Puddings, pies and wassail!

Christmas pudding, also called plum pudding — although it does not contain plums— is traditionally steam-cooked in a cloth on ‘stir-up Sunday’ at the beginning of Advent.

The pudding mixture is first stirred from east to west in honour of the Three Wise Men. Each family member gets a turn to stir, while making a secret wish.

Sometimes, a clean shilling or sixpenny piece was stirred into the pudding, bringing luck to the finder on Christmas day — as long as it was not swallowed!

Mince pies date from medieval times, and possibly long before. They are the small descendants of a huge pie baked on Christmas Eve which contained chopped beef, suet, nuts, spices and fruit — of which whole dried plums were an important constituent.

The pie was originally baked open but, over time, a top crust was added. A pastry effigy of the infant Jesus was laid on this to represent him in his cradle.

Today, our pies only contain a sweet filling, and seven million children will leave mince pies and a drink for Father Christmas on Christmas Eve.

TURKEY TREAT

The majority of families — 90 per cent — in the UK will serve up a succulent roast turkey as the centrepiece of their festive meal this Christmas.

Turkey is a relative newcomer to the Yuletide table. It was a luxury right up until the 1950s when refrigerators and freezers became more widely available.

Before turkey, Christmas fare included roast swan, pheasant, goose and peacock. A special treat was a roast boar’s head decorated with holly and fruit.

In 2008, we consumed approximately ten million turkeys, 25 million Christmas puddings, 250 million pints of beer and 35 million bottles of wine. The UK spends £20bn on Christmas, with £1.6bn going on food and drink.

CARDS AND STOCKINGS

The first known Christmas card was created by JC Horsley in 1843, in the USA, but was not printed until 1946. The concept of sending cards at Christmas only started to catch on in the 1860s.

The tradition of filling a stocking with presents also began in America at about the same time, and was first mentioned in The Oxford Dictionary in 1954.

WASSAILING

Wassailing the apple tree is one of the oldest traditions at Christmas time, and is still carried out in Hertfordshire and parts of southern England and the West Country.

The word wassail is from the Anglo-Saxon words ‘wes hal’ meaning ‘good health’ or ‘be whole’.

The tradition usually takes place on Twelfth Night, or sometimes on January 17, known as Old Twelfth Night. Farmers and their families feast on hot cakes and cider, then go into the orchard — where a cider-soaked cake is laid in the fork of a tree and more cider is splashed on it.

A wassail bowl, often as big as a cauldron, is filled with a mixture of hot cider, brandy, ale and spice. The menfolk then fire their guns into the trees and bang on pots and pans, while the women and children bow their heads and sing a special wassail song.

This is to ward bad spirits away from the orchard, and encourage good spirits to provide a lush crop in the coming year.

CRACKERS AND PAPER HATS

The earliest crackers were introduced in the 1850s, to copy the Parisian fashion of gift-wrapping bon-bons. They contained novelties and mottos but did not ‘crack’. The chemically-treated paper that makes the cracking sound when pulled apart was a later addition. Paper hats were introduced at a similar time, but the tradition of wearing a hat to look foolish dates back to the Christmas plays of the Middle Ages.

DECORATED FIR TREES

This can be traced back to Roman times, but was thought to be first introduced to the UK in 1841 by Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert. The custom of hanging fruit and baubles is both Pagan and Christian. The decorations were originally used to symbolise the fruits of the earth and the sun. Today these are seen in the form of tinsel and baubles.

KISSING UNDER THE MISTLETOE

Mistletoe has a magical reputation of conferring fertility.

The berries grow in pairs on the stem and suggest male sexuality. A kissing bough of mistletoe would be suspended from the ceiling at the beginning of the Christmas season, and young men were permitted to kiss any girl they managed to lure underneath. This racy game led to a ban by many churches, and this still exists today in some parishes.

CULINARY VARIATIONS

Wales: Leek and onion sauce to accompany the turkey. Leeks, onion, cloves, breadcrumbs, milk, nutmeg and bay leaves blended to create a thick and creamy alternative to bread sauce.

Scotland: Rich tatties and neeps — a traditional dish made with mashed potatoes, swede, carrots, onion and butter, garnished with chives and black pepper.

Ireland: Turkey with whiskey glaze — whiskey and honey mixed together with a splash of orange will give an impressive and tasty twist to the traditional bird.

England: Red cabbage with apple — combining English Bramley apples, red cabbage, cinnamon and brown sugar, with a splash of port or Madeira.

CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD

Henry VIII was the first English king to enjoy turkey, although Edward VII made eating turkey fashionable at Christmas. However, traditions for many countries around the globe vary enormously — where the centrepiece can range from pork chops to curried goat!

Norway: The big festive feast takes place on Christmas Eve. Most people around the coastal regions eat fish — concoctions of cod and haddock and a variety called lutefisk. Inland they go for pork chops, specially prepared sausages and, occasionally, lamb.

Sweden: The Christmas feast consists of a smorgasbord of caviar, shellfish, cooked and raw fish and cheeses.

Ukraine: The people here prepare huge broths brimming with meat for Christmas Eve, rather than Christmas day.

Czech Republic: Tradition dictates that the tree is not lit before Christmas Eve, then everyone enjoys a big dinner of fish soup, salads, eggs and carp. Scarily, the number of people at the table must be even, or it is believed the person without a partner will die next year.

Germany: The Germans tend to have a feast of game on Christmas day, usually wild boar or venison.

Jamaica: Christmas dinner usually consists of rice, gungo peas, chicken, oxtail and curried goat.

Italy: Here, the festive meal can last for more than four hours. Most families will have seven or more courses, including antipasti, a small portion of pasta, a roast meal, followed by two salads and two sweet puddings — then cheese, fruit, brandy and chocolates!

Austria: A typical Christmas dinner would consist of braised carp served with gingerbread and beer sauce.

Poland: The traditional Christmas Eve supper consists of 12 non-meat dishes, representing the months of the year, and featuring fish such as pike, herring and carp. Other typical Polish dishes are fish soup, sauerkraut with wild mushrooms or peas, and Polish dumplings with various fillings.