We've been wondering, where have some of those weird christmas traditions come from?
1) Christmas trees – Fir tree leaves have been used in all kinds of celebrations for millennia, it’s thought that the Christmas tree, or at least the use of the full blown Fir tree originated in Northern Europe around 1000 years ago though. Apparently they used to be hung upside down from hooks in the ceiling, that’s one way to stop the cat climbing in and wrecking everything!
2) Eggnog – Eggnog is another Christmas tradition that is thought to have originated in Europe. The Americans put their own spin on it by replacing the wine with Rum – why do we drink it? The ingredients are easy enough to find and the drink is easy enough to make. The name is derived from “egg n’ grog in a noggin’”. ‘Grog’ is an old world word for Rum and a noggin is a wooden mug – you know the type.
3) Christmas crackers – The cracker started life as a humble bon-bon. Thomas Smith discovered the bon-bon in France in 1846 and swiftly introduced them to England. As time went on he added some features, love poems and the ‘banger’. By 1930 Thomas’ two sons had picked up where he left off and added the gift in place of a sweet, paper hats and replaced the love poems with those jokes that only our Dad’s see the humour in...!
