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Christmas Traditions in the UK

 

As well as the normally accepted worldwide Christmas traditions, the following Christmas traditions are popular in the UK.

 

The Christmas UK tradition of Boxing Day is usually celebrated on the day after Christmas Day, which is 26 December. However, strictly speaking, Boxing Day is the first weekday after Christmas Day. Like Christmas Day, Boxing Day is a UK public holiday. The tradition of 26th December being called Boxing Day is due to, in Victorian times, this being the day when the Christmas Box was opened to share the contents with the poor. The Christmas box was a large container, probably made from wood, where people placed gifts for the poor.

Another popular UK Christmas tradition is the performance of the Nativity Play at numerous infant and primary schools around the country. This tradition gives many children their first taste of being “on stage” and is treated as a momentous event by most parents.

The UK Christmas tradition of children writing letters to Santa Claus and posting them off is still very prevalent.

 

The tradition of Mince Pies at Christmas is another great UK tradition which comes to us from Tudor times. They do not contain mincemeat but a mixture of fruit, peel and spices contained in a pastry case. The tradition in the UK was to eat at least one mince pie a day during the twelve days before Christmas to bring luck in each of the twelve months of the year ahead. The earlier tradition of eating mince pies was to eat them in complete silence, but that tradition has vanished now.

A very UK Christmas tradition is the hanging of greens, such as holly and ivy in the home. This tradition has its origins far in Pagan times. Greenery was a symbol used to uplift the spirits in the cold winter months and remind the people that spring was not far away.

 

The very popular UK tradition of Kissing under the Mistletoe is a Christmas tradition from the ancient Druids.

 

Another very UK Christmas tradition is the observance of Twelfth Night. The tradition is that all Christmas decorations should be removed on 5th January so as not to bring bad luck into the home. According to UK tradition, tree-spirits lived in the holly and ivy and this was brought into the house to keep them safe during the harsh winter days. Once the harsh weather of Christmas was over, the greenery had to be brought back outside to release the tree-spirits from their temporary imprisonment. Failure to do this would block growth and prevent the Spring from coming.

Today people in the UK still feel uneasy about leaving the Christmas Decorations up after Twelfth Night. Even though decorations are now made disposable materials, and the tree-spirits elevated position in the scheme of things has been long demoted, the tradition and superstition still survives.

There is a delightful UK Christmas tradition of making the Christmas pudding on “Stir Up Sunday”. This occurs at the beginning of advent. The tradition is that the Christmas pudding is stirred from right to left in honour of the three Wise Men and a further element of the tradition is that it should be made with thirteen ingredients to represent Christ and His Disciples. A third delightful element of this UK tradition is that each member of the family must stir it to create good luck for the coming year.

The Queen's Speech is another UK Christmas tradition. At three o'clock in the afternoon, the Queen gives her Christmas Message to the nation which is broadcast on radio and television.
The first televised UK broadcast of the Queen's Christmas message was in 1957 and she has made a Christmas Broadcast to the Commonwealth every year with the exception of 1969.
The Queen launched her own UK focussed channel on YouTube in 2007, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her first televised Christmas Day speech in 1957.

www.youtube.com/theroyalchannel

Another interesting UK Christmas tradition is the wearing of paper crowns on Christmas Day. The tradition of wearing paper crown hats on Christmas Day dates back to Twelfth Night celebrations, where a King or Queen was often appointed to preside over the proceedings.

 

To-day’s paper crown hats usually come from the UK’s traditional Christmas cracker which is pulled – tug-o-war style - by two people, with each cracker usually containing a toy, a joke and the crown style hat, depending on the quality of the cracker.