What would a Tudor Christmas be like?

What would a Tudor Christmas be like?

In the Tudor period, many families would head to the woods on Christmas Eve and select a log, which they would decorate with ribbons and set ablaze. After keeping it burning during the 12 days of Christmas, they would keep a charred remnant of the log.

What did poor people do in Tudor times?

Tudor people who were poor had little time for entertainment, but during their holidays and religious festivals they enjoyed singing, dancing, drinking and eating, as well as playing games and watching plays. Morris dancing was usually performed by a group of men dressed in white.

Did Tudors give gifts at Christmas?

Gifts were exchanged at New Year, not on Christmas Day The giving of gifts had been a feature of the Roman Saturnalia, and the custom had survived into the Tudor age. Presents were the most important aspect of New Year’s Day and could be of great political significance.

What was life like for the poor in Tudor England?

Poor Tudors lived on a dreary diet. In the morning they had bread and cheese and onions. They only had one cooked meal a day. They mixed grain with water and added vegetables and (if they could afford it) strips of meat.

What did the Tudors eat on Christmas?

Terrific Tudor Feasts Tudor Christmas meant serious feasting for the royal household – and that meant lots of meat. The traditional choices were beef, venison and wild boar, but the Tudors also ate a range of wild animals and birds that we wouldn’t eat today, including badger, blackbird and woodcock.

What are the 12 days of Tudor Christmas?

The Tudor ’12 Days of Christmas’ was a period in which tools were downed and work was forbidden between Christmas Eve (24 December) and Epiphany (6 January). To keep women from their chores (unlike the menfolk, the home was their workplace after all), it was customary to decorate the home’s spinning wheel with flowers.

What did poor Tudors drink?

Water in the Tudor period was contaminated, so it was healthy for neither the poor nor the rich to drink. Instead, the poor drank ale and mead, and the rich drank wine, which was sometimes served warm and spiced.

What did the Tudors do to prepare for Christmas?

During the Tudor period the four weeks leading up to Christmas was known as Advent and consisted of fasting and a limited range of foods which were allowed to be eaten; a tradition that is still practised by some today.

What foods did the Tudors not eat at Christmas?

Christmas Eve was particularly strict and people were not allowed to eat eggs, cheese or meat. However when Christmas day came around the Tudors were allowed to cast off the food restrictions and enjoy a lavish feast!

What did the Tudors have in their Minced Pies?

The Tudors’ minced pies were not small and round as they are today, but rather rectangular or crib shaped to represent the crib of Jesus. They contained meat and included thirteen ingredients which represented Jesus and the twelve apostles.

Why did the Tudors celebrate the winter solstice?

The root of the midwinter rituals was the winter solstice – the shortest day – which falls on 21st December. After this date the days lengthened and the return of spring, the season of life, was eagerly anticipated. It was therefore a time to celebrate both the end of the autumn sowing and the fact that the ‘life giving’ sun had not deserted them.