There are certain rituals people tend to follow come the festive season, and many seem to take comfort on using similar Christmas decorations and following traditions akin to those observed by their forbears. Where did these customs originate, though?
Christmas jumpers
Almost every workplace now seems to have an annual Christmas jumper day, and folk also don their finest festive knits for social occasions over the holidays, but this wasn’t always so.
The Christmas jumper has only really been big news for a little over a decade. Some say the trend originated at a Christmas party in Vancouver in 2001, while others may blame J. K. Rowling, whose Harry Potter books feature the wizard and his chums in Christmas knitwear made by Mrs. Weasley every winter.
Christmas caroling
What may seem like one of the most classic Christmas traditions of all doesn’t actually date back that far. While it is believed that people would visit one another to exchange season’s greetings, they did not start to sing until Victorian times. Carols themselves were sung for several centuries earlier than this, but not on the doorstep until the 19th Century.
Yule logs
A very popular alternative to the traditional Christmas pudding, Yule logs are a festive confection of chocolate found in many homes each year. Apparently, it all started with the Gaelic and Celtic custom of adding a yule log festooned with ivy, holly and pine cones to the fire to see off evil spirits and welcome the new year. In the 1800s, Parisian bakers began to create sweet, log-shaped puddings and the tradition was born.
