In this episode, we talked about how England celebrated Christmas during Tudor times, including, Christmas traditions, decors, entertainment, food, and gifts.
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Transcript of Christmas Celebrations in Tudor England:
Hello, and welcome to the Renaissance English History Podcast. I’m your host Heather Teysko. Today is the 12th day of Christmas. If I were actually living 500 years ago in England, I’d hopefully be at the biggest party of the year right now.
In Renaissance England, the entire period from Christmas Day to the epiphany was celebrated as Christmastide. Many people in our more secular culture today don’t realize that the 12 days of Christmas actually starts on December 25. All 12 days were time of merrymaking and revelry in the Tudor court. It culminated in the largest party of all on the 12th night.
But let’s go back a couple of weeks earlier. Advent, the four weeks before Christmas was a time of fasting and meditation. People did not decorate their houses until Christmas Eve. Modern marketers hadn’t begun encouraging them to shop for Christmas gifts in October yet.
The celebrations actually began on Christmas Day, when there were three Masses said “Everyone dressed in sumptuous new clothing, and the king especially wore his most beautiful coronation robes of scarlet or royal purple. His obligations on Christmas day itself were mainly to attend the three Masses where the genealogy and life of Jesus Christ was sung and everyone held lit candles.
Tudor Christmas Music
As it is today, music was an important part of Christmas. Not just the music sung in church with the masses either. The earliest recorded collection of Christmas carols dates from 1521, and it includes the Boars Head Carol. Other medieval Christmas songs that the Tudors would have known were the Coventry Carol and The First Nowell.
Tudor Christmas Decorations
As far as decorations go, the Tudors did not have Christmas trees. Although they were around in the 16th century, it’s a Baltic and Northern German tradition. Even then, it’s not recorded until around the 1520’s. The first known record of a Christmas tree was in Latvia in 1510. Latvia was part of the German territory at that point.
The decorations that they would have had would have been the natural evergreens like holly, and Ivy. and mistletoe, and laurel. People wouldn’t decorate their houses until Christmas Eve as I said, as it was thought to be unlucky to do so before.
The more modern tradition of lit Christmas trees is actually said to originate from the 16th-century legend of Martin Luther. Apparently, he was walking in the snow-covered woods and saw all the stars through the trees and was struck by the beauty of it. And so he decided to take a tree home and put candles on it. But lighting trees wasn’t actually a very popular custom until the end of the 19th century.
Christmas in England
Christmas trees themselves weren’t introduced into England until the mid-1700’s by King George III’s third wife who was German. As I said before, the entire 12 Days of Christmas were celebrated from December 25th through to January 6, but not every day was celebrated in equal measure.
All work stopped except essential work, like taking care of the animals, spinning, which was a main occupation for women was even banned, and flowers were placed around the spinning wheels. People would visit their friends and their family. It was a real community celebration.
Work restarted on Plough Monday, which was the first Monday after 12th Night. Most of the 12 days were saints’ days. The three most important days were December 25, January 1, and January 6, which is when the best feasts were held.
In 1532 and 33, The preparation for the Twelfth Night feast at Greenwich required the building of a temporary boiling and working house. Up to 24 courses would be served which was so much more than was needed for the guests. But it was a status symbol and all the leftover food would be given to the poor.
There was a definite purpose to the Tudor Christmas. Because society was ordered and everything was so strict, it was a bit of a vacation from all of that order. It was a time when everything was turned on its head upside down, and certain sections of society were even given an unusual degree of freedom.
Boy Bishop
For example, in the ecclesiastical communities, the tradition of the Boy Bishop was practiced. A choir or altar boy would be elected for a short period either on December 6, which is St. Nicholas Day, or on December 28, which is the Holy Innocents Day. The idea was that it showed the boys the honor and dignity of the holy orders.
The boy would lead the community and carry out all of the duties of the bishop except taking mass. This would include preaching the sermon, and going around to visit all the parishioners to sing to them along with the other choristers.
This practice was banned in 1541, because it was seen as mocking the church authorities, and by implication that the Head of the Church who was of course Henry VIII. however, the practice possibly dates back to the 10th century, and it never completely died out. The tradition is still continued at Hereford, Gloucester, Westminster, and Salisbury cathedrals to this day.
Lord of Misrule
There was a similar tradition in secular circles, which was the position of the Lord of Misrule. They were like a mock king, and supervise all of the entertainments and unruly events of the evening that involved drinking, revelry, role reversal, and general chaos.
The inspiration for the Lord of Misrule was the earlier 11th-century tradition of the Feast of Fools. This tradition was not confined only to Christmas, but was also used during the summer festivities like May Day. The person would be chosen by the head of the parish and his rule would end on the Twelfth Night. Monarchs also had their own personal ruler, however, Mary and Elizabeth did not continue this tradition.
Barring out
Another example of role reversal which started in the Tudor period is that of the barring out where pupils would take possession of the school by locking the staff out until certain demands regarding playtimes and homework were met. It was particularly common in the northern counties, and was usually around the 6th of December, which is St. Nicholas Day, who’s the patron saint of children.
These types of Christmas traditions are thought to date from the Roman period when servants were allowed to be the boss during the Saturnalia celebrations, which were very similar to Christmas. In fact, most of the way Tudor celebrated Christmas has origins from the Roman festival.
Plays
Another Christmas tradition was the performing of plays. There are records from the early 16th century that both Oxford and Cambridge Colleges employed traveling players in their Christmas entertainments. There are also records of a play being performed for Cardinal Wolsey at Grays Inn during Christmas 1526. Coventry mystery plays which the Coventry Carrol was written for, tell the story of Herod’s murder of the innocents. Mystery plays are still performed in Coventry even today.
Burning of the Yule log
The Tudors also probably practiced the Viking tradition of burning a Yule log. The log would be decorated on Christmas Eve for the 12 days of Christmas, and then it was burned. It was considered lucky to keep some of the remains to help light the following year’s log.
Sports in England
All sports on Christmas day were banned by Henry VIII in 1541, except archery and jousting. Interestingly, Edward VI in 1551 passed a law that everyone had to walk to church on Christmas Day, and it’s actually still enforced today.
It was two weeks basically of concerted power politics and networking as the monarch would be surrounded by courtiers, nobility and other important people.
Tudor Christmas Gifts
We give gifts on Christmas Day, the Tudors gave them in New Year. Every important person was expected to give the monarch a new year gift and to receive one in return. This was considered so important that a list of all of the gifts were kept and that was called “the gift roll”.
Acceptance or rejection of a gift was vital, and it often had a hidden meaning. For example in 1532, Henry VIII accepted Anne Boleyn’s gift, but rejected Catherine of Aragon’s. Henry and Anne were married the following year.
The women of Henry’s court are listed as giving him embroidered shirts, and other craftsmen would show off their skills too. For example, the Hans Holbein painting of Edward VI was given as a Christmas gift.
Another example of the meaning behind Tudor gift-giving is that of Sir Philip Sidney. He enraged Elizabeth I by suggesting that she should not marry the Roman Catholic heir to the French throne. And for New Year’s that year, after he was banished for his comments, he gave her a jeweled whip to show his subjugation to her will. In 1568, Elizabeth I was given a pair of cambric sleeves by Mr. Adam, schoolmaster of the Queen’s pages.
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, was a very successful gift giver. He gave silk stockings in the first year of Elizabeth’s reign, and also possibly the world’s first wristwatch. From 1582, Elizabeth began to receive New Year’s gifts of gold, silver, and rock crystal-handled forks.
Tudor Christmas Feasts, Dishes, & Drinks
A Tudor Christmas was a time for serious eating for the royal household and the gentry. The traditional meats were swan, goose, and woodcock if they could be caught. Turkey first came in 1523, and its popularity grew. Turkeys were walked from Norfolk or Suffolk to London. The Tudors would probably also have eaten venison and peacock, which was skinned and roasted, and then put back inside the cured skin with the feathers on as a table decoration.
They also ate wild boar, which was often the centerpiece. There’s a long tradition of having boars’ heads for feasts, which is probably originating from the Anglo-Saxon tradition of sacrificing the boars for the yuletide celebration. It would be carried into the banqueting hall on a gold or silver dish accompanied by trumpets, and the songs of the minstrels and is still remembered in the well-known carol- Boars Head Carol. It is still known to be practiced at Queen’s College in Oxford.
Another common Christmas feast dish was Souse, which was pickled pig’s feet and ears. Then there was the Tudor Christmas pie, kind of a modern turducken, and it consisted of a pigeon inside a partridge inside a chicken inside goose inside a turkey, which was then put in a pastry case called a coffin, and served surrounded by hair and other game birds.
The Tudors enjoyed mince pies, but they had far more significance than today in that they had 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and the apostles. They contained fruit, (raisins, currants, and prunes) and spices, (cloves, mace, black pepper, and saffron), and also mutton to represent the shepherds.
The Tudors also had Christmas pudding, but this was shaped like a sausage and contained meat, oatmeal, and spices. The Twelfth Night cake was a fruitcake baked with an item like a coin or dried bean and whoever found the item became the king or queen, or host for the evening’s entertainment.
Wassailing was a common Christmas practice throughout all levels of Tudor society. It is remembered in the many versions of the Wassail carols. Wassail derives from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning to be whole or to be of good health. It also has links to fertility rates and drinking a toast to the fruit trees to produce a good crop. Large wooden bowls holding up to a gallon of punch would be used containing hot ale or cider, sugar, spices, and apples, with a crust of bread at the bottom.
One of these brews was known as Lambswool, which was made from roasted apples, beer, nutmeg, ginger, and sugar. The name came from the froth on the top. It was offered to the most important person in the household first, who would then drink from the bowl and pass it on. This would not seem odd to the tutors as drinking from a communal bowl was a normal practice.
That wraps up this edition of the Renaissance English History Podcast. Next time I’ll continue talking about the politics and reign of Henry VIII by introducing some of his leading advisors like Cranmer and Cromwell.
In the meantime, please feel free to drop me a note or show ideas at Englandcast.com. And thank you so much for listening!
[advertisement insert here: if you like this show, and you want to support me and my work, the best thing you can do (and it’s free!) is to leave us a rating on iTunes. It really helps others discover the podcast. Second best is to buy Tudor-themed gifts for all your loved ones at my shop, at TudorFair.com, like leggings with the Anne Boleyn portrait pattern on them, or boots with Elizabeth I portraits. Finally, you can also become a patron of this show for as little as $1/episode at Patreon.com/englandcast … And thank you!]