C ristmas in England * Did you know? Animals are not mentioned

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1 60 /4(16) C ristmas in Engand * On what day is Christmas ceebrated in Engand? Christmas is the time when Christians around the word ceebrate the birth of Jesus. In Engand Christmas is ceebrated on the 25th of December, with a Christmas dinner for the whoe famiy. The word Christmas (or Christ s Mass a church service for Christ) comes from the Od Engish name Cristes Maesse Christ s Mass and is the ceebration of the birth of Jesus. The first recorded observance occurred in Rome in AD360, but it wasn t unti AD440 that the Christian Church fixed a ceebration date to December 25. Christmas is a truy magica season that brings famiies and friends together to share the much oved customs and traditions which have been around for centuries. Most peope in Engand are on hoiday and stay at home with their famiy on Christmas day. The abbreviation for Christmas is Xmas, and it derived from the Greek aphabet. X is the etter Chi, which is the first etter of Christ s name in the Greek aphabet. What is the start of the Christmas season caed? Advent is the start of the Christmas season in Engand. The first sign of Christmas in an Engish home is the chidren s Advent caendar. It starts on the first day of December. The caendars are a fun way to hep chidren to know when Christmas Eve wi arrive, an important night for them because Father Christmas wi visit them bringing gifts. An Advent caendar is a poster or card with twenty-four sma doors, one to be opened each day from December 1 unti Christmas Eve. Each door conceas a picture. Every morning chidren open 1 window of the caendar to see a pretty picture or find a chocoate inside. This popuar tradition arose in Germany in the ate 1800s and soon spread throughout Europe and North America. Originay, the images in Advent caendars were derived from the Hebrew Bibe. Many Advent caendars today have no reigious content. Now, aongside traditiona Advent caendars depicting anges and bibica figures are those whose doors open to dispay teddy bears, pieces of chocoate, or photos of pop stars. An Advent Cande has 25 marks. Every day it is it and is burned down by one mark each day. What takes pace in most primary schoos in Engand at Christmas time? At Christmas time, it is traditiona in Engand for Primary schoos to put on a Nativity pay. The Nativity pay recreates the scene of Jesus birth in the stabe and tes of how Mary and Joseph were visited by the Shepherds and Wise Men. The parts of Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds and the Wise Men are payed by the chidren. St Francis of Assisi is said to have created the first Nativity performance in Itay in about In those days, many peope were unabe to read or write so they coudn t read the Christmas story in the Bibe themseves. Aso many of the church services were in Latin which they didn t understand. St Francis decided to change a that. He wanted not ony to te the story of the first Christmas but to show peope what it must have been ike on that night in Bethehem when Jesus was born so he set up a nativity scene. He got hod of some ive animas, a manger and some hay. Then he asked peope from his viage to take the parts of Mary and Joseph and the Shepherds. Animas are not mentioned in the Bibe stories about Christmas. It a started tweve hundred years after the birth of Christ when a caro described how the donkey carried Mary to Bethehem and the other animas ooked after her and the new baby in the stabe. * The materia is reproduced from with written permission from the owner.

2 В копилку учителя /4(16) 61 What is a traditiona British Christmas pay caed? A pantomime is a traditiona British Christmas pay. They are an important part of Christmas festivities. They traditionay start on Boxing Day and run for two or three months in theatres around the country. Nowadays, pantomimes are great famiy entertainments and pop stars, comedians, sports peope and TV personaities often take part in them. Originay sient productions, the pantomimes are a mix of fairy stories, fok taes and much oved cartoons, which encourage audience participation. The audience becomes very invoved in the performance, with ots of hissing and booing of the viain and cheering for the hero. Some pantomimes incude a song for the audience to join in with, and others invite chidren up on stage to chat to one of the performers. In pantomimes the mae roes are often payed by women and femae roes by men. This makes the audience augh more. Favourite pantomimes are Snow White, Cinderea, Peter Pan, and Puss in Boots. Which coours are the traditiona coours of Christmas? Red and green are the traditiona coours of Christmas. Green represents the continuance of ife through the winter and the Christian beief in eterna ife through Jesus. Red symboizes the bood that Jesus shed at His Crucifixion. What are traditiona Christmas decorations? In the weeks eading up to and during Christmas, peope hang decorations in their homes. These decorations are made of cooured paper and foi. Peope wi aso hang greenery around the house, such as hoy and ivy. The needeike points of hoy eaves are thought to resembe the crown of thorns that Jesus wore when He was crucified. The red berries symboise the drops of bood Jesus shed. Towns and cities decorate their streets with coourfu ights. Hoy, mistetoe and ivy Evergreen is a symbo of ife and is taken from the od midwinter festiva which encourages the return of sun which is another reason why we often use hoy, mistetoe and ivy to decorate our houses. Ancient peope were fascinated by the way evergreens stayed green through a the beak days of winter. It proved to them that these trees were sti aive and reminded them that spring woud come again. Mistetoe The Druids, who ived in Britain in pre-christian times, are responsibe for the use of mistetoe at Christmas. They worshipped the oak tree and as mistetoe grew on oak trees they regarded it as a very specia pant and thought it possessed magica quaities that kept the seeping oak aive during the cod winter days. They beieved chopping down an oak tree covered in mistetoe promised death to the woodcutter within the year. Kissing under the Mistetoe The Druids dedicated mistetoe to the Goddess of Love, which expains the kissing that goes on under it. Originay, when a boy kissed a gir, he pucked a berry from the custer and presented it to her. When the berries were gone, so were the kisses. A traditiona rhyme about mistetoe is: Pick a berry off the mistetoe For every kiss that s given. When the berries have a gone There s an end to kissing.

3 62 /4(16) Victorians bound the mistetoe to a frame to make a kissing ring. Each time a genteman caught a ady under the mistetoe, he was aowed to caim a kiss. Poinsettias The poinsettia originay grew in Mexico; where it was known as the Fower of the Hoy Night. In the eighteenth century, Mexicans thought the pants were symboic of the Star of Bethehem. Thus the poinsettia became associated with the Christmas season. The bright red eaves are often mistaken for petas, when in fact the actua fower is the yeow centre. Decorating the outside of houses Christmas ights are put up in homes a over the country during the festive season but some famiies go one step further than just decorating the Christmas tree. Ten years ago it was a rare sight to spot a brighty-cooured magica front garden fied with festive decorations. But nowadays more and more peope are adding dancing santas, fashing stars and giant sedges to the front of their houses during the festive season. Many of these highy decorated houses attract big crowds of passers-by and are using the opportunity to coect money for oca charities. Even Buckingham Paace entered into the Christmas spirit by being it up during Christmas From Christmas Eve, projectors wrapped the Paace in a giant Union Jack and wrapping paper. The effect was part of the Brightening Up London project which aso iuminated nine other famous buidings in the city with seasona images. W hen did Christmas Trees and the tradition of decorating them become popuar in Engand? Most houses in Engand, wi have a tree of some sort or other which they wi decorate and wi pace the presents under. The traditiona tree is a fir tree but nowadays more peope buy artificia trees to save the earth. The decorating of the tree is usuay a famiy occasion, with everyone heping. The Christmas tree became popuar in Engand in 1841 when Queen Victoria s husband, Prince Abert, brought a Christmas tree over from Germany and put it in Windsor Caste. The Roya coupe were iustrated in a newspaper standing around the Christmas tree with their chidren, and the tradition of decorating a tree became fashionabe. The Christmas trees, during the Victorian times, were decorated with candes to remind chidren of the stars in the sky at the time of the birth of Jesus. Using candes was, of course, a great fire hazard. Christmas trees were aso decorated with candies and cakes hung with ribbon. In 1880 Wooworths first sod manufactured Christmas tree ornaments which proved to be very popuar. Today, Christmas trees are decorated with tinse, ights and sma ornaments which hang from the branches. Chocoate coins or chocoate shapes are aso hung on the Christmas tree and the presents are put under the tree. An ange or star is usuay put on the very top of the tree. The most Famous Christmas Tree in Britain. In London, near the statue of Lord Neson in Trafagar Square, a giant Christmas tree is set up and decorated with great ceremony each year. The tree is a thank you gift from the peope of Oso, Norway. During the Second Word War, King Haakon of Norway was forced into exie in Engand when the Germans occupied his country. Since 1947, Norway has expressed its thanks for the hep of the British peope by continuing to send a huge Norwegian spruce to be shared by a. Trees were decorated with appes, cakes and sweets for many centuries.

4 В копилку учителя /4(16) 63 Recycing Christmas trees are biodegradabe the trunk and branches can be used as much for gardens. The much provides a protect barrier for the roots of other pants and vegetation whie preventing weeds from growing. The much then decomposes, providing the nutrients pants need to thrive. When was the first Christmas card sent and who printed it? The first Christmas card was created and sent in A man named John Cacott Horsey printed the first Christmas card for Sir Henry Coe, the friend who had given him the idea. The card depicted a typica Engish famiy enjoying the hoiday, and peope performing acts of charity. An important part of Victorian Christmas spirit. A thousand copies of the card were printed and sod for one shiing. This is reportedy the first Christmas card to be produced and sod to the pubic. Traditionay, Christmas cards showed reigious pictures of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, or other parts of the Christmas story. Today, pictures are often winter pictures, Father Christmas, or jokes. The average person in Britain sends 50 Christmas cards each year. W hat are the songs sung at Christmas time caed? Specia songs sung during the Christmas season are known as caros and they are about when Jesus was born. They were written for a specia purpose, often to accompany performances of reigious dramas dating from medieva times. Caroing is one of the odest customs in Great Britain, going back to the Midde Ages when beggars, seeking food, money, or drink, woud wander the streets singing hoiday songs. In the Midde Ages, caros were dances accompanied by singing. It is thought that they were introduced to Engand from France. Over the years, the word caro changed its meaning, referring ony to certain kinds of songs, the word caro became known as Christmas songs. Peope go caro singing. This is where peope wi go from house to house singing caros and coecting money for charity. The traditiona period to sing caros was from St Thomas s Day (December 21) unti the morning of Christmas Day. Probaby the most famous caro service is The Festiva of Nine Lessons and Caros hed in King s Coege Chape, Cambridge. It takes pace on Christmas Eve and aways begins with the caro, Once in Roya David s City sung by a soo chorister. St Francis of Assisi introduced Christmas Caros to forma church services. The word comes from the ancient Greek choros, which means dancing in a circe, and from the Od French word caroe, meaning a song to accompany dancing. Christmas caros were banned between 1647 and 1660 in Engand by Oiver Cromwe who thought that Christmas shoud be a soemn day. The tradition of caro singers going from door to door came about because they were banned from churches in the Midde Ages. White Christmas by Irving Berin is the biggestseing Christmas song of a time. It is estimated to have sod approximatey 350 miion copies on record and sheet music.

5 ÏÈ ÏÈ ÏÈ ÏÈ 64 /4(16) Christmas Caro Away in a Manger Away in a Manger was first pubished in an 1885 Lutheran Sunday Schoo book by James R. Murray (March 7, 1841 March 10, 1905), but the author of the first two stanzas is unknown. It is certain that stanza three was added in 1904 by Dr John McFarand of New York City. Some have attributed the song to Martin Luther himsef. The confusion may have began because Murray pubished it with the subtite Luther s Crade Hymn (Composed by Martin Luther for his chidren and sti sung by German mothers to their itte ones). (From Wikipedia The Free Encycopedia) Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, The itte Lord Jesus aid down his sweet head. The stars in the sky ooked down where he ay, The itte Lord Jesus aseep in the hay. The catte are owing, the baby awakes, But itte Lord Jesus no crying he makes. I ove Thee, Lord Jesus, ook down from the sky And stay by my crade ti morning is nigh. Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay Cose by me forever, and ove me, I pray. Bess a the dear chidren in thy tender care, And take us to heaven, to ive with Thee there. Music composed by Wiiam J. Kirkpatrick ( ) in 1895 ====================== & ö_ Ç ö Ç Ç ÇÇ ö öö ö Ç Ç ÇÇ ö öö Ï È ÏÈ ú È ö Ç Ç ö Ï È ÏÈ ö Ç Ç ö ÇÇ öö ö Ç Ç Ç ö ö úç = ====================== & ö_ Ç ö Ç Ç ÇÇ ö öö ö Ç Ç ÇÇ ö öö Ï È ÏÈ ú È ö Ç Ç ö Ï È ÏÈ ö Ç Ç ö ÇÇ öö ö Ç Ç Ç ö ö úç = Why is Christmas Eve an exciting time for chidren in Engand? Christmas Eve (December 24) is traditionay the day for decorating churches and homes. It marks the beginning of the period formay known as Christmas-tide. Eve is not short for evening, it refers to the day before an important day. Night time on Christmas Eve is a very exciting time for young chidren. It is the time when Father Christmas / Santa comes. The chidren eave mince pies and brandy for Father Christmas, and a carrot for the reindeer. Chidren hang their christmas stockings or bags up ready for Father Christmas, who wi hopefuy fi them up with presents, if the chidren have been good. The chidren then go to seep and wait for Christmas morning to see if he has been.

6 В копилку учителя /4(16) 65 Why do the chidren in Engand hang up Christmas stockings? From 1870 chidren have hung up Christmas stockings at the ends of their beds or aong the mantepiece above the firepace. Father Christmas once dropped some god coins whie coming down the chimney. The coins woud have faen through the ash grate and been ost if they hadn t anded in a stocking that had been hung out to dry. Since that time chidren have continued to hang out stockings in hopes of finding them fied with gifts. Caro Service Christians go to a specia caro service at their church on Christmas Eve night. There are usuay two caro services. The first one is for chidren and may be a cande it service where the congregation hod a cande each whist they sing Christmas songs (caros) and watch a Nativity performed by chidren. The second one is coser to midnight (caed Midnight Mass), so that peope can wecome Christmas Day in and rejoice in the coming of our Lord. What happened on Christmas Eve during the First Word War? On the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve 1914, firing from the German trenches suddeny stopped. A German brass band began paying Christmas caros. On Christmas morning, the German sodiers came out of their trenches, approaching the aied ines, caing Merry Christmas. At first the aied sodiers thought it was a trick, but they soon cimbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the German sodiers. The truce asted a few days, and the men exchanged presents of cigarettes and pum puddings, sang caros and songs. They even payed a game of Soccer. What are Christmas Eve Superstitions? An od wives tae says that bread baked on Christmas Eve wi never go moudy. At midnight, a certain rose sowy opens and re-coses its petas to saute the birthday of Jesus. Aso at midnight, a the sheep in the fieds turn and bow towards the East. What is a Traditiona Christmas Eve Drink? To add good cheer to the merry-making of Engish Christmases, posset was drunk on Christmas Eve. It was made of hot ae combined with spices, emon and sugar, and bits of oatcake and bread were added. The posset was taken with a spoon, and ucky, indeed, was the fortunate youth or maiden who drew out the ucky coin or the wedding-ring which had been dropped in the posset-pot! During the 19th century, on Christmas Eve, the custom was to offer each caroing guest a posset cup and a piece of appe pie or tart. 4 cups mik 4 tabespoons sugar 4 sices toast 1 teaspoon cinnamon 4 cups of beer (preferaby ae) Heat the mik, sugar, and toast in a saucepan, but don t et it boi. Stir the cinnamon and beer together in a punch bow. Discard the toast. Pour the hot mik over the ae and stir. Drink from mugs whie warm. Serves Some possetts contained raw eggs. The egg-nog (eggs beaten with sugar, mik or cream, and some kind of spirit) is a modern form of this drink. (In Britain, nog is sang for ae.)

7 66 /4(16) Who is Father Christmas? Father Christmas is an Engish version of Santa Caus. He is an od joy man with white hair, a beard and a moustache. He is dressed in a red suit outined in white. Father Christmas and his eves make a the toys for Christmas in his home in the North Poe. The red coat is new. Images of Father Christmas prior to about 1880 most pictures showed him with a green coat. The red became the most popuar coour after the US introduction by Coca-Coa during the 1930s. We owe much about what we know about Father Christmas today to the Americans of the 19th century. In 1822, Cement Carke Moore described what he imagined Father Christmas to ook ike in a poem. The poem is often referred to as The Night Before Christmas, but originay it was tited A Visit from St Nichoas. He was dressed a in fur from his head to his foot, And his cothes were a tarnished with ashes and soot; A bunde of toys he had fung on his back, And he ooked ike a pedar just opening his sack. His eyes how they twinked! his dimpes how merry! His cheeks were ike roses, his nose ike a cherry; His dro itte mouth was drawn up ike a bow, And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow. The stump of a pipe he hed tight in his teeth, And the smoke it encirced his head ike a wreath. He had a broad face, and a itte round bey That shook when he aughed ike a bow fu of jey. He was chubby and pump, a right joy od ef And I aughed when I saw him, in spite of mysef. Written by Cement C. Moore in 1822 as a Christmas present to his chidren. History of Father Christmas in Engand Father Christmas was originay part of an od Engish midwinter festiva, normay dressed in green, a sign of the returning spring. Santa Caus, the man we know today dressed in red, became known in Engand during the 1870 s. His name comes from the Dutch name for St Nichoas which is Sinter Kaas. What happens before Christmas Day? In shops or at chidren s parties, someone dresses up as Father Christmas and gives sma presents to chidren and ask them what gifts they want for Christmas. How do chidren write to Father Christmas? Chidren write etters to Father Christmas to te him what they woud ike for Christmas. Some chidren wi send their etters by post or e-mai but the more traditiona way is to throw the etters into the back of the firepace. The draught then carries the etters up the chimney to Father Christmas. What happens on Christmas Eve? On Christmas eve Father Christmas pies a of the toys onto his seigh and rides across the sky with his reindeers. The most famous one is Rudof, the reindeer at the front who eads the way with his red nose. He enters our houses down the chimney at midnight and paces

8 В копилку учителя /4(16) 67 presents for the chidren in stockings (arge socks) or bags by their beds or in front of the famiy Christmas tree. Who was he? Father Christmas is based on a rea person, St Nichoas. He was a very shy man and wanted to give money to poor peope without them knowing about it. It is said that one day, he cimbed the roof of a house and dropped a purse of money down the chimney. It anded in the stocking which a gir had put to dry by the fire! This may expain the beief that Father Christmas comes down the chimney and paces gifts in chidren s stockings. What are the different names of Father Christmas? Father Christmas is caed different names around the word. The most popuar name nowadays is Santa Caus. Austria: Christkind (Christ chid) Begium: Sinterkaas Canada: Santa Caus; Père Noë (Father Christmas) Denmark: Juemanden Estonia: Jõuuvana Finand: Jouupukki France: Père Noë (Father Christmas) Germany: Weihnachtsmann (Christmas Man); Christkind in southern Germany Hungary: Mikuás (Nichoas); Jézuska or Kis Jézus (chid Jesus) Itay: Babbo Natae (Father Christmas); La Befana Netherands & Fanders: Sinterkaas (not with Christmas but on December 5th) Norway: Juenissen Portuga: Pai Nata ("Father Christmas") Russia: Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost) Spain: Los Reyes Magos (The Three Kings; Magi) Sweden: Jutomten Switzerand: Christkind United Kingdom: Father Christmas; Santa Caus United States: Santa Caus What traditionay happens at three o cock on Christmas Day? A traditiona feature of Christmas afternoon is the Queen s Christmas Message. At three o cock in the afternoon, the Queen gives her Christmas Message to the nation which is broadcast on radio and teevision. The Queen s message is aso broadcast throughout the British Commonweath. The custom was begun by King George V in The Queen has made a Christmas Broadcast to the Commonweath every year of her reign except 1969, when a repeat of the fim Roya Famiy was shown and a written message from The Queen issued. Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat What is a traditiona Christmas dinner? Pease put a penny in the od man s hat... A traditiona Engish Christmas dinner consists Traditiona, Engish of roast turkey and stuffing, roast potatoes and vegetabes, bread sauce, cranberry sauce and gravy, foowed by Christmas pudding with brandy butter. In the Past In Medieva Engand, peacocks and swans were eaten ony by the rich at Christmas but boar s head was the main course. In the 18th century, turkey aong with beef, sowy repaced the boar s head as most peope s Christmas mea in Britain. By Victorian times, peope were usuay eating either turkey or goose at Christmas.

9 68 /4(16) A turkey tradition A Christmas tradition invoving the turkey is to pu its wishbone. This is one of the bones of the turkey which is shaped ike the etter Y. Two peope wi each hod an end and pu. The person eft with the arger piece of the bone makes a wish. The Christmas Pudding The Christmas pudding known today began ife as Christmas porridge caed Frumenty, a dish made of wheat or corn boied up in mik. As time went on, other ingredients, such as dried pums or prunes, eggs, and umps of meat were added to make it more interesting. When cooked, it was poured into a dish. This pudding was caed pum pudding. The name pum pudding continued to be used even when peope used raisins, currants, and sutanas instead of prunes. Today, a Christmas pudding is a brown pudding with raisins, nuts and cherries. It is served with custard or brandy butter. Often brandy is poured over the pudding, which is then set aight as it is carried to the tabe. The ights are turned off so peope can see the fames. Traditionay siver coins were hidden in it. A siver coin brought good fortune to whomever was ucky enough to find it when the pudding was cut. The traditiona time for making a Christmas pudding is Stir Up Sunday at the beginning of advent. A proper Christmas pudding is aways stirred from East to West in honour of the three wise Men and traditionay made with 13 ingredients to represent Christ and His Discipes. Every member of the famiy must give the pudding a stir and make a secret wish. Christmas Crackers Traditionay a Christmas cracker is paced next to each pate on the Christmas dinner tabe. When the crackers are pued, out fas a coourfu party crown, a toy or gift and a festive joke. It was the custom to eat goose at Christmas unti Henry VIII decided to tuck into a turkey. 93 per cent of the popuation in the UK wi eat turkey on Christmas Day; this means 11 miion turkeys being cooked! The turkey was imported to France by the Jesuits and it is sti known in some French diaects as a Jesuite. Christmas pudding was first made as a kind of soup with raisins and wine in it. One notabe medieva Engish Christmas ceebration featured a giant, 165-pound pie. The giant pie was nine feet in diameter. Its ingredients incuded 2 bushes of four, 20 pounds of butter, 4 geese, 2 rabbits, 4 wid ducks, 2 woodcocks, 6 snipes, 4 partridges, 2 neats tongues, 2 curews, 6 pigeons and 7 backbirds. The afternoon / evening mea contains mince pies and a Christmas cake This cake is a rich baked fruit cake with marzipan, icing and sugar frosting. It is traditiona to pu Christmas Crackers before the mea.

10 В копилку учителя /4(16) 69 Mince pies became a reguar part of Christmas ceebrations as eary as the 16th century (Tudor times), when mince pies were coffin or crade shaped, rather than round as they are now. At that time, they contained quite a bit of shredded meat in addition to the usua meange of dried fruits. The crusaders returned from the Hoy Land with spices, and it was deemed appropriate to ceebrate Christ s birthday with a pie containing spices from His native and. It was important to add three spices (cinnamon, coves and nutmeg) for the three gifts given to the Christ chid by the Magi. It was thought ucky to eat one mince pie on each of the tweve days of Christmas (ending with Epiphany, the 6th of January). Aternativey to refuse one woud ead to bad uck. What are Christmas crackers? Crackers are very popuar and accompany many meas over the Christmas period and especiay on Christmas Day. A Christmas Cracker is a brighty cooured paper tube, twisted at both ends. There is a banger inside the cracker and when it is pued by two peope, the cracker snaps in haf with a bang. Inside the cracker there is a tissue paper hat, a joke and a itte gift. Christmas crackers were invented by Thomas Smith in He had imported some French noveties to se as Christmas gifts, but these were not popuar unti he wrapped them up and added a snapper. The custom of puing crackers came to Britain in the 1860s. The traditiona way to pu a cracker is crossing your arms and puing a whoe circe of crackers a around the tabe. Everyone hods their crack in their right hand and pus their neighbours cracker with the free eft hand. What is Boxing Day? Boxing Day is the foowing day after Christmas Day. Like Christmas Day it is aso a nationa hoiday in Engand. The name goes back to medieva times, more than 800 years ago, when ams boxes were paced at the back of every church to coect money for the poor. Traditionay, it is on this day that the ams box at every Engish church is opened and the contents are distributed to the poor. Historians say the hoiday deveoped because servants were required to work on Christmas Day, but took the foowing day off. As servants prepared to eave to visit their famiies, their empoyers woud present them with The Christmas boxes were Christmas boxes. made from cay and were During the ate 18th century, Lords and Ladies of the manor woud box not made in the shape of up their eftover food, or sometimes gifts and distribute them the day after a box. They were hoow Christmas to tenants who ived and worked on their ands. cay bas with a sit in The tradition of giving money sti continues today. It is customary for the top. househoders to give sma gifts or monetary tips to reguar visiting trades peope (the mikman, dustman, coaman, paper boy etc.) and, in some work paces, for empoyers to give a Christmas bonus to empoyees. Boxing Day is aso known as St Stephen s Day (when Good King Wencesas ooked out). Good King Wencesas ooked out, On the Feast of Stephen Stephen ived in Rome and was the first man to be kied for beieving in the teachings of Jesus. His story is tod in the Acts of the Apostes 6: 1 to 8: 2. Some peope caim that he shares this day with another St Stephen, who came from Sweden. St Stephen of Sweden is the patron saint of horses. Boxing Day has ong been associated with outdoor sports, especiay horse racing and hunting.

11 70 /4(16) Boxing Day Hunts Traditionay Boxing Day is a day for fox hunting. Horse riders dressed in red and white riding gear with a pack of hounds chase foxes through the country side. Before a Boxing Day Hunt, the huntsmen and huntswomen drink hot wine. But the tradition of the December 26th hunt is changing. The sport is sowy dying out due to the growing support for the fox. Famiy Time Boxing Day is usuay the day when famiies trave to meet together if they spent Christmas Day at their own home. It is a day of watching sports and paying board games. Shopping Recenty some shops have broken from tradition and started opening on Boxing Day to start the New Year saes. Hundreds of peope now spend Boxing Day morning in queues outside shops, waiting to be the first to dive for the saes racks as the doors opened. Hunting of the Wren It is unucky to ki a wren on any day apart from Boxing Day. A tradition not carried out today was the Hunting of the Wren on Boxing Day. The wren, the wren, the king of a birds, Groups of young boys woud hunt a wren and then tie the dead bird On St Stephen s Day was caught in the furze, to the top of a poe, decorated with hoy sprigs and ribbons. With Up with the penny and down with the pan, backened faces, the group woud sing at houses in hopes for coins, Give us a penny to bury the wren. gifts or food. Those that gave money to the boys woud receive a feather from the wren as thanks. The coected money was then used to host a viage dance. This odd ritua was not restricted to Engand. It was prevaent in some continenta countries on Boxing Day as we as the Ise of Man, Waes and Ireand. Interesting Facts about Christmas Engand has ony known seven white Christmases in the entire twentieth century. According to the records of the Meteoroogica Office in London, snow fe on Christmas Day ony in 1938 and (The definition of a white Christmas in Engand is when one snowfake fas on the roof of the London Weather Centre.) The Queen s Christmas speech was teevised for the first time in Each year between miion Christmas trees are produced to cope with the hoiday demand. In 1647, the Engish pariament passed a aw that made Christmas iega. Christmas festivities were banned by Puritan eader Oiver Cromwe, who considered feasting and revery on what was supposed to be a hoy day to be immora. Anybody caught ceebrating Christmas was arrested. The ban was ifted ony when the Puritans ost power in Eectric tree ights were first used just 3 years after Thomas Edison has his first mass pubic demonstration of eectric ights back in Thomas Edison s assistant, Edward Johnson, came up with the idea of eectric ights for Christmas trees in His ights were a huge hit. It took quite a few years, however, before they woud be made avaiabe to the genera pubic. In 1895 Raph Morris, an American teephonist, invented the eectric Christmas ights simiar to the ones we use today. The actua strings of ights had aready been manufactured for use in teephone switchboards. Morris ooked at the tiny bubs and had the idea of using them on his tree. December 25th was not ceebrated as the birthday of Christ unti the year AD 440. Father Christmas has two addresses, Edinburgh and the North Poe. Letters addressed to TOYLAND or SNOWLAND go to Edinburgh, but etters addressed to THE NORTH POLE have to be sent there because there reay is such a pace! The first Christmas stamp was reeased in Canada in The popuar Christmas song Jinge Bes was composed in 1857 by James Pierpont, and was originay caed One-Horse Open Seigh. It was actuay written for Thanksgiving, not Xmas. Postmen in Victorian Engand were popuary caed robins. This was because their uniforms were red. Victorian Xmas cards often showed a robin deivering Xmas mai. In Itay it isn t Santa who brings gifts for the chidren but kindy witch La Befana.