Day 10 of the Anne Boleyn Files Advent Calendar

I loved this post I have always been interested in the way our ancestors celebrated Christmas, and the way their traditions have been handed down to us over the years, the Tudor twelfth night cake which is the forerunner of our own Christmas cake and the mince pies which originated in the medieval period, (they actually contained meat) to become the popular dessert they are today, the greenery that was hung in every homes, be they a humble cottage to the must sumptuous of palaces, Christmas itself pre dates Christianity and it has its origins in an old pagan festival when our ancestors worshipped the gods of winter and summer, the green foliage that was brought in from the forests was the symbol of the fruitful earth when the summer would return to make all things grow, in the cold barren months she was imprisoned by winter and was released in the spring when her cold sister retired to her own chilly domain, down through the centuries it became associated with the birth of Christ and Christian countries all had their own way of celebrating, I read that in Germany it was traditional to eat a marzipan pig at Christmas and we loved marzipan in our family so I bought my mum and sister one from Culpepers herbal shop in Convent Garden, I love any kind of tradition, I too like Natalie love the smell of oranges and cinammons and iv had pot pourri in little dishes throughout the house, I don’t use pot pourri now as my cats had a habit of messing them up and they would all go everywhere on the floor, I got fed up with picking them up so now I just use scented candles, my father would gather fresh bundles of holly from the parks nearby and put it in a big cauldron shaped tub near the fireplace, you cannot beat the sight of fresh holly, winters traditional plant, you can get plastic imitations now but I think their so naff, I too like Natalie can visualise an old Christmas and to me it’s always snowing and there are groups of people on their way to church, lanterns held high, down the dimly lit winding lanes they go covered in thick woollens and there’s a solitary Robin perched on a barren branch, eying them feathers all fluffed up, the landscape is white and I can hear the carols coming from the little Norman church, there’s a man outside with a bowl of spicy punch, I can also see a Christmas celebrated in the old palaces and castles, the gentry richly dressed in furs and holding goblets of wine, great tapestries looking even more colourful against the great green boughs that would be placed all around the halls, minstrels playing and silver platters filled with oranges, studded with cloves, there is a charm about Christmas of yester year, in some years England suffered particurlaly bad winters and the Thames froze over completely, faires to the enjoyment of the Londoners and visitors alike would be held on the great river and there would be gingerbread men and pie man selling their wares, whilst the public skated around, I think it happened in the reign of Charles 11 and the sight must have been so colourful, we don’t get winters like that anymore though Britain had two very bad ones in 62 and 63, I remember the icicles as big as daggers on our old coal bunker, i don’t know how we survived as there was no central heating, we had open fires and convector heaters, in the great halls the fires were huge and in the medieval period there was the ‘Lord of Misrule’ and the waisalling bowl, (I don’t think iv spelt that right), in Elizabeths reign there was the tradition that she would crown one of her courtiers as ‘King Of The Bean’, her favourite the Earl of Leicester was expected to be crowned as such but it went to someone else as they had had a tiff previously, according to one source Leicester was furious, I can just see Queen Bessie simpering with relish as she eyed Leicester glaring at her whilst the lords and ladies stood around, when her father was involved with her mother the King had all but seperated from his first queen and Christmas then was said to be a gloomy affair, but Anne Boleyn had held court in her own apartments and presents were exchanged in the new year, one year she commissioned Holbein to make a beautiful golden font with several naked ladies spouting water from their breasts as a gift for Henry, and there are records of the gifts he sent to Mary Boleyn and others and the gifts they sent to him, one Christmas Queen Catherine sent her estranged husband a gift and he angrily refused to accept it and the trembling messenger was ordered to take it back, poor Catherine certainly was the epitome of the long suffering wife! Another Christmas in the court of Henry V111 saw two wives celebrating together, his discarded ex Anne from Cleves, and his new wife and queen, the effervescent Catherine Howard, the King was suffering from his bad leg and headaches by then and he retired to bed early whilst the youngsters carried on feasting and dancing, he must have really been feeling his age but by today’s standards he would be young still, Henry V111 was prematurely aged and the contrast between himself and his young wife was apparent to all, I find it sad to think of this once glorious King limping of to his bed chamber because he was tired and possibly in some discomfort whilst the gaily dressed company carried on celebrating, the image of his two wives dancing together is rather droll when we know his first two wives hated each other with a passion, although Catherines feelings were based on sadness and regret, and then we have his fourth wife and his fifth wife cavorting round the palace clearly both very fond of each other, the last Christmas his fifth queen would know would be spent under armed guard, in theory it was no Christmas for her at all, one can imagine the tears that fell as Christmas came and went, there would be no merry making for Catherine Howard, no dancing and feasting and exchanging of gifts, no hunting no exchanging of pleasantries, but I do not want this post to have a gloomy ending, so I will just say yo ho ho two weeks to go!