Innehållsförteckning för The History of Christmas från History Extra

History, big and small, often feels close at hand at Christmas-time. As Charles Dickens understood, we are all haunted by the ghosts of Christmas past. Contained within our contemporary seasonal pleasures are the echoes of celebrations long, long ago that take us back through thousands of years of history. Our festivities are shaped by traditions whose origins are often lost to us, passed down for reasons we've forgotten – but treasured, nonetheless, as the way things have always been. Whether singing Christmas carols or reading A Christmas Carol, we tap into deep reservoirs of the past. Uniquely in our modern lives, Christmas thins the veil and brings that history to life again in ways that make this season feel so different from any other time of year. Of course, if…

In December 1818, the little Austrian town of Oberndorf, just north of Salzburg, was still nursing its scars. Two years earlier, after the treaties marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the town had been split in half, with its northern section across the river Salzach being given to Bavaria. The new frontier had driven a stake through the town's economy; unemployment and resentment were running high. Amid these convulsions, few had paid much attention to the arrival of a young priest called Josef Mohr, the illegitimate son of an Austrian mercenary. With him Mohr had brought the draft of a six-stanza poem, scribbled while he was at a church in the Alps. And when Mohr heard that the church organ was broken – which meant they might have no…

Festive traditions have always been changing. Even within living memory, we've seen some begin to disappear: carol singers no longer come to most people's doors, and telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve is no longer a big deal. Meanwhile, festive jumpers, which never used to be ‘a thing’, are now de rigueur. But go a little further back in time and you find a vast number of practices, beliefs and games that are now extinct. Here are just a few… Many Christmas celebrations involved upending the social hierarchy. Medieval churches and cathedrals elected ‘boy bishops’and celebrated a Feast of Fools, in which a ‘Lord of Misrule’ or ‘Abbot of Unreason’ was appointed to supervise the revelry. This mischievous form of merry-making was banned in England and Scotland after the Reformation.…

For those in charge of Britain's war effort, Christmas was a dangerous time of year, as seasonal cheer came up against the grim reality of war. Shortages began to appear in essential items like sugar, bread, petrol and paper, and Christmas cooking ingredients were difficult to come by. But national morale was considered by the government a priority, and Christmas was marked by a conscious attempt to celebrate as usual – keeping the old traditions, and promoting Christmas cheer. While traditional Christmas extravagance became unfashionable – and impossible for most – Britain continued to embrace the Christmas spirit. Songs, useful gifts, charitable acts and ingenious cookery were all encouraged. And while this became harder as the war drew on – air raids and absent loved ones were a way of…

The Protestant Reformation, triggered by Martin Luther in 1517, rocked European Christianity to its core – and it wasn't too long before the centuries-old tradition of celebrating Christmas would be caught in the crossfire. In the first half of the 16th century, though, it seemed that Christmas might emerge from these years of upheaval relatively unscathed. Luther permitted his followers to continue celebrating the festival, while in England, King Henry VIII embraced Yuletide enthusiastically. One popular aspect of modern festivities – Father Christmas – was already in place in the Tudor period. In fact he can be traced back at least as far as the Vikings, who often referred to their god Woden as ‘Yule-Father', believing he came down to Earth at Yuletide, leaving gifts and spreading goodwill. However, by…

Every Christmas, British theatres are taken over by a ‘usual suspects’ roster of pantomimes: Jack and the Beanstalk, Aladdin and Snow White being among the most common. But while many of these stories are based on fables or fairy tales, one much-loved production – Dick Whittington, the story of the boy who heads for London in search of streets paved with gold – draws a surprising portion of its narrative from real-life events. The titular ‘Dick’ is based on Richard Whittington, the medieval mayor of London who, just like his panto counterpart, left his home in the countryside and made his fortune in the big smoke. But how much of the story, which has captivated theatre-goers for centuries, is drawn from reality? And how much is plucked from the realm…

No, it's not true – and it never was. Christmas was an important festival in the 17th-century calendar: a 12-day event marked with sports, games, feasting, drinking and – traditionally at New Year – the exchange of gifts. Recusants and secret Catholics allegedly celebrated it with special enthusiasm. For Puritans, though, Christmas did not just epitomise immoral excess and ungodly behaviour, it was also a relic of popery. In Civil War-era London, and then in the interregnum parliaments, various laws were debated (though not always passed) and ordinances issued to stop the observance of traditional holy days,› including Christmas. But Christmas continued to be celebrated, and local authorities trying to enforce the ban were often met with disorder, such as the so-called Plum Pudding riots that broke out in Canterbury…

Winter is grim, and for the medieval church Advent was a period of religious fast. During this time people couldn't eat dairy, eggs or animal products, although fish was permissible. So the chance to light big fires, drink and eat was a release of tension and an officially sanctioned period in which to blow off steam. For those who could afford it, Christmas extended over the full Twelve Days, each with feasting and play. Up to the 16th century there were no foods entirely specific to Christmas, but there were dishes connected to celebration and showing off. By the end of the 16th century, some of these were more associated with Christmas than others. Big birds were “in” because farmed fowl was in season – thus goose, capon, swan (raised…

In many ways it was the stresses of life in wartime, and the 14 years of rationing that accompanied it, that cemented the Christmas menu in England. (Irish Christmases remained more beef-based and the Welsh favoured goose, while in Scotland Hogmanay was more important.) Because so many foods that had come to symbolise Christmas were unobtainable during the war, when they returned it was to jubilation. Meals also became smaller in the 1950s, while some traditional dishes fell away. Of course, the meals people ate were still varied, but the ideal Christmas menus printed in books and newspapers became increasingly rigid. In 1939 Christmas was not unduly challenging, but with 1940 came rationing. Although the ration would fluctuate, for most of the next decade – and beyond – there tended…

Decorating houses, churches and other public buildings with boughs of holly, ivy, rosemary and bay Taking Christmas Day off work. Many people went further than this and took the next 11 days off as well, thus observing the traditional ‘12 days of Christmas’ Attending a church service Singing carols, dancing to music and playing a wide variety of games Feasting on all sorts of rich food, including roast beef, brawn, Christmas pies and ‘plum pottage’ (this was a kind of porridge or spiced broth, which was the forerunner of today's Christmas puddings) Imbibing plenty of alcoholic drinks, including ‘lambs-wool’, a mixture of ale, roasted apple, sugar and spice In certain aristocratic households, electing a ‘Lord of Misrule’. This was a person of relatively humble status, who was first declared Lord…

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has been giving updates on the progress of Santa's sleigh since the 1950s. It's now followed worldwide each Christmas (via noradsanta.org/en). The official version is that in 1955 an advert for an American department store Santa phone line misprinted the phone number, sending callers to NORAD's predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) instead. Colonel Harry Shoup, in charge that night, assigned an officer to give other callers a “location” for Santa and his sleigh, and so the tradition was born. There are variations on this foundation story, but basically it happened by accident. Perhaps the US military saw a public relations opportunity, or a Cold War message about how the free world has Santa and those communists do not. But the best…

It happened at Christmas 1. What did four Scottish students do in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1950? 2. Where did a Baptist preacher lead an 11-day uprising of enslaved people at Christmas in 1831? 3. Who dined on ‘Goose Pye’ (actually Gannet Pie) on Christmas Day 1769? 4. Who was murdered during a Christmas service in 820 by assassins disguised as members of the church choir? 5. On Christmas Day 1661 who quarrelled with his wife over dinner and went up to his chamber in a bad temper? 6. Which French explorer died in Quebec on Christmas Day 1635? Reindeer and other beasts 7. In which poem of 1823 did the now generally accepted names of Santa's reindeer first appear? 8. What small bird was traditionally hunted on 26 December? 9. What has been constructed in…

Although Christmas was celebrated in song in the Middle Ages, most carols in use now are less than 200 years old. Only a handful, such as I Saw Three Ships or the decidedly pagan-sounding The Holly and the Ivy, remind us of more ancient yuletides. Carols fell from favour in England after the Reformation because of their frivolity (see also the famous cancellation of Christmas during Cromwell's rule) and were rarely sung in churches until the 1880s when EW Benson, Bishop of Truro (later Archbishop of Canterbury) drew up the format for the Nine Lessons and Carols service which has remained in use ever since. Silent night! Holy night! All is calm, all is bright. Round yon Virgin Mother and Child. Holy Infant, so tender and mild… Silent Night Date:…

Richard Whittington certainly deserves to be more than a mere footnote in London's history. But how did his story become synonymous with dames, horse costumes and frenzied shouts of “it's behind you”? The answer to that question, it seems, lies in a mixture of oral tradition and the written word. While the pantomime character of Dick Whittington didn't properly develop until the early 19th century, versions of the story were already circulating soon after the real Whittington's death. “Thirteen years after he died, Whittington was described by an unnamed poet as the ‘sonne of marchandy’ – the ultimate mercer, if you will,” says Michael McCarthy. “But it seems that the story really started to take off around the 1530s, when some of his good works were beginning to bear fruit,…

If you read the papers in December, you might be forgiven for thinking that the British Christmas meal is utterly uniform: turkey, roast potatoes and sprouts, with Christmas pudding to follow, plus mince pies and Christmas cake. But only around 70 per cent of us eat turkey, even fewer opt for sprouts, and Christmas pudding is in decline. However, for many of us, today's typical Christmas meal is almost identical to menus from the 1930s, 1950s and 1970s. And in the idealised presentation with all of the main course dishes served on the table at once, it isn't that far removed from the dinners of 250 years ago. The average Christmas dinner in the 21st century is around 5,000 calories and meat-heavy: reflective of earlier, more physical eras when such…

On 30 September 1848, the satirical magazine Punch regaled its readers with reports of a peculiar new society that had started holding meetings across Manchester. The society, Punch revealed with thinly veiled incredulity, “devotes its entire energies to the eating of vegetables, and the members meet occasionally for the purpose of masticating mashed potatoes and munching cabbage-leaves. ‘Sweets to the sweet’ is a popular maxim, and ‘greens to the green’ may fairly be applied to the vegetarians.” Victorians were well versed in the Bible, so many would have read how the ancient Babylonian king Nebuchadnezza ate a diet of grass instead of meat. Others may too have been aware that the eccentric poet Lord Byron once attempted to lose weight via a ‘vegetable diet'. Nevertheless, back in 1848, comparatively few…

I used to be able to say, unequivocally and without hesitation, that I'd never hugged a tree. I can't do that any more, and it's all Dr Francis Young's fault. He told me to be creative with my spirituality, and I took him at his word. Francis is a historian and folklorist specialising in the history of religion and belief, and also a particular expert on the Baltics. With my inaugural arboreal embrace, I was following in the footsteps of the people that Francis has been studying in his most recent book, Silence of the Gods: The Untold History of Europe's Last Pagan Peoples. It's a cracking read, and a revelation if, like me, you could do with being much better informed about the historical and religious story of the…

Do you worry about things? Do you wake up in the middle of the night, sweating about what might happen to you, to your family, to the world in general? I do. If you do too, rest assured you're not alone. It's a natural human trait, and it's something people have been doing for millennia. In evolutionary terms, I imagine it's something to do with forcing our minds to think about the things we ought to be doing next to keep ourselves alive, and keep us out of dangerous situations. It's counterproductive, of course, to worry yourself into a state of paralysis – that's when worrying goes wrong. So are there any lessons we can take from history that can help us worry productively? I went to the Assyria Galleries…

On the morning of Christmas Day 1066, William of Normandy rode through the streets of Westminster towards his coronation. His destination was the magnificent new abbey begun by his distant cousin, Edward the Confessor. It was just over two months since the battle of Hastings. Across the country, resistance still smouldered and security around the abbey was tight. William's coronation had been planned as the ultimate propaganda coup. In a supremely symbolic moment, the invader was crowned king by Ealdred, Archbishop of York, previously one of the chief supporters of Harold II, the last Anglo-Saxon king. Before lowering the crown onto William's head, Ealdred asked the crowd – in English – if they wanted him as their king. And as had no doubt been arranged, up went the loud cheers…

Slade and Clif fRichard on the airwaves, shopping centres full to bursting, glittering trees and sprigs of mistletoe, teachers frantically putting the finishing touches to school nativity plays up and down the land – the Christmas season is def initely one that is steeped in tradition. In excess of two billion people consider the festive season to be the most important holiday of the year. In fact, Christmas has become such a heavyweight in the global calendar that it's now celebrated by more people than any other religious event on the planet. But what about the 2,000-year old tale that lies at the heart of these celebrations? Is it cold-hard historical fact, a theological flight of fancy, or something in between? Virtually everyone knows the nativity story – Joseph and…

Dorothy Kelly The widow of a Bristol grocer. According to a later admirer, Mrs Kelly defied the orders of the church authorities before the Civil War and “would not observe their invented times and feasts, called Holy Days”. Instead, she ostentatiously kept her shop open throughout “the time they called Christmas Day”. Ralph Josselin The Presbyterian minister of Earles Colne in Essex. Like many other parliamentarians, Josselin began to doubt the legitimacy of the traditional feast following the outbreak of the Civil War. In December 1643, he recorded in his diary that he had “made a serious exhortation” to his congregation “to lay aside the jollity and vanity of the time [that] custom hath wedded us unto” at Christmas. Nehemiah Wallington A London wood-turner of strongly Puritan inclinations. Wallington regarded…

Tis the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature is stirring… but someone is. While the household sleeps, a jolly visitor carefully places presents in stockings hung by the fireplace. After taking a sip of whatever tipple has been thoughtfully left out for him, he pockets a carrot and disappears up the chimney. With a tinkle of sleigh bells he disappears into the night with his faithful reindeer, a merry laugh echoing across the rooftops. It's a familiar ritual – with one fundamental point of contention. Who do you think it was that brought you these presents? Are you a Father Christmas fundamentalist or are you a Santa Claus supporter? Each figure has his passionate partisans, and each is wrapped up with issues of national and…

The Victorians have the reputation for creating the modern Christmas. This is largely true, and Christmas became both more family-friendly and more commercialised in the almost 64 years Victoria was on the throne. It is to the Victorians that we owe the rebranding of Twelfth Cake to Christmas cake, and plum pudding to Christmas pudding. The decoupling of the pudding from roast beef, as well as its placing toward the end of the meal, would have been unthinkable in 1837, but was largely complete by 1901. For the rich, beef remained a huge part of the Christmas spread, along with roast game. Meat in general was prestigious. The poor joined goose clubs, saving all year for their Christmas goose. In Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Bob Cratchit's bird would have…

In the midst of the Christmas festivities of 1577, the parson of the Cheshire village of Winwick preached against “gluttons and dronkerdes” who “thincke they maye eate and drinke as much as they will” during the season of goodwill. This “oftentimes” meant consuming “so much as they cannot disgest”, cramming “themselves like swine… till they bee out of theyr wittes like beastes”. Sound familiar? Since at least the ninth century, Christmas has been associated with feasting and mirth in the Christian tradition. In fact, in the medieval period, Christmas was just the start of 12 full days of riotous consumption and celebration that ended on Twelfth Night (5 January) with another massive blowout. Today, turkey takes centre stage on the Christmas Day menu. Native to the Americas, turkey arrived in…

On 16 September 1967, a local paper in Surrey ran a weight-loss story about a woman named Stephanie Vaughan. Having struggled with her body weight as a child and adolescent, Stephanie had grown “fatter and more hopeless about her weight problem until, at 21, she reached 14½ stone”. She had tried everything in her willpower to diet. She had even taken a course of slimming pills, which left her feeling “terrible”. But recently, reported the newspaper, something dramatic had happened. Stephanie had discovered a new slimming method called Weight Watchers: “an organisation, recently introduced to this country from America, which helps fatties through group therapy – a kind of ‘eaters anonymous'.” The article in the Surrey Comet went on to record Stephanie's remarkable success with Weight Watchers. She had started…

When I have a spare moment, I dabble in making hazel hurdle fence panels. It's gloriously therapeutic. You get yourself a fat bundle of 6ft long straight hazel rods, ram a few of them vertically into the ground at regular intervals and then cajole the rest of your rods through them on the horizontal, weaving them in and out of the uprights. The trick is to robustly bend the rods so that you can feel the fibres creaking and twisting through your palms, but you can't be so hard on the wood that it cracks and snaps. It's bad if that happens. I am a rank amateur at this, and the results of my labours are woefully rustic, but I like the process of getting there. If you're doing it…

Christmas Quiz Part 1, p36 It happened at Christmas 1. Removed the Stone of Scone in order to take it back to Scotland 2. Jamaica 3. The crew of Captain Cook's ship Endeavour 4. The Byzantine emperor Leo V 5. Samuel Pepys 6. Samuel de Champlain Reindeer and other beasts 7. A Visit from Saint Nicholas or ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore 8. The wren 9. b. A giant goat made of straw 10. That animals kneel in their stalls on Christmas Eve to celebrate Christ's birth 11. Louisiana 12. c. Hum the 100th Psalm – although only the pure in heart can hear them Christmas music 13. Ralph Vaughan Williams 14. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas 15. Hector Berlioz 16. b. The tune to which it is most…