Traditions of a British Christmas

Christmas is always the most exciting time of the year. So many families are on a holiday season over this period : children are excited to receive presents from Father Christmas and the Christmas holidays are generally a period of happiness and love. The Christmas traditions all around the world are ancestral and they are closely related with the Christian religion. We are going to see the very best traditions in Great Britain:

Advent Calendars

It is a countdown to Christmas Day for the impatient children. The Advent calendar is a poster with 24 small doors, one to be opened each day from 1^st December until Christmas Eve. Usually, children open one window of the calendar every morning, to find a chocolate inside or a pretty picture.

Nativity Plays

For Primary schools in Britain, it is traditional to put on a Nativity play.

The Nativity Play recreates the scene of Jesus’ birth in the stable and tells of how Mary and Joseph were visited by the Shepherds and Wise Men. All the characters are played by the children.

Pantomines

A pantomine is a traditional British play, it is an important part of the British festivities. It is performed in theatres, villages halls ect..
Pantomines contain a number of standard ingredients :

• Cross dressing : the male roles are often played by women and female roles by men, in the aim of making the audience laugh more.

• Audience participation : an important part of a pantomime. "He's behind you", and "Oh no he's not - Oh yes he is" are heard in every pantomime across the country.

Decorations

It's an important part to bring the magic show of christmas. Many people decorate their homes. Red and green are the traditional colours of Christmas, but now with the lighted decorations outside, in the garden, there are white and many other colours for Christmas. Green represents the continuance of life through the winter and Christian belief in eternal life through Jesus; and red symbolizes the blood that Jesus shed at his Crucifixion.The Christmas decorations used to be put up on Christmas Eve and not before. In Britain today, few people would now wait until Christmas Eve. Most people put up their decorations about a fortnight to a week before Christmas Day. Likewise, many Christian homes will have a nativity scene. The baby Jesus is added on Christmas Eve.

The Yule Log

It is traditional to light a special 'Yule Log' on Christmas Eve. Traditionally, a huge log would be selected in the forest on Christmas Eve, decorated with ribbons, and dragged back home. This was known as 'Bringing in the Yule Log'. The magical properties of the Yule Log were to ensure good luck in the coming year.

Christmas Tree

Everyone knows it. Most houses in Britain, will have a tree of some sort or other which they will decorate and will place the presents under. It is a kind of emblem for Christmas. The traditional Christmas tree is a fire tree but nowadays, more people buy artificial trees. The decorating of the tree is usually a good event to bring together families.

Christmas Cards

People around the world send Christmas Cards to their friends and family.

Traditionally, Christmas cards showed religious pictures. Today, it is more common to see winter scenes, Father Christmas, cartoon characters or jokes.

Christmas Carols

Christmas carols are special songs which are sung during the Christmas season. The songs are about Jesus and the time when he was born. The tradition wants people to sing christmas songs on the streets, to bring the Christmas spirit and joy through the houses.

Father Christmas

As the Christmas Tree, Father Christmas or « Santa Claus » in the USA, is the iconic old man who brings presents to children. Children write letters to Father Christmas to tell him what they would like for Christmas.

Christmas Day

It is the day where the presents are opened : Christmas Day is the favourite day for children. They wake up very early in the morning to find their stockings have been filled by Father Christmas and excitedly unwrap the presents before going down to breakfast.

Christmas Dinner

This is the main Christmas meal and it is traditionally eaten at midday or early afternoon on 25^th December in England and also in the rest of Britain. The typical dinner includes : roast turkey or goose, brussels sprouts, roast potatoes, cranberry sauce, rich nutty stuffing, tiny sausages wrapped in bacon and lashings of gravy. It is useless to add that the dinner ends with the very famous pudding.

Christmas crackers

It is a brightly couloured paper tube, twisted at both ends. A person pulls on each end of the cracker and a « pop » sound goes on when the contents fall out. There is mini presents in it like playing cards, bottle opener, tweezers, photo frame...

Now you know the British traditions for Christmas, if you want to do the same! But don't forget, the best Christmas traditions for a family to start is by giving and forgiving; to start a new life. Christmas is the time to give love to everyone.

Lionel NICAISE