Crackers
The most original English Christmas tradition, however, is the Christmas cracker: the popular small paper tubes with little gifts inside were invented by a baker from London in the mid 19th century and have gone on to conquer the world. It is traditionally opened by two people who each pull on one end of the cracker until it, well, cracks. Merry Christmas!
Father Christmas plus his Sleigh and Reindeers
Father Christmas was originally part of an old English midwinter festival, normally dressed in green, a sign of the returning spring. He was known as ‘Sir Christmas’, ‘Old Father Christmas’ or Old Winter’.
In this earliest form, Father Christmas was not the bringer of gifts for small children, nor did he come down the chimney. He simply wandered around from home to home, knocking on doors and feasting with families before moving on to the next house.
The Ghost of Christmas Present in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (1843) is based on Father Christmas. He is described as a large man with a red beard and fur-lined green robe.
Images of Father Christmas (Santa Claus) dressed in red started appearing on Christmas cards in the late Victorian times.
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