Goodbye to the Old - Welcome the New
Although New Year is ‘welcomed in’ all over the world, it is in Scotland that it is seriously celebrated as ‘Hogmanay’. This word comes from the Greek ‘Hagmena’ which means ‘Holy Moon’ and can be traced back to an early Pagan custom, when Druids used to hang mistletoe in their houses to protect them against evil spirits. The most popular tradition is known as First Footing whereby it is considered lucky if the first person to enter your house after midnight is a dark haired stranger carrying a lump of coal, a slice of bread, a pinch of salt and an evergreen!

Yule Logs - Not always a teatime treat

Originally used in Northern Europe and Scandinavia during the celebration of the Winter Solstice, the Yule log has only comparatively recently become part of our Christmas traditions. Prior to it’s modern manifestation in the form of a chocolate covered sponge cake, the Yule log was carried home on Christmas Eve and kindled with a piece of the previous year’s log, and it was considered bad luck if the flame was allowed to go out before the appointed time.

Christmas Crackers - a very British Tradition

No British family could imagine its Christmas dinner table without its crackers. A Christmas cracker consists of a hollow tube containing a small gift, a party hat and a motto which is wrapped in paper or foil and ruffled at each end. Each end is held by persons sitting next to each other and pulled with a sharp tug producing a small ‘bang’ from the snap inside. The centre of the cracker splits and the gift falls out. The cracker was invented by a confectioner, Tom Smith of Norfolk, following a trip to Paris in 1840 where he saw the sugared almond given as a love gift and known as a ‘bonbon’. His original idea of offering a love motto with each sweet proved very popular but the introduction of little toys and novelties was not as successful. One Christmas Day, Tom Smith noticed that the logs on his fire burnt with a loud ‘crack’ and his idea of a ‘cracker’ was born. He used the sugared almonds he had seen in France wrapped in a lace-like material ruffled at each end and once again introduced the novelties, which this time proved very popular. Later, mottoes and paper hats were added and by the end of the nineteenth century his factory in Norfolk was producing nearly 14 million crackers a year.

Where it is Christmas every day !

The Christmas Shop

Hay’s Galleria, 55A Tooley Street

London  SE1 2QN

Christmas Traditions (cont.)