[Jolly festive music]
Hello, lovely people, and Merry Christmas.
This is video three in my 12 Days of Christmas series,
where I'm making a festive video every day of Christmastide
(the original Christmas season).
From the 25th of December to the 6th of January
You can find the other videos in the series linked in the description down below.
If you're not already subscribed, then click or tap the button below
to make sure to turn on notifications
and so you don't miss any of the Christmas love.
Today, I'm going to be talking about ten weird British Christmas traditions.
Well, OK, no. I say "weird."
They're not weird to me.
Just to you weirdos.
Ten: Christmas Crackers
I was stunned to learn that these aren't a thing around the world.
They’re such a staple of Christmas - and yes, I do realise that not all of the world celebrates Christmas.
My best friend Clara, who is Spanish,
wanted to take some home with her this year,
but, no, because we’re not allowed them on the plane
because they have a tiny bit of gunpowder inside and if they all went off at once…
I mean, OK, yes. If you say it like that, I guess it does seem a little odd.
A Christmas Cracker is a cardboard tube that resembles an over-sized sweet wrapper or Bon Bon.
Two people grab either side of the Cracker and pull to make the Cracker split in two.
Whoever is holding the side still attached to the Cracker’s centre chamber
gets to keep the contents,
which usually include a terrible joke;
a fun fact; a small toy or the “useful” object
(never useful);
and a paper crown .
They've been in use since the Victorian period in the 1840s
and are a Christmas staple.
You cannot have your Christmas dinner without them.
Number nine: sticking with the Crackers for a moment -
paper crowns!
These are brightly coloured… Ugly!
Made of very thin paper and either too large or too small for your head.
They’re pulled from inside a popped Cracker and you have to wear them
...no matter what.
This tradition is said to date back to Roman times
and the Saturnalia festivities, which involved wearing decorative head pieces.
Every year my mother refuses to wear one,
saying she’ll only give in when she's senile or there's an invasion of the body snatchers.
I'm all in, however.
But I already have my own crown.
Number eight: mince pies
Contain no mince. [Ding]
They're actually sweet pies
filled with dried fruits and spices, otherwise known as mincemeat.
The pies can be traced back to the 13th century,
when European Crusaders brought back Middle Eastern recipes containing fruits and spices.
Every single year, I go through the whole process of making them,
only to be reminded that I can't have sugar
and my entire family love savoury things.
One day, I will have someone who wants my pies.
Number seven: more food – bread sauce!
Since we don't only have this at Christmas, but instead whenever we have a roast,
I thought this one was a little more well-known,
but apparently not.
Fair enough, it doesn't exactly look…appetising,
but it is weirdly delicious.
The sauce is made from – you guessed it – bread crumbs
mixed together with milk, butter, onions, and several spices.
Bread sauce has been around since medieval times,
when cooks would use bread as a thickening agent for sauces.
It's very…gloopy.
Six:
Mummers' plays.
See related: Morris Dancers
[Morris Dancing music]
Mummers’ plays are folk plays performed by troops of amateur actors
- traditionally all-male -
and on Boxing Day or throughout the Christmastide period,
they take their play from pub to pub in a village or town
accompanied by...Morris Dancers.
They're broadly comic/slapstick performances of sorts.
The characters may be introduced in a series of short speeches,
usually in rhyming couplets
because that’s a thing we do.
The principal characters, presented in a wide variety of manners, I suppose, are
a hero – most commonly St. George, King George, or Prince George
(...we really like Georges) -
but sometimes Robin Hood
and his chief opponent, who is known as the Turkish Knight in southern England, because racism
(named Slasher elsewhere),
and a quack doctor who comes to restore the dead man to life
(generally, St. George
- to prove that he's…so great).
Other characters include Old Father Christmas, who introduces some of the plays;
the Fool; and Beelzebub, or Little Devil Doubt,
who demands money from the audience
(and they pay).
Mumming groups often wear face-obscuring hats or other kinds of headgear and masks.
Some Mummers’ faces are blackened or painted.
They used to all wear black shoe polish on their faces.
On the 4th of November, 2017,
following a similar announcement from the Lewes Bonfire Council,
the Association of Mummers in England and Wales announced that Mummers
would immediately cease the practice of 'black-facing'
or 'blacking up.'
2017!
Number five: wassail
[song plays]
No.
I do just mean the drink.
[Ding]
It is a Christmas staple dating back to Anglo-Saxon times.
‘Wassail’ in Anglo-Saxon actually means ‘Be well'
and was traditionally a greeting made at the start of the new year.
The act of 'wassailing' -
going door-to-door with a bowl of spiced alcoholic beverage -
was performed on the Twelfth Night and met with replies of, ‘Drink well!’
It's like a big vat of wine or cider
heated on the stove with various fruits and spices.
My dad makes the best mulled wine ever -
fact.
Well, OK, I can't drink alcohol,
but it smells really good.
Four: Christmas pudding!
Wow, this list is mainly food.
This classic dish dates back to the medieval era
and is a sort of boiled fruit cake that’s heavily spiced; doused in brandy;
topped with holly; and briefly set on fire.
[Exclamations] [Jessica laughing] [Claudia: Woah! Yeah!]
Traditionally, coins are hidden inside as an extra gift
to your dentist.
Although some families hide other things, like…peas.
Christmas is weird, OK?
The pudding’s medieval origin comes complete with some
very specific instructions from the Roman Catholic Church,
which say that the pudding should be made on the 25th Sunday after Trinity;
they’re to be prepared with thirteen ingredients to represent Christ and the Twelve Apostles;
and that every family member stir it in turn
from east to west
to honor the magi and their supposed journey
in that direction.
Yeah.
Definitely something we still do.
Number three: the Queen's Speech.
Originally, of course, the King's Speech.
See the film.
The Christmas broadcast by the reigning monarch has been an almost yearly mainstay in one form or another
since 1932.
Originally it started as a radio broadcast by George V.
The broadcast evolved as the monarchy did,
and 1957 saw Queen Elizabeth II deliver the first broadcast televised live to the nation.
Just two years after that, though, they realised:
probably wasn't what the Queen wanted to be doing with her Christmas Day
and the broadcast has been pre-recorded ever since.
But it's all faithfully beamed into homes across the country at 3 p.m. on Christmas Day.
Subject matter tends to be similar every year – a reflection on the events of the past 365 days
and just an overall message of togetherness,
including some talk about the monarchy.
What they've been up to.
Like a Christmas card that they give all of us every year.
Two: Boxing Day!
As I learnt from the comments on yesterday's video,
Boxing Day is not particularly well-known.
It's national holiday in the UK and in recent years has been associated with sales.
Buying things.
In a box.
But that's not the original meaning.
Oh, no.
So watch yesterday's video to find that out.
Number one:
Brussels sprouts!
Largely hated, and not eaten at any time except for Christmas meals.
They're essentially miniature, bitter, gross cabbages that some people inexplicably like (!)
Genuinely, we don't like them, and yet we all buy them!
[Whispering] Why?!
Because we're British.
And tradition comes first.
There you go. Ten very odd British Christmas traditions.
Have you heard of all of these before?
What are the odd festive traditions in your country?
Let me know in the comments down below; I'm dying to learn all about it.
[End of a festive song fades]