Christmas across Britain has its own time-honoured traditions, from perennial plants like holly and ivy adding a dash of colour in the winter months, to Christmas crackers pulled across a table. While some of our festive favourites date back to folklore and legends, others find their origin in the ingenuity of British entrepreneurs.
We’ve also taken to heart other nations’ traditions, like the Christmas tree from Germany. In 1841, Prince Albert erected an evergreen in Windsor Castle, beginning the popular trend. Today, we welcome not only real trees into our homes, but manmade firs and pines, available pre-lit with tiny LEDs. These twinkly trees are long-lasting, allowing us to appreciate them year after year.
Join us as we explore the Yuletide customs we enjoy when the festive season arrives, in our list of British Christmas traditions.
1. Season’s Greetings!
Colourful cards strung from garlands or sitting atop the mantle are a typical sight in Britain. Sent to friends and family, the posting of cards is a custom that started in 1843.
After assisting in setting up the company we now call the Post Office, British civil servant Sir Henry Cole and illustrator John Horsley designed and created the very first Christmas card to encourage use of the postal service.
These cards were priced at a shilling and cost a penny to post – that’s almost £6 for the card and 40p for a stamp in today’s money. Progress in printing eventually lowered the prices and by the 1860s, the tradition was vastly popular.
2. The gift-giver
The personification of the festive season, Father Christmas can be found in many forms at Christmas, from carols and cards to right within our homes and gardens. You’ll see him presented in winter scenes on festive ornaments of all sizes like LED water candlesticks with safety in mind, and lantern snow globes that glitter with Christmas magic.
While for some he’s inseparable from his American alias Santa Claus, here in Britain he’s Father Christmas, who has a far longer history than the legend across the Atlantic. Saxon tales from as far back as 5th-Century Britain speak of a King Winter, but it wasn’t until the Victorian age when the Christmas festival became an occasion for children that he became Father Christmas, a giver of gifts.
3. Christmas with a bang
Each year at Christmas, alongside table place settings, you’ll find colourful crackers waiting to be pulled. As you take one end and the person adjacent to you takes the other, you’ll pull until the cracker comes apart with a bang. Whoever winds up with the larger half of the cracker is the victor and can enjoy the spoils inside.
Christmas crackers were created by Tom Smith, a Victorian confectioner, who was inspired by the way French bon-bons were packaged on a trip to Paris in 1840. Unfortunately, his attempts at selling the sweets wrapped in Paris fashion, with a riddle or motto inside, didn’t result in the sales he was seeking. However, after discovering a chemical combination to create a “crack” when the paper was pulled, his sales began to soar. Later, his three sons Walter, Tom and Henry added their ideas of novelties and paper hats, and the Christmas cracker we know today was complete.
4. Festive fowl
Usually eaten at lunchtime, a traditional British Christmas dinner typically features an oven-roasted bird stuffed with sage and onion, served with vegetables, lashings of rich gravy and a good dollop of cranberry sauce.
Turkey is renowned as the fowl of choice for the festive season in Britain, although the bird originates in Mexico, brought back by explorer William Strickland in 1526. While King Henry VIII was known to appreciate turkey at his banquets, it was Edward VII who popularised it at Christmas. Even by the 1930s it was considered a luxury dish, saved and enjoyed for special occasions as it cost an entire week’s worth of wages to pay for one. By the 1950s, turkey was more affordable, cementing it as Britain’s favourite festive dinner choice.
5. Winter perennials
Hung above doors or wrapped in a wreathes, mistletoe, holly and ivy are all plants favoured by Brits at Christmas. Mistletoe is an Anglo-Saxon word and the hanging of it was a pagan tradition embraced by early Christians. Kissing below mistletoe is a British tradition, for every kiss a berry should be plucked from the plant until the branch is bare.
Famous for the folk carol of Britain, holly and ivy’s use in celebrations pre-dates Christian times when the winter solstice was honoured. The bright red berries and lush evergreen they offer has made sure their popularity has continued to live on in our annual festivities.
6. Pudding time
The British dessert tradition of Christmas pudding dates to medieval times. Essentially a boiled spiced fruit cake laced with alcohol, it’s sometimes set aflame briefly before serving and sometimes coins are included in the mix. Traditionally, it was made the week preceding Advent on a day entitled “Stir-up Sunday”. Family members were entreated to all take part by the church at the time in order from east to west in honour of the Three Kings’ journey.
Mince pies are often enjoyed with a mug of mulled wine. In the 13th Century, when the crusaders returned, they brought back new spices including nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon. These exotic ingredients were added to traditional pies made from suet, dried fruit and minced meat. Originally large, in an oval shape to represent the manger, over time the pies grew both sweeter and smaller
7. A Royal review
Commonly called “The Queen’s Speech”, the Christmas broadcast is a great British tradition. Almost every year since 1932, Britain’s reigning monarch addresses the nation, originally over radio and now on television. Since 1959, the Royal speech has been recorded in advance but is shown each year at 3:00 pm on Christmas day. Traditionally, it contains a reflection on the past year and best wishes from our sovereign for the new one approaching.
Celebrate this Christmas with our list of festive traditions that are quintessentially British. Enjoy some festive treats indoors or raise a mug of something mulled if you’re out in your own winter wonderland, and toast Britain and its unique Christmas customs.
