THE HISTORY BEHIND THE TRADITION
Atree in the living room, mince pies with our tea and Santa coming down the chimney: all are staples of the Christmas experience, yet we seldom stop to ask why. Here is how certain elements have become Christmas necessities.
Why do we have Christmas trees?
Romans used fir trees to decorate their temples during Saturnalia, a feast in honour of Saturn, the god of agriculture, and the predecessor to Christmas. In northern
Europe, people planted cherry or hawthorn plants, or created pyramids of fruit or candles. Evergreen trees were thought to keep away evil spirits and illness. Another predecessor was the Paradise tree, a fir decorated with apples to represent the Garden of Eden on Adam and Eve’s day on December 24.
It is thought the first person to bring a tree indoors was the German theologian Martin Luther. Walking through a forest, he was so taken by the beauty of stars twinkling through the pines that he took a tree home and attached candles to each branch.
Germans decorated their trees with edible goods and glass decorations. Tinsel was originally made in Germany from thin strips of silver. Christmas trees made it to Britain in the 1830s and, in 1841, Prince Albert set up a tree in Windsor Castle. In 1846, the royal family was sketched standing around their Christmas tree, after which the practice became very fashionable.
What’s the story behind Father Christmas, and why stockings?
The story of Father Christmas starts with Saint Nicholas, a bishop who lived in Myra, Asia Minor (what is now known as Turkey) in the fourth century. He had a reputation for giving to the poor and being kind to children. Legend has it that Saint Nicholas dropped a bag of gold down the chimney of a poor man who could not afford his daughter’s dowry. The bag fell into a stocking that had been left by the fire to dry.
Why do we eat turkey on Xmas Day?
While goose, boar and peacock have all been popular Christmas meats over the centuries, turkey reigns supreme as the traditional Christmas Day meal.
Legend has it King Henry VIII was the first English monarch to eat turkey on Christmas Day, popularising it among the upper classes after the bird was imported from America. However, turkey, stuffing and pigs in blankets are not the norm for the rest of the world; most countries have different classic Christmas meals. The Swedes eat pickled herring and meatballs, the Mexicans eat tamales and in parts of Italy fried eel is eaten.
And why mince pies?
Mince pies were known as Christmas pies, or crib pies, as their oblong shape was meant to resemble Jesus’s cradle. The pies were initially made of meat, usually mutton, and influenced by crusaders who came back from the Middle East with spices.—