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Christmas Day
In Britain, Christmas Day is normally spent at home, with the family, and it is regarded as a celebration of the family and its continuity. Preparations start well in advance, with the sending of Christmas cards and installation of a decorated Christmas tree in a prominent place in the home. Although it is now a firmly established tradition, the Christmas tree was first popularised by Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, who introduced the custom from his native Germany in 1840.
Some houses are decorated with evergreens (plants which do not lose their leaves in winter); a wreath of holly on the front door and garlands of holly, ivy and fir indoors. Bunches of mistletoe are often hung above doorways - any couple passing underneath must exchange kisses! Traditional food is prepared: sweet mince pies, a rich Christmas cake and the Christmas pudding. Everyone has their own favourite recipe, but they’re all packed full of spices, nuts, dried fruit and brandy.
Presents are bought and wrapped, and traditionally placed under the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. Christmas is both a secular and a religious holiday, and many families like to attend a midnight service at church on Christmas Eve, or celebrate Christmas in church on Christmas morning.
The excitement begins for children on Christmas Eve, when they hang up their stockings (an old sock or, more ambitiously, pillow cases) around the fireplace or at the foot of the bed for Father Christmas to fill with presents. The English Father Christmas or Santa Claus is first recorded in his traditional red and white outfit in a woodcut of 1653, but the story of Santa arriving in his reindeer-drawn sleigh and descending down the chimney to fill children’s stockings with presents derives from the USA.
Practically everyone sits down to a Christmas dinner in the early afternoon of Christmas Day, traditionally roast turkey, but some families prefer goose or roast beef. The turkey is followed by the Christmas pudding, brought to the table flaming hot. Brandy is poured over the pudding, then lit. The day ends with everyone relaxing, watching television or playing guessing-games like charades.
Boxing Day
Boxing Day (26 December) is so-called because it’s a time when tradespeople receive a ‘Christmas Box’ - some money in appreciation of the work they’ve carried out all year. Traditionally a time for visiting family and friends and indulging in more feasting, Boxing Day is a popular day for football matches and other sporting fixtures. The day is a public holiday, so shoPS and banks are closed. More recently, some shoPS have broken with tradition and now open on Boxing Day to encourage shoppers who can’t wait to spend their Christmas money!
New Year
New Year is often launched with a party - either at home with family and friends or a gathering in the local pubs and clubs. Merrymaking begins on New Year’s Eve and builds up to midnight. The stroke of midnight is the cue for much cheering, hooting, whistling, kissing and the drinking of toasts.
Tradition has it that the first person over the threshold on New Year’s Day will dictate the luck brought to the household in the coming year. This is known as First Footing. At midnight on 31 December, particularly in Scotland and northern England, ‘first footers’ (traditionally a tall, dark, good-looking man) step over the threshold bringing the New Year’s Luck. The first footer usually brings a piece of coal, a loaf and a bottle of whisky. On entering he must place the fuel on the fire, put the loaf on the table and pour a glass for the head of the house, all normally without speaking or being spoken to until he wishes everyone ‘A Happy New Year’. He must, of course, enter by the front door and leave by the back.
In Wales the back door is opened to release the Old Year at the first stroke of midnight. It is then locked up to ‘keep the luck in’ and at the last stroke the New Year is let in at the front door.
In Scotland the New Year remains the greatest of all annual festivals. Called ‘Hogmanay’ (a word whose meaning has never been satisfactorily established), it’s marked by an evening of drinking and merrymaking, culminating at the stroke of midnight when huge gatherings of people at Edinburgh’s Tron Kirk and Glasgow’s George Square greet the New Year by linking arms and singing ‘Auld Lang Syne’.
Halloween
Halloween (31 October) and its associations with witches and ghosts derives from the Celtic Old Year’s Night - the night of all witches, when spirits were said to walk the earth. Witches and supernatural beings are still remembered all over Britain, when bands of children roam the streets in ghoulish costumes, carrying Halloween lanterns - pumpkins hollowed out with a ghostly face cut into one side, which glows when a candle is placed inside.
In recent years the custom of ‘trick or treating’ has gained in popularity. Although we commonly associate this practice with America, the custom originated in England as ‘Mischief Night’ when children declared one ‘lawless night’ of unpunished pranks (usually May Day eve or Halloween).
Halloween parties (usually for children) include games such as apple bobbing, where apples are either floated in water or hung by a string. The object of the game is for the players to put their hands behind their back and try to seize an apple with their teeth alone.
Easter
Easter day is named after the Saxon goddess of spring, Eostre, whose feast took place at the spring equinox. Easter is now the spring feast of the Christian church, commemorating the resurrection of Jesus. It falls on a Sunday between
22 March and 25 April, according to the church calendar.
Traditionally Easter eggs, dyed and decorated or made of chocolate, are given as presents symbolising new life and the coming of spring.
Egg rolling competitions take place in northern Britain on Easter Monday; hard-boiled eggs are rolled down a slope, with the winner being - according to local preference - the one which rolls the furthest, survives the most rolls, or is successfully aimed between two pegs! The best publicised event takes place at Avenham Park in Preston, Lancashire.
Easter parades are also part of the Easter tradition, with those taking part wearing Easter bonnets or hats, traditionally decorated with spring flowers and ribbons.