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Festivity
- Christmas in England |
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Christmas
in England began in AD 596 and is celebrated on
the 25th of December with great enthusiasm. The
English Christmas celebrations
include the beautiful Christmas
music, decorated xmas Trees, Prayers and daylight
dinner with roasted turkey. The Christmas
tree is central to holiday celebration though
it is primarily a German custom.
The Children leave an empty stocking or pillowcase
hanging at the end of the bed for getting gifts
from Father Christmas
during the night before Christmas. In the morning
they hope it will be full of presents filled by
Father Christmas.
The old-fashioned Father Christmas was wearing
long robes with sprigs of holly in his long white
hair. Children write letters to Father Christmas
detailing their requests, but instead of dropping
them in the mailbox, the letters are tossed into
the fireplace. The draft carries the letters up
the chimney, and theoretically, Father Christmas
reads t he smoke. However, the gifts are not usually
opened until the following afternoon.
The day after Christmas is called Boxing
Day in England because children used to
go round collecting money in clay boxes. When
the boxes were full, they broke them open by punching.
Also on this day that the alms box at every English
church is opened and the contents are distributed
to the poor. It became traditional for working
people to break open their tip boxes on this day.
The tradition of giving money to workers still
continues today. Boxing Day began in the mid -nineteenth
century. |
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In
England Christmas dinner
was usually eaten at Midday on December 25, during
daylight includes roast turkey, brussels
sprouts, roast potatoes, cranberry sauce, rich
nutty stuffing, tiny sausages wrapped in bacon
and lashings of hot gravy. For pudding
(dessert) there's always a rich, fruity pudding
which you douse in flaming brandy.
The custom of singing carols
("carol" means "song of joy.")
at Christmas is also of English origin and the
world most popular old carols now sing were written
in the nineteenth century.
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