagan Romans who used laurel during the Saturnalia festival and who believed laurel was sacred to the sun god Apollo.
When the Romans Empire became Christian laurel became a great symbol of Christmas.

THE TINSEL SYMBOL

Tinsel like many things about Christmas is symbolic and what glittering tinsel symbolizes is light and light in all forms was held to have magic qualities in both the pagan and Christian faiths.
Light was the magic against the darkness of winter and was the power of Christ against the forces of darkness.

XMAS

I have always hated the use of Xmas instead of Christmas and in fact I always believed it to be a vulgar Americanism.
Well I was wrong The Xmas abbreviation for Christmas is in fact of Greek origin as The Greek word for Christ is Xristos.
It was sometime during the 16th century that Europeans began abbreviating Christ’s name with and "X" in Christmas as a form of shorthand for the word.
The 16th century Christians at that time would have understood that X stood for Christ's name.
Unlike 21st century Christians who don’t understand Greek and think using the word "Xmas" is disrespectful or just one more vulgar Americanism.

THE COLOR OF CHRISTMAS
We automatically associate colors with Christmas festivities such as the red of the berries on the holly bush or in Santa’s outfit.
Red in its many uses is definitely the color of December and as a religious symbol it stands for fire, blood and charity.
We also have the green of Christmas trees and holly and Green is the universal symbol for nature and for youth.
Christmas is a feast of hope, with a newborn child as its central symbol.
It is for this reason that green is the color of new beginnings and the hope of eternal life.
Symbolically, white stands for light and purity as seen in the white robes of the Christmas angels and in the white snowy Christmas landscapes.
Gold is the color of the Christmas stars and candles and stands for sunlight and radiance.
The Golden radiance is Christ’s love for the world.

THE STOLLEN
The Stollen is a type of German Christmas cake which is a kind of sweet bread, enriched with a various dried fruits and nuts and covered with icing sugar.
German Families and bakeries alike treasured the own secret recipes for the Stollen and all claimed to have a secret ingredient, details of which would be handed down through the generations.
The shape of the Stollen is like a loaf of bread and is supposed to symbolize the baby Jesus Christ wrapped in swaddling clothes.

GOOD KING WENCESLAS

According to the legend the first of the Premysl was a plowman who married a Bohemian princess named Libussa during the 8th century and it was their descendants who in time united the warring tribes of Bohemia into one duchy.
Duke Borivoy I married a Slav princess named Ludmila and they both became Christians and they tried their hardest to convert all of Bohemia to
Christianity, but were unable to do so.
Upon the death of Borivoy his sons, Ratislav and Spythinev succeeded him it was Ratislav who was the father of Wenceslas.
Wenceslas was born around 907 in a castle near Prague and when he was only thirteen years old his father died Wenceslas succeeded him as duke.
Because of his age he was too young to rule so his mother, Drahomira, became the regent she was vehemently opposed to Christianity and used her new found power to persecute Christians.
She also refused to let Wenceslas see his grandmother Ludmila because she was afraid that they would plot to overthrow her but it wasn’t long before Drahomira had her murdered.
After Ludmila’s death she was revered by Christians as a saint.
At the age of 18 Wenceslas overthrew his mother's regency and he began to rule for himself.
He was a stern but fair monarch, he stopped the persecution of Christians and he managed to tame the rebellious nobility.
He was known across bohemia for his kindness to the poor and he was especially charitable to children.
However Many of the Bohemian nobles resented Wenceslas's attempts to spread Christianity and when he swore allegiance to the king of Germany, Henry I they were greatly displeased.
But in the end his greatest enemy proved to be his own brother, Boleslav, who joined the nobles to plot his brother's assassination.
Boleslav invited Wenceslas to a religious festival and then attacked and killed him on his way to mass.
"Good King" Wenceslas died on September 20, 929. He was still in his early twenties and had ruled Bohemia for only five years.
Today he is remembered as the patron saint of the Czech Republic.

ROSEMARY

Rosemary has long been associated with Christmas and was often used during the middle Ages by the women folk who spread it on the floor and as people walked on it crushing it under foot a pleasant aroma was released.
Tradition tells us that Rosemary is so fragrant because Mary laid on its branches the garments of the Christ Child on the night he was born.
The legend also says that suddenly flowers blossomed on the trees and they bore abundant fruit even though they were out of season.

THE HANGING OF GREENS - MISTLETOE

The hanging of greens, such as Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe is a British winter tradition with origins far before the Christian era.
Greenery was used to lift people’s spirits during the long winter and remind them that spring was not far away.
For hundreds of years before the birth of Christ the ancient Druids used mistletoe to celebrate the winter solstice.
The Druids gathered the parasitic evergreen plant and used it to decorate their homes.
They had an affinity with nature and believed the plant to have special healing powers for a variety of ills from female infertility to poison ingestion.
The Scandinavians thought of mistletoe as a plant of peace and harmony and associated it with their goddess of love, Frigga which is why the Norse folk believe the custom of kissing under the mistletoe is believed to have derived from this belief.
The druids regarded the mistletoe as sacred and they made certain that it never touched the ground and it was dedicated to the Goddess of Love which is the Druid explanation of kissing under it.
Originally, when a boy kissed a girl, he plucked a berry from the cluster and presented it to her. When there were no more berries, there were no more kisses.
The custom of kissing under the mistletoe originally was a belief that the evergreen plant increases your sexual power or promotes fertility.
In a small number of places in the world its potency was so highly regarded that it could improve the productivity of the soil, it could make cattle more fertile and curer impotence in men and any girl who had not been kissed under the mistletoe would be barren.
The Druids believed mistletoe's magic extended far beyond fertility and they thought it could cure almost any disease and was therefore known as 'all healer'.
A Sprigs fixed above your doorway would protect from lightning and ward of evil from your home.
As the plant was a parasite and grey on other trees it had no roots and so it was believed that it grew from heaven.
Even the gathering of the mistletoe is steeped in ritual.
A Druid priest using a sacred sickle had to cut the mistletoe from an oak tree
On the sixth day of the new moon when he had done so a virgin girl had to catch the falling plant before it touched the ground.
If it touched the ground it was spoiled.
The early Christian church banned the use of mistletoe in Christmas celebrations because of its pagan origins and they favored the use of Holly as an appropriate substitute for the Christmas greenery conveniently forgetting pagan origins of Holly.
Nowadays mistletoe is used merely as an excuse for taking liberties at the office Christmas party.

REINDEER NAMES

According to Clement Clarke Moore’s 1823 poem the names of Santa's Reindeers are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen.

Christmas Stuff

THREE SAINTS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE - SWITZERLAND

Switzerland is another country with several traditions and languages.
So it is not surprising there are several different St. Nicholas traditions.
In German-speaking areas Saint Nicholas is known as Samichlaus and he rides upon a white horse and is followed by the wicked Ruprecht.
In the French-speaking area Saint Nicolas is known as Père noel and he leads a donkey carrying baskets full of gifts and he is followed by the sound of Père Fouettard's chains.
In the Italian quarter the tradition is much more reverent when they celebrate the arrival of St Nicholas’s relics in the Italian city of Bari in the year 1087.
But all the celebrations have in common the great color music and excitement generated by the enthusiastic revelers.

WHAT WOULD SANTA LIKE FOR CHRISTMAS?

The Hollywood child star Shirley Temple stopped believing in Santa Claus when she was six because the Department store Santa asked for her autograph in a shopping center.

CHRISTMAS FOLKLORE – LA BEFANA

The three wise men stopped at La Befana’s house on route to Bethlehem.
After dining with her, she was invited to travel with them on their search for the Christ child but she declined on some flimsy pretence.
After a while she regretted her action and gathering up some things from her home to give to the Christ child she set off after them.
But alas, she was unable to find either the wise men or the baby Jesus.
La Befana has been searching ever since and every January 5th the kindly witch rides her broomstick down the chimneys of Italian homes to fill the stockings of lucky children with sweets and candy.

CHRISTMAS FOLKLORE - BLACK PETER

In Holland, sinter Klaas has a faithful servant called black peter who rides on the sleigh and its Peter’s job to throw the children’s presents down the chimney.
In addition it is black peter that doles out the punishment to the naughty children by wrapping the offenders in bags and delivering them to Spain.

CHRISTMAS FOLKLORE – THE JOLLY ELF

In Finland Santa is a kind and jolly elf called Joulupukki and he doesn’t drive a sleigh but He rides a straw goat called Ukko.
The Scandinavians call the jolly elf Jultomten who is thought to deliver gifts in a sleigh drawn by goats.

CHRISTMAS IN RUSSIA

During the days of the Soviet Union, the people were not free to practice their religion or to celebrate Christmas so it was the New Year which was the most important time when 'Father Frost' brought presents to children.
With the breakup of the Soviet Union the Communist regime fell and religious freedom abounded and Christmas was once again openly celebrated but not on December 25th but on January 7th which is Christmas Day for the Russian Orthodox church, who use the old 'Julian' calendar for all holy days.

CHRISTMAS FOLKLORE – CHRISTKIND

Christ kind or Christ Child is an angel-like figure who often accompanied St. Nicholas on his holiday missions and Kris Kringle is believed to deliver presents to well-behaved Swiss and German children.

CHRISTMAS FOLKLORE – FILLING THE SHOE’S

In France Père Noel is responsible for filling the shoes of French children with gifts.
While in Spain the children place their shoes under the tree on the night of January 5th and the next morning they find they have been filled with gifts by the three kings.
The luckiest children of Spain receive small presents from papa noel on Christmas Eve as well.

A NATIVITY FACT

Traditionally in the nativity scene there is almost always a donkey or an ass depicted.
However in the gospels telling of Christ’s birth they are not mentioned.
But as Jesus was born in a stable and lain in a manger it would seem logical to conclude that some animals where present.

OUR GOOSE IS COOKED

By all accounts the eating of Goose at Christmas as part of the festivities came about because on Christmas Eve 1588 queen Elizabeth I was dining on Goose at Greenwich palace when the long awaited news reached her that the Spanish Armada had been defeated.
Relieved and delighted she decreed that roast goose should be served at Christmas to mark the historic event.
It was her father Henry VIII who is widely regarded to be the first person known to eat Turkey on Christmas day.

THE FEAST’S OF ST NICHOLAS

The feast of St Nicholas is widely celebrated though what they believe and the way it is celebrated varies from place to place for example in the Czech republic they believe on the eve of St. Nicholas Day the Angels lower St. Nicholas, or Svaty Mikuláš, down to earth on a rope of gold and he carries a basket of apples, nuts, and candies for the children.
He is accompanied by a devil rattling his chains who comes to carry off the bad children and a sweet angel who pleads for them.
While In Slovenia The night before the Feast of St. Nicholas, children put a shoe outside the door in the hope it will be filled with various treats of fruit, sweets or money.
Here the saint is accompanied by the devilish Parkel who might leave coal for the naughty children.
More often than not, a mixture of the two are left as most children are good and bad.
On the night of December 5th in Romania, boots are carefully polished to be put by the door or by the window to wait for the visit of Sfantul Nicolae.
In Bulgaria Nikulden is a great winter festival when Bulgarians celebrate St Nikolay, the protector of sailors and fishermen.
St. Nicholas or Svaty Mikul arrives in many Slovakian towns and villages, in a horse drawn coach, along with an angel and the devil who rattles a chain.
And On St. Nicholas Eve all the children polish their boots to leave on the windowsill or at the doorstep. In the morning they hope to find nice surprises and not the dreaded coal.
Hungarian children must polish their best boot and put it on the windowsill to be filled by St. Nicholas, Szent Mikulás.
The good saint comes with a big sack full of presents and a large record book containing the children's good and bad deeds. He has his two helpers, the good angel who helps give out presents and the mischief making devil.
And In the morning the good children hope to find candies, tangerines, walnuts, apples, dates and chocolate Mikulás figures.
St. Nicholas, called in Poland Sw. Mikolaj, is a saintly, dignified figure in Poland; he Descends from Heaven with an angel helper, and travels in a sleigh pulled by a white horse as he visits homes in the countryside.
In parts of the Caribbean like Aruba and Antilles where the Dutch settled the celebrations still involves SinterKlaas sailing into harbor from Spain with his white horse and a collection of helpers, one of these helpers is Zwarte Piet or black Peter who is ready to put the naughty children in his sack and carry them back to Spain.
But in Curaçao however and reflecting changing times, the "horse" is more symbolic and Sinterklaas rides in a white Ford Mustang!

So from being lowered from heaven on a golden rope to riding in a Ford Mustang it cant get much more diverse than that.

THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me
A best of Sinatra CD

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Two nylon socks
And a best of Sinatra CD

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Three fountain pens
Two nylon socks
And a best of Sinatra CD

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Four woolen scarfs
Three fountain pens
Two nylon socks
And a best of Sinatra CD

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Five puzzle things
Four woolen scarfs
Three fountain pens
Two nylon socks
And a best of Sinatra CD

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Six novelty ties
Five puzzle things
Four woolen scarfs
Three fountain pens
Two nylon socks
And a best of Sinatra CD


On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Seven garden tools
Six novelty ties
Five puzzle things
Four woolen scarfs
Three fountain pens
Two nylon socks
And a best of Sinatra CD

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Eight tins of talc
Seven garden tools
Six novelty ties
Five puzzle things
Four woolen scarfs
Three fountain pens
Two nylon socks
And a best of Sinatra CD

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Nine crisp white hankies
Eight tins of talc
Seven garden tools
Six novelty ties
Five puzzle things
Four woolen scarfs
Three fountain pens
Two nylon socks
And a best of Sinatra CD

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Ten car air fresheners
Nine crisp white hankies
Eight tins of talc
Seven garden tools
Six novelty ties
Five puzzle things
Four woolen scarfs
Three fountain pens
Two nylon socks
And a best of Sinatra CD

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Eleven handy hint books
Ten car air fresheners
Nine crisp white hankies
Eight tins of talc
Seven garden tools
Six novelty ties
Five puzzle things
Four woolen scarfs
Three fountain pens
Two nylon socks
And a best of Sinatra CD

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Twelve months subscription
Eleven handy hint books
Ten car air fresheners
Nine crisp white hankies
Eight tins of talc
Seven garden tools
Six novelty ties
Five puzzle things
Four woolen scarfs
Three fountain pens
Two nylon socks
And a best of Sinatra CD

THE HIDDEN MEANING OF THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

Everyone is familiar with the famous Christmas song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and we have all at some time happily sung along to it.
But delightful though it is it believed that it had a more serious purpose when it was first written and that it was certainly much more than a repetitious piece of nonsense.
It is said it came about at a time when the Catholics in northern Europe were prevented from practicing their faith openly or otherwise by law and especially In England during the years of 1558 to 1829 it was to all intents and purposes a crime to BE a Catholic.
So "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was written in England as a kind of Underground Catechism.
In fact it was one of the "catechism songs" to help young Catholics learn the tenets of their faith.
In short it was a memory aid at a time when to be caught with anything in written form indicating adherence to the Catholic faith could lead to imprisonment or even death.
The contained hidden meanings for example the “true love” mentioned in the song in fact refers to God.
While the songs gifts hide the meanings to the teachings of the faith.
The "me" who receives the presents symbolizes every baptized person and a partridge in a pear tree refers to Jesus Christ and the two turtle doves are The Old and New Testaments.The three French Hens are Faith, Hope and Charity, the three great Theological Virtuesthe four Calling Birds are the Four Gospels and the five Golden Rings, The first Five Books of the Old Testament.
The six Geese A-laying are the six days of creation while seven Swans A-swimming represent the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments.The eight Maids A-milking are the eight beatitudes with nine Ladies Dancing representing the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit.the ten Lords A-leaping are the ten commandments and the eleven Pipers Piping stand for the eleven faithful apostles and last by no means least twelve drummersdrumming represent the twelve doctrinal points in the Apostle's Creed.

The may be fact or it may be fiction but I know which I would like it to be.

ILLUMINATING THE CHRISTMAS TREE

The practice of using small candles to decorate Christmas tree’s is said to date back to the middle of the 17th century in Germany.
However it was to be 150 years before the custom became firmly established.
In the beginning the candles where made of tallow, derived from animal fat, which gave off equal amounts of smoke and odor.
There was also the risk of the tree catching fire although tree’s were normally cut fresh of Christmas eve and therefore more difficult to ignite however a bucket of water always stood by the tree just in case.
The first candles were glued to the branches with wax but eventually candleholders appeared and then an American called Frederick Artz invented a candle holder made of tin with a tray to catch the drips of wax and a spring clip to attach it to the branch.
A Christmas tree was lit by electricity for the first time in New York in 1882 when Edward Johnson, a colleague of Thomas Edison, lit a Christmas tree with a string of 80 small electric light bulbs which he had made himself.
As the bulbs were all hand made they were two expensive to be commercial viable however by 1900 some large stores put up large illuminated trees to attract customers.
It was in 1903 when The Every Ready Company of New York began to make strings of 28 lights which cost the equivalent of a week’s wages.
It wasn’t until 1927 when the General Electric Company of America produced strings of miniature bulbs like we get today.

THE YULE TIDE ROBIN

The Robin although synonymous with Christmas in most people’s minds has in fact no connection to the Christmas story what so ever.
So what is the reason that the Robin has managed to ingrain itself in to our Christmas consciousness.
I think it’s probably because the Robin’s select their mates in December so their birdsong is at its best and the male’s plumage is at its brightest while all the other
Birds are dull and quiet.
The bright red breasts of the birds stand out so vividly against any snowy winter backdrop as to make them an obvious choice to adorn a Christmas card.

THE ST STEPHEN’S DAY MASSACRE

The Wren is a bird with a rather unfortunate connection to Christmas.
There is an old Irish legend that claims that when St Stephen was imprisoned he would have made good his escape had it not been for the chirping of the Wrens.
As a result from that day forward in Ireland every St Stephen’s day, December 26th, in a ceremony called “the Wren massacre” Wrens were stoned to death.
Since the 1920’s the custom has thankfully died out.

MIDDLE AGED SPREAD

During the Middle Ages Christmas was the most popular of the religious holidays as it was generally the happiest and undoubtedly the longest, lasting from Christmas Eve until the feast of Epiphany on January 6th.
In the royal or wealthy houses Christmas preparations would begin as early as November when beasts were slaughtered and this would have happened in spite of Christmas rather than because of it as there was normally not enough food to keep large numbers of beasts through the long winters.
Nothing was wasted and every part of the animals was used and the meat was preserved with salt and spices or pickled in vinegar or smoked and cured by a fire.
Quinces, apples, pairs, plums and assorted other fruits were exceeding popular in the Middle Ages and were dried and stored for the winter.
The poor celebrated the two week holiday as best they could with the luckiest workers being given some time off and they might even receive gifts of ale, food or firewood.
The wealthiest in the land would lay on great banquets and entertainments and the more important of the local workers or villagers were sometimes invited to the lords hall for a feast, though they had to take there own cup and plate.

STREET LIGHTS

So many people decorate the outside of there house’s now with colored lights that the big London Christmas displays like oxford street or Regents street It don’t seem such a big deal now.
But when they first began it was a different story.
They came about after an article in the daily telegraph commented that during Christmas London looked so drab and grey.
As a result in 1954 the Regent Street association decided to take decisive action and organized themselves to decorate the buildings with electric lights.
These became so popular that people would travel for miles to see them and turning the lights on became such an event that thousands of people would turn up to see a celebrity flick the switch.

CHRISSIE POSTIE

It was in 1843 when Christmas cards first came into being and with the advent of cheap postage and the appearance of envelopes the practice of sending Christmas greetings cards took off.
The postmen of the day were dressed in scarlet tunics and as a result quickly became known as Robin postmen.
So quite understandably the Robin Redbreast very soon began to appear on the cards themselves.

CHRISTMAS CANDLES – A SIGNAL

The placing of lighted candles in the windows in England harks back to a time when the Catholic religion was banned.
A lighted candle would be placed in the window of a Catholic family as a signal that it was safe for a priest to come into their home to celebrate Mass.
WHAT A CRACKER

It was In Victorian England that one of the largest Christmas crackers’s ever to be created.
It was made for a renowned actor called Harry Payne.
Payne was appearing as a clown in a Pantomime at the Drury lane theatre when the cracker was delivered.
It was over seven feet in length and contained a change of costume for the whole cast as well as hundred of small crackers that the cast threw to the children in the audience to their great excitement.

A CRACKING IDEA

The origins of the Christmas cracker lie in France where bags of bon-bons where wrapped in paper which two children would then pull apart.
While on holiday in Paris in the 1860’s an English confectioner named Tom Smith noticed the paper wrapped bags of sugared almonds and bon-bons in many shop windows.
When he returned to London he decided he would sell these bags of sweets in his shop but they where not to the English taste so he formulated an idea to improve on the French idea adding a printed motto or riddle this did not help.
It was only when he was sitting quietly by his fireside listening to the logs burning and cracking that the idea hit him.
Make them bang.
He was a very resourceful man and experimented with various chemicals before he succeeded in impregnating two strips of cardboard which when pulled apart, as a result of friction, would then cause a small explosion.

When they went on sale they contained mottoes written by popular writers of the day and quality novelties in the form of games, puzzles, toys and curiosities, a far cry from the cheap plastic imports and paper hats we get today.
Tom Smiths Christmas Crackers became an instant success.

THE ORIGINS OF THE CHRISTMAS TREE
– WOULD YOU ADAM AND EVE IT

In the 11th century during advent short plays were performed called mysteries and these were very popular.
There was one in particular about paradise in which a tree was decorated with red apples to symbolize the tree of paradise this eventually led.to the 15th century practise of the faithful putting up small trees in their own houses on december 24, which was the feast day of Adam and Eve

THE ORIGINS OF THE CHRISTMAS TREE
– BELIEVE IT OR NOT

Some people believe the origins of the Christmas tree lie in a kind of mystical symbolism. In fact a mixture of symbols showing us glimpses of what the creator has to offer.
Representing light and the movement of angels, the gifts of orchard and field, forest and sea, all capped off by the star that pointed to the end of the journey, the place of peace.
You may well think what a load of contrived tosh or you may not.
Or you may decide the truth of it is that the Christmas tree is as a result of the merging or fusion of Christian and pagan festivals namely Christmas and the winter solstice, saturnalia or mithras.

THE ORIGINS OF THE CHRISTMAS TREE
– BY ROYAL APPOINTMENT

The first Christmas tree as we have come to know it, minus the light and tinsel, appeared in Alsace in arround 1521 and by the 18th century the custom was well established in Germany and Austria
It was then spread far and wide due to the Royal families and the aristocrats.
It was introduced into France by the princess Hélène de Mecklenburg who brought one to Paris in 1837 after her marriage to the duke of Orleans.
In 1841 it reached England when Prince Albert, a German, husband of Queen Victoria, set up a christmas tree at Windsor castle.
From then on the Christmas tree custom spread quickly through the middle class and then to working people.
Once the custom had firmly taken hold in England it quickly spread around the globe through the British Empire.