Hey, everyone, welcome back to a very British Christmas if you're new here.
My name is Kalyn from Girlgonelondon.com.
And in today's video, we are talking all about British Christmas traditions.
So throughout this whole month,
I'm making videos on different British Christmas traditions, recipes and crafts.
But in this video, I want to really go over some of the more
common and most important ones that a Brit would tell you is part
of the British Christmas tradition against some of these.
I have more specific videos on,
but we're going to cover more and in a bit less detail than in my in-depth tutorials.
So if you've ever wondered how the Brits celebrate Christmas and how it might be
different than from where you are, stay tuned.
OK, so our first Christmas tradition
in the U.K. is this thing, this is called a Christmas cracker
and this is actually a homemade one, which I've done another video.
So if you want to learn how to make your
own homemade Christmas crackers, definitely check that out.
You can see it has these two ends and this middle section.
Now, the middle section is going to contain trinkets, Christmas crowns,
which we'll talk about in a second, maybe little candies or sweets.
So the idea is that you pull it apart and you have a tiny mini explosion
at the Christmas table as the crackers snap inside, burst apart,
things go flying and it's really common and fun Christmas tradition.
You would expect to see one on your plate before Christmas dinner and everybody
would pull theirs at once and put on their Christmas crowns.
Now, I'll get to Christmas crowns in just a second.
But before I move on,
I did want to mention that Christmas crackers date back to the eighteen
hundreds and they actually originated in London.
They were invented by sweets or candy
maker and he was trying to sell his bonbons.
He wasn't having much luck and he wanted like a fun promotional way to get his
bonbons out to the public and to get them interested in buying candy from him.
So he had the idea after listening
to the snapping and crackling of a fireplace one night,
that if he packaged his bonbons in these kind of oversized candy wrappers and they
exploded, that would be a fun way to sell his candy.
It was successful, and that's how we ended up with Christmas crackers.
OK, so the next British Christmas
tradition that we're talking about is the Christmas crown or a Christmas hat.
So that is what will come in the Christmas cracker.
And it's kind of a tissue paper,
really thin, kind of hot that you wear around your head.
They come in all different colors and people typically wear them while
eating the Christmas meal or they might even keep them on later on in the day.
Now, these actually date back to Roman celebrations.
And so they are kind of an ancient tradition that has been brought back.
If you ask the bread,
they probably would have no idea where the tradition comes from.
But if you see these Christmas hats,
tissue paper hats, they're very common to wear
on Christmas Day in the U.K. If you want to make your own Christmas hat,
you can definitely do so using this material that I've put together.
OK, next up, I want to talk about Christmas food
in the U.K. Food is something so important to so many families on Christmas Day.
It's what they look forward to all season.
And there are some differences than what you might be used to back home.
So if you took part in my British Christmas
pub quiz, you might know the answer to this one.
With the most popular meat to eat on Christmas Day in the U.K. is a turkey.
Now, this is similar to some other parts of the world.
It's not completely original,
but it is very different from in the US where we typically have our turkey
on Thanksgiving Day and then eat something like ham on Christmas Day.
So in the U.K., it is very much a Christmas turkey.
And that's the time of year when you can really find the most turkeys in the store.
No other things that they would eat include things like a Christmas pudding,
which is basically a really dense fruitcake.
There are other options in terms of little snacks or appetizers.
Something called mince pies actually
doesn't include mincemeat, though it used to.
Today, it's a pastry filled with dried
fruit, maybe sprinkled with some powdered sugar.
That's a really popular treat to bring
into the office or to bring in to your family gatherings during the holidays.
And then with the actual Christmas meal,
you would have some vegetables, maybe brussel sprouts, carrots again.
You have your turkey,
you've got some gravy, might have roast potatoes, roast parsnips,
and you might have something called a Yorkshire pudding.
Now, Yorkshire pudding is not actually pudding.
It is a savory flour based item that you would really kind of pour gravy on.
It's really delicious.
Doesn't take that much to make.
But again, a lot of people here a Yorkshire pudding and think it's going
to be like a gloppy dessert pudding when in fact it is not that at all.
It is a savory item to go with your dinner.
OK, next up, I want to talk about this guy.
So in the UK, he is referred to as Father Christmas.
Now, Father Christmas and Santa Claus are basically the same concept.
And Santa Claus is not an unfamiliar
concept to a Brit, but their tradition really dates back to Father Christmas.
That is a name that you'll hear over and over again during Christmas in the UK.
Again, he just is the same man who has
different names wherever in the world you go.
So kids do not worry if you are in the UK on Christmas Day because Santa Claus will
come, people just might refer to him as Father Christmas.
OK, another Christmas tradition in the UK.
Ah, Christmas.
Commercials now in the U.K., they call them adverts, so Christmas ads,
Christmas adverts, and these are akin to American Super Bowl
commercials, the thing that everybody talks about during that season.
So mostly it's related to department
stores and grocery stores who will put out these ads.
And they really become kind of talk of the town and talk of the news.
One really popular department store
that kind of always leads the Christmas adverts is John Lewis.
So if you look up John Lewis Christmas
ads, you will find tons of adorable ones, ones that make you cry.
They're typically really produced, really well done.
A lot of thought goes into the Christmas
ads in the U.K. Again, other places are catching on.
So Aldi and even Amazon and other
retailers in the U.K. are putting out their Christmas ads knowing that people
are going to share, they're going to talk about it.
They're going to post on social media.
So these are really an event in and of themselves rather than just
something that's played in between the television programming.
OK, here's one for you.
And it's very simple, but instead of Merry Christmas,
people in the U.K. actually mostly say Happy Christmas again.
You might find people saying Merry Christmas.
They'll know what you mean.
But in general, Happy Christmas is the phrase that is used here.
Now, this actually dates back, they think,
to a time when Merry Christmas would have been associated with the lower classes
and Happy Christmas would have been a higher class greeting.
So the class system is very prevalent in the U.K. even today.
It really is interwoven and a lot
of different phrases and customs and things like that.
And this is another one.
Happy Christmas instead of Merry Christmas
because of the connotations back in the day again today, it's a bit more mixed.
But if you hear Happy Christmas,
they haven't made a mistake and meant to wish you a happy birthday.
They are wishing you a happy Christmas.
Another British Christmas tradition that I
want to talk about is reuniting with your friends in the pub.
Now, this is not on any list anywhere as
a must do Christmas British tradition, but especially if you're from the US.
Think about it.
We traditionally will meet up with our
friends who come back home to our parents house during the Thanksgiving holidays.
Christmas is traditionally seen as something that's really for family.
We might see our friends around the winter
break or some time that we are visiting, but a lot of times we use our Thanksgiving
as a time when we see lots of friends and meet up with people.
In addition to our family, the UK doesn't have Thanksgiving,
so Christmas is obviously a family holiday on the actual day.
But it also is a huge time to meet up with friends from what they would call school.
So that could be from their elementary school or middle or high school.
But their childhood friends, they would go to a pub even on Christmas Eve.
They might meet up with their friends in the pub to have that
event together before celebrating the holiday with their family.
So especially in the States,
I'm used to a situation where actually, if you were to do anything
on Christmas Eve besides be with your family, that would be a bit strange.
But here, not so much the case.
They're trying to pack in being reunited with friends from all over
the UK who have also returned back to your hometown.
Another Christmas tradition in the UK.
Our Christmas Nativity plays now.
Christmas Nativity plays are definitely not just original to the UK.
They do happen around the world.
OK, the next Christmas tradition,
we're talking about our nativity plays and these are religious nativity plays.
You've got your Jesus, you've got your Joseph, you've got your Mary.
Someone's got to be the sheep.
And I'm not saying that these are just happening in the UK.
I know they happen around the world.
However, it's important to note that especially in a British childhood,
these are super important parts of a lot of kids lives every Christmas.
And they even have a Christmas movie that was made in the UK called Nativity,
which is a really fun Christmas movie to watch if you haven't seen it before.
OK, the next Christmas tradition in the UK is very royal.
It is the royal Christmas message.
The monarch gives this message to the nation every Christmas day
at around three p.m. it's broadcast into homes everywhere.
And this is a superimportant tradition that a lot of people really hold dear
and they make sure that they are available to watch while it's being broadcast.
The message obviously change.
It changes a bit year to year depending on what has gone on that year.
But overall, it is meant to be a message
of hope and inspiration and kind of coming together as a country on Christmas Day.
OK, and the last tradition we're talking about is something called a pantomime.
Now they're called.
Santos, for sure, and this is actually a traditional British Christmas play.
Now, if you haven't been to the panto before or you have no idea what I'm
talking about, your first time out of panto will be incredibly confusing.
And I'll tell you why.
Unlike other Christmas plays or traditions
where there is a plot line, if you're watching The Nutcracker or you
are watching Nativity Live or something that has a beginning, middle and end,
a panto is pure chaos from beginning to end.
And that is the point.
There will be some sort of a loose plot.
It will be based on a fairy tale like Peter Pan or Cinderella.
It will be in your local town theater
and they will try and get kind of second rate actors to be in the panto.
So maybe you've heard of them
from a reality show or maybe they've just gotten super popular doing pantos.
But you're certainly not going to see like
an A-list celebrity or someone who is in the West End doing a panto.
For the most part, there is a ton of audience interaction.
So there are things that as an audience,
as a British culture, you know, to say when certain things happen again,
the plot doesn't really matter, which is why it's confusing to expats.
When we go to our first panto, it is a children's play.
Mostly children and families go, but really anyone can go to the panto.
And it's a really treasured, quirky part of British culture.
And it's just kind of non-stop high jinks
and jokes, usually local jokes based on making fun of things in the local area.
So again, that's why it's super important that it's held in local theatres.
So the local people will understand the jokes and the funny things that they say.
But yes, if you have never heard of this before, look them up.
Pantos are a really popular thing to do with your kids and your family around
Christmas, and they would probably not go down a treat and some other countries.
But the very
British humor in all of the craziness is really fun to watch and take part in.
OK, so that brings us to the end of our video on British Christmas traditions.
Again, in other videos, I'm going to go more in depth into some
of these traditions, teaching you how to make mince pies
and Christmas cracker and all of these things.
But this was just an overview of what you might expect on a British Christmas Day.
And maybe you take some of these
traditions and take them into your home no matter where in the world you are.
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So with that, I will see you next time.