Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Neapolitan presepio at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. The practice of putting up special decorations at Christmas has a long history. In the 15th century, it was recorded that in London, it was the custom at Christmas for every house and all the parish churches to be "decked with holm, ivy, bays, and whatsoever the season of the year afforded to be green". [4]
The first known English personification of Christmas was associated with merry-making, singing and drinking. A carol attributed to Richard Smart, Rector of Plymtree in Devon from 1435 to 1477, has 'Sir Christemas' announcing the news of Christ's birth and encouraging his listeners to drink: "Buvez bien par toute la compagnie, / Make good cheer and be right merry, / And sing with us now ...
King George V started the Royal Christmas Message as a radio broadcast in 1932, and it has remained an annual tradition ever since. In 1957, Queen Elizabeth II moved to the broadcast to television
[39] [40] The 16th-century farmer Thomas Tusser noted that by 1573 turkeys were commonly served at English Christmas dinners. [41] The tradition of turkey at Christmas rapidly spread throughout England in the 17th century, [39] and it also became common to serve goose which remained the predominant roast until the Victorian era. [42]
In Victorian England, cooking a Christmas goose was a natural option for most people who couldn't afford to butcher a hen or cow for Christmas dinner: Geese only lay eggs in warmer months and ...
The BBC reported that the first-known mince-pie recipe dates back to an 1830s-era English cookbook. By the mid-17th century, people reportedly began associating the small pies with Christmas. At ...
The Yule log is recorded in the folklore archives of much of England, but particularly in collections covering the West Country and the North Country. [13] For example, in his section regarding "Christmas Observances", J. B. Partridge recorded then-current (1914) Christmas customs in Yorkshire, Britain involving the Yule log as related by "Mrs. Day, Minchinhampton (Gloucestershire), a native ...
By the High Middle Ages, the holiday had become so prominent that chroniclers routinely noted where various magnates celebrated Christmas. King Richard II of England hosted a Christmas feast in 1377 at which 28 oxen and 300 sheep were eaten. [35] The Yule boar was a common feature of medieval Christmas feasts.