“In half a minute Mrs Cratchit entered - flushed, but smiling proudly - with the pudding, like a speckled cannon ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half a half a quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas Holly stuck into the top. Oh, what a wonderful pudding!” A Christmas Carol. Charles Dickens. 1843.
I have to watch "A Christmas Carol"every Christmas,it's the best film ever to watch at this time of year,I love that animated one that was made a few years ago with Jim Carrey it's really good and still love the Muppet one 🤭😁
Boxing Day is also known As the Feast of St Stephen (St Stephens Day), traditionally throughout Advent the churches had boxes which collected Alms for the poor. And on Boxing Day the church would open the boxes and distribute the money to help people last the winter months. The carol Good King Wenceslas is about this date
You've reminded me of a story in which my two-year-old niece freaked me out one year (she's a grown-up now). As often happens, I'd lost track of the seven days of the week during the holiday, and half jokingly asked if she knew. "It's Saint Stephen's Day!" she replied, as if I was stupid for not knowing. We had a little chat about King Wenceslas and the comparative luxury of central heating versus the hardship of the olden days.
Australians follow many British traditions at Christmas. We eat Christmas Puddings with custard and mince pies. While many Aussies have BBQs for Christmas dinner, many still have traditional British type dinners with turkey, pork and ham with veggies. We also have bon bons with the paper hats. We just crank up the aircon. Many also watch the Queen/King's speech. We also celebrate boxing day.
I loved our Aussie Christmas traditions that are based on the British ones with an Aussie twist. Like having a traditional turkey, ham and veggies lunch with the addition of a lot of seafood.
@@michellewest3404as a Pom with close family that took Aussie citizenship I love spending Xmas in Straya. (The weather LOL) although all of the snowy imagery seems somewhat incongruous. I'm in Oz currently. Love it!
I'm having a fruit mince pie with my tea right now and I don't live in the UK. I live in South Africa which is a commonwealth country so we basically have the same traditions. Only difference is that it's mid summer now and we're melting from the heat.
Yup, we are going through a heat wave of note here in Gauteng at the moment. I fear I may wake up in the morning to find I have turned into a puddle on the floor, LOL. Christmas for us is spent in and around the swimming pool. No hot puddings, thanks! I do like the puddings though, and usually buy one but have it whenever I feel like it, not necessarily on Christmas.
Ditto here in New Zealand, though sadly the weather has packed in with rain in the last day or so. Expecting a hot Christmas Day though - though probably not as hot as Aus or RSA will get :)
Of course servants had homes and families. Yes, they lived in servants' quarters when working, but would visit their families and friends in their homes on their days off. Very often married couples were allowed to live in cottages on the employer's estate, as in Downton Abbey.
Here in Ireland we make Christmas puddings in October. It is made with raisins bread crumbs and whisky. A coin is added it is then steamed in a large saucepan for a couple of hours. Before serving you pour brandy over it then set fire to it. It is usually eaten with brandy butter and cream
traditionally boxing day was when people boxed up the unwanted gifts and took them to churches, community centres etc to be given away to the poor who would otherwise get nothing, im not sure when the tradition started but its been going awhile
When I think of Christmas charles Dickens comes to mind . He loved Christmas . Christmas eve we have all our party food . Christmas day Turkey and all the trimmings 😊
I didn't know that Americans didn't have Christmas crackers with the hats and silly jokes in or the mince pies or the burning Christmas pudding. We in Ireland call the 26th of December- St Stephen's day. It's a good time to meet up with family.
Real, live mistletoe has white berries, not red. 'Mincemeat' as used in mince pies, has no meat content, it consists mostly of dried fruits soaked in alcohol and seasonal spices and eaten as a sweet treat, often hot with a topping. The tradition comes from the days before refrigeration and the 'off' taste of bad meat would be disguised with the alcohol, fruit and spices, but eventually the actual meat content was left out and more sugar added. Think of mince pies as spiced fruit pies flavoured with brandy and sherry. We usually have turkey and pork along with the potatoes and various vegetables. Using brandy to flame puddings is also very popular in Europe and is called ***** flambé (flaming), Crêpes Suzette are served that way. 12th night is a religious ritual, (actually pre-Christian from the 12-day Yuletide festival adopted by Christianity). Baked beans in tomato sauce by the US company Heinz, were introduced to Britain by American GIs in WW2, they are not a native dish, so blame yourselves, not us.
Baked beans originated in Native American cuisine and were adapted by English colonists in the 17th century. They had absolutely nothing to do with WW2. Brits began eating baked beans as far back as 1869, when American entrepreneur Henry Heinz brought five cases of canned baked beans to London as a sample.
@@sharonmartin4036 Well slap my thigh, so it was an American who was producing baked beans, presumably in America, otherwise how could he have "brought them to the UK". So whatever the date, or the circumstances, it was an American product that was introduced to the UK by an American. Am I correct in understanding that, as that was my point really, or did you not understand? Most Americans these days seem to think that it is solely a British product which is below their delicate palates. Oh and GIs did bring quantities of these into the UK, or so I am led to believe from various sources.
@@helenfitch6590 So is Christmas pudding, and any other suet puddings, such as suet sponges, 'spotted dick' etc and the best chips and roast potatoes use suet, lard or other animal fats such as goose fat, but fats are not considered as meats, simply 'animal products'. Therefore, my observation is correct, "no actual meat in mincemeat"
Ryan, do you ever eat fruit cake? Christmas cake is filled with dried fruits that have been soaked before adding to the cake batter and baked. Christmas pudding is similar but doesn’t have as much flour in it, the dried fruits are cooked with the alcohol of choice, some flour and lard, and whatever other ingredients your recipe calls for such as spices or a cup of orange juice. The thick mixture is then placed inside a calico cloth and tied at the top, hung over a thick stick and held in place over a big pot of boiling water where it’s steamed for hours. It’s kept in the cloth for weeks until Christmas when it’s unwrapped and served on a plate, then drizzled with brandy and lit until the alcohol has evaporated. It’s served with warm egg custard. In Australia, we add ice cream as well.
That reminds me of my granny. She used to cook the pudding from scratch as well and added brandy butter. My mom would hide a penny in the cake and whoever got the penny in their slice could make a wish. The penny was boiled to clean it.
I find 'fruit cake' to be a very different beast in the US. The stuff I've seen is packed full of awful dayglo/multi-coloured glace fruits and some nuts and kind of a last resort...the sort of thing you give to people you don't like all that much. Look it up, you'll see what I mean. It's not at all anything like what we would call fruit cake.
Hey, don't knock the pudding until you try it! It's the highlight of the year for me 🤪 You are correct that it is a lot like the cake, only even richer in fruit & nuts. They light it to burn off the alcohol that has just been poured over it, usually brandy, yum yum! 🙋♀️🇬🇧🥳🤗
Christmas Crackers: The loud crack comes from the cardboard strip with a spot of gunpowder on it that explodes like a cap gun when the strip snaps apart.
@@andyf4292 Inside a cracker there are two strips of card, attached end-to-end with a slight overlap. This overlap is treated with gunpowder - a mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulphur. A Cap requires an impact to set it off this is just the friction
For the first time in 25 yrs, I'll be enjoying Christmas in England next week. This is thanks to my third son and his (American) husband and their boys, Týr & Kári, in Barnes. Roast goose with Cumberland sauce, roast potatoes, parsnips, bruxelles, a light Christman pud with brandy butter, Stilton, crackers, the King's message, monopoly, all washed down with oodles of Pinot Noir. I can't wait to begin it all listening to 9-yr old Kári and his fellow choristers sing Midnight Eucharist, and then eating a hot mince pie and melted cheese, before we sleep while Sion Corn does his thing!! 😅
Addendum. Brandy is one of the ingredients but the alcohol from that gets driven of during cooking, so neat brandy is poured on when it's time to light it.
1:30 Christmas Cards - 1 shilling in 1843 is roughly equivalent to £5 in 2024. The 1 shilling = 5 pence thing is a direct equivelency between coinage at decimalisation in the 1970s, not relating to historical values.
I read an account of wages in Ireland a bit before that, before the famine, and a shilling was a days wage for farm workers. 4d a day for women preparing flax. There may have been a difference in the cost of living between the two places but allowing that people then had to work longer to gain less material benefit that would still mean a shilling was worth at least £40 today.
My grandpa set his arms on fire bringing the brandy soaked flaming Xmas pudding in to the table. He didn’t drop it though which will tell you how tasty it was and how much he didn’t want to disappoint us all 😂❤ He was fine and the pudding was delicious. For anyone who hasn’t tried it. It’s like a fruit cake but way softer and boozier and almost gooey crumbly cakey boozy sweetness. You pour cream and a wedge of brandy butter on it 🤤
Ueggg why don’t they explain it properly. Mince pies are sweet and boozy in a pastry with cream. Once you have one you become part of the cult. Then you ration them, stockpile and hide them and sometimes share them with your absolute favourite people 😂❤
@ like a short crust pastry pie and then inside is a mix made from things like dried fruit (so raisins and dried apricots and sometimes nuts with tons of brandy, spices like cinnamon and fat a bit like butter). Then it is baked in the oven and best eaten when you split the top open a bit and put either cream or brandy butter in the top and let it melt into the centre. So you get creamy boozy pastry spiced fruity goodness 🥰. However when the addiction takes hold you might find yourself jamming them in the gob cold with no cream. 🤣 one or two is filling enough but my friend Robbie was at the Xmas fair last night genuinely confused where 9 mince pies had disappeared too while clutching a box of a dozen like golem with crumbs around his mouth. 🤣
Missed off the Christmas cake. Served later in the evening with Brandy. Also the Christmas pudding can last years as long as you feed it (meaning with brandy) we used to have last year's made pudding so it was 12 months maturing. Served with either brandy sauce or brandy butter, can replace brandy with rum. Used to be wrapped in muslin and steamed. The six pence , mum always made sure us the kids got one each and was then exchanged with modern currency. As six pence was old money that our nan had saved from per 1971 i think. Which was decimalisation. They seem old fashioned or weird but its British tradition and so it should continue to adapt but the heart of these elements should be maintained and understood.
Christmas cake would never get eaten on Christmas Day in my family as everyone was too full from lunch so mum would remove the merry christmas writing & replace it with Happy Birthday. Every year I got boozy xmas cake for my birthday on 26th!!
The Christmas pudding is covered in brandy and then set fire to, to burn the alcohol off - then you eat the pudding with brandy butter, or (in my house) with white sauce made with rum. Basically an excuse to eat a very tipsy dessert!
The alcohol for the flambé process has to be added just before lighting. The alcohol content of the cooking most of the alcohols of the recipe (Old ale, brandy, sherry etc) is actually boiled off during the steaming process as it's boiling point (78°C) is much lower than that of water (100°C), it's mostly just the alcohol flavours that are left behind.
Oh Ryan! I really feel sorry for you missing out on Christmas pudding and mince pies. Christmas pudding is lovely reheated in the frying pan the next day. I’d love to see you react to adverts for Aldi supermarket featuring Kevin the Carrot and his family. This year Kevin and his wife Katie have been James Bond style spies. The adverts over the years have been works of art.
I loved the British christmas tradition in the British Army. They close shop on the 17th or 18th of December, and return to work on the 6th of January. Almost 3 extra weeks of leave, on top of the annual 6 weeks! And a christmas bonus, too. But that was 10 years ago, I dont know if they still do it like that.
The problem nowadays is that we are so bombarded with entertainment that something as simple as a burning Christmas pudding seems ridiculously unimpressive, but to Victorians it would be like watching a TV premier.
Ryan some Crackers are duds (the one in the clip is a good example) fail to make little or no noise when pulled...they can cost a little as £5,but upmarket London store Fortnum and Mason do a £1,000 box🎩
@@gregorygant4242 It normally refers to anything that happened during the reign of Queen Victoria 1837 - 1901. We have Victorian houses, sewers, gas lights, the people. My house is Victorian 1860 along with all my neighbours. It's our most talked about era.
Hi Ryan, if you have ever sung the Xmas Carol "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" then you have been singing in part, about the Xmas pudding. When they mention the "Figgy" pudding that is the original Xmas pudding.
Twelfth Night, also known as Epiphany Eve, falls on the 5th January and is the end of the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas. Decorations were taken down, and it was commonly believed that misfortune would befall those that left their decorations up beyond that night. Although, during the Elizabethan era people often left greenery up until Candlemas, 40 days after Christmas. The 6th January was known as Epiphany, which historically, held as much importance as Christmas Day. Also known as The Feast of the Three Kings, it was a time for celebration, marked with feasting and entertainment.
The 12 days of Christmas were taken from the much older Northern European festival of Yuletide when the festival was taken over by Christians as were other festival dates such as the festival of Eostre in the spring (now Easter) so that Northern Europeans would accept Christianity and it's rituals more readily by using existing periods of celebration and writing the Christian Story around them. Yuletide was a celebration of the solstice and -as they saw it - the rebirth of the sun. And by the way an old man with a flowing beard and pointy hat used to fly around in a sleigh accompanied by elves during that period, but he was known as Odin (or Woden) and not Santa.
My Dads birthday was in December so we put them up the weekend after his birthday, so he that week to have his cards up, before they went down and the Christmas decorations went up
The man also has a condition known as rhotacism which is where someone can't pronounce the R sounds. Speech therapy often helps, but many people don't go for it.
US is definitely the sending a, highly posed, photo of the family as the "Christmas card". It's always felt very odd to me. Usually comes across as bragging. We've received cards from friends all over the world nobody else does this. Some still include the yearly newsletter but more are the card only. (Might just be the US people I know.)
There is a reason for lighting the brandy on the pudding, if you burn off the alcohol it leaves the flavour behind. It's called flambé cooking. It's not just pudding that can be cooked this way, it's done with some meat dishes too.
The first one was so far off base. A shilling is indeed the modern equivalent of 5p but a shilling in 1843 would be the equivalent of spending 9 dollars today. A typical man earned around 15 shillings a week and a woman earned around 7 shillings. So a shilling for a card wasn't something a working class person would have spent their money on. For perspective a pint of beer was a ha'penny or 1/24th of a shilling.
christmas pudding is great , it is moist and rich in flavour with a hint of brandy and a lot of dried fruit and somtimes nuts ,,,,,, it is a steamed pudding not baked like a sponge and is heavy on the guts after eating , normally severed with brandy butter and or fresh cream .......
Make my ‘pud’ Aug-Sept, & hang it in the garage, off the clothesline. It becomes like a cannonball. Whenever 6’2” Dad ventured downstairs, kids wd yell…”watch out for the………o oh…he found it…pudding!” 😅
Christmas pudding made with dried fruit and plenty of brandy, then steeped in brandy and set alight, then portions served covered with hot white sauce containing more brandy! Yum! You cannot imagine how delicious this is, a very fitting end to Christmas dinner 👍😊
So, that "glogg" is really (since it's Swedish and we have three more letters) glögg. Translitteration turns 'ö' into 'oe' so gloegg would be better. Glogg you get when you take the diacritics off of the ö. In this case, the two dots above the o are called the diaeresis, or trema, or umlaut. Glögg is what you have each Sunday in Advent starting first Sunday in December. You heat the glögg and then put some almonds and raisins in.
European Mistletoe has white berries, but there is a red berry variety that is common to the Mediterranean and Africa. Mistletoe is a tree parasite that takes water and nutrients from it's host.
Hi Ryan. Oh yes - you must definately set the pudding on fire.! And yiu almost always have a tipple with it - I recommend a sweet port wine or sherry (a tall glass for me !!!). And lashings of cream. I believe there are folk who put something in the cream as well.!!!
Oh come on. If that’s hilarious it leaves no room to describe what it’s like when we try to say “seven seasick nurses” in Swedish. When I tried someone did the Heimlich Manoeuvre on me.
It's a bit misleading when she says the equivalent of 5p today. A shilling was worth 1/20th of a £ so yes it was around 5p. But with inflation it's around £5 in today's money.
Sausages in bacon = pigs in blankets. A couple of interesting bits they didn't mention - Christmas Day and Boxing Day are both national holidays, but a holiday cannot fall on a weekend. So if either falls on a Saturday or Sunday, you get an extra day off. If both fall on the weekend, you get two extra days. (Obvs no if you work in retail or pubs or whatever, but it does affect how much you get paid). And 12th Night - the date depends on where you are. In some places it's the 5th, in some it's the 6th. Has to do with church holidays, and the changes in the calendar.
Mince pies are very old, it was brought to England by returning crusaders who had pastry filled with spices, mutton and dried fruits from the middle east. Overtime the meat was left out or is replaced with suet but the name still sticks of mincemeat.
Technically we used to get down every Christmas decor including the tree around 6th of January (Poland - I guess it was some religion related superstition) right now when I am decorating the tree, I am keeping it until I am in the mood to clean it, which may be end of January...or the beginning of March. My record was a week before Easter, but it is so annoying to get all the lights and balls down from the tree, so I am usually too lazy to do it on time. Lights in my window I sometimes keep for the whole Winter or even whole year as a decoration - lights kinda lost Christmas feel for me, and got a new, mood improving meaning, I like having them on every evening, especially when it is so dark (November - December are incredibly dark here) . but at the same time, I kinda rebelled against many traditions, and kinda created my own :)
Ryan, if you never had mulled wine you HAVE to try it, when it's cold outside it's a real wonder! You just mix some cinnamon, orange and/or lemon peel, cloves, nutmeg (or the spices of your choice) with some sugar, you pour a bottle of red wine over them, and leave them to boil for more or less 20'. It's THAT easy, and after boiling it's all flavor and no alcohol.😋😋👍
Lovely recipe! I'd say don't boil it though, or else all the alcohol will evaporate. A gentle simmer for a bit longer will work best 😊 Merry Christmas! 🎉
@@EdgarLopez-ss2hx I understand your point of view, but I boil it ON PURPOSE to make alcohol evaporate, so I can drink as much as I want (I'm not a teetotaler but I don't usually drink alcohol and I "feel it" too much, I feel dizzy after 1 glass of wine...)
As a kid watching the Christmas pudding being brought out was very exciting. Boxing day has 2 claims to its origins 1 was a day for the servants who catered to the household on Christmas day to have the roles reversed for the day at the end theywould recive a box of gifts. The other is the day people would box up presents for the poor. There us an alternative Christmas message as well given by a different person each year more of a comedic look back on the year (Stephen fry did last years)
The Christmas pudding and the mince pies are best served with the brandy sauce and some ice cream. Definitely have to try it. For me personally I'm weird so I can eat my mince pies at room temperature or I would have it with the brandy sauce (not warmed up, so its thick) and with ice cream. I remember mum making the pudding in like October and hanging it up (wrapped in cloth and tied) in a closet under the stairs. If you were to try these foods definitely go with the warm brandy sauce and ice cream route, not with the cream.
To clear up matters - holly has prickly leaves and red berries. MIistletoe has soft, sparse green leaves and white berries, and is a fertility symbol/instigator of romance. Ivy has lobed leaves on long, twining stems. The ivy's berries are not usually used as part of the decoration, but they are black. All these berries are toxic to humans.
Family photos as a Christmas card is definitely not a thing like it is in USA! Mistletoe has white berries, Holly has red berries. Christmas pudding is a fairly dense steamed pudding, set on fire using brandy & usually served hot with brandy butter (butter creamed with brandy) double cream (heavy whipping cream as it's called in USA) or for the kids ice cream.
The US doesn't have an equivalent for double cream (48% fat). Their 'heavy' cream is the equivalent of our whipping cream (37% - the minimum to hold a whip).
@@wessexdruid7598 Yes I know but heavy cream is the nearest USA equivalent to double cream! It took me a few months to figure out all the food differences when I moved to California...and then I found the British food store in Burbank...joy!!
@@gregorygant4242 yes, it's a german tradition: you pour rum over a piece of sugar above a pot of mulled wine. The caramelized sugar (and the rum) drops into the pot, very tasty😊
You say you've never had a pudding lit on fire and brought into the room in the dark but the majority of us have as most in UK and US put candles on a birthday cake.
Lol, not just the UK and the US. This tradition can be traced back to Ancient Greece, but the earliest clear link between birthday cakes and candles is the Kinderfest in 18th century Germany. It was only in the 19th century that it reached the rest of Europe and then North America. Since the 20th century, it has become a near-global tradition in Western-style birthday celebrations.
The sausage in bacon is called pigs in blankets, Christmas pudding is laced with alcohol, on the day you pour a little brandy over and light it.😂😂 christmas cake is slightly different, when baked you would let it mature, then cover it with marzipan and icing. Merry Christmas 🎅🤶 everyone.
hi from the uk, couple to add, we always have a nice breakfast with butter pastries and jam, with orange juice & champagne. Then, after dinner - a blazing row 😂
@@Jay-xw9llKingston-upon-Thames was until 1965. Unless you mean Kingston-upon-Hull, Kingston Jamaica or one of the various other Kingstons around the world.
As I understand, Ryan, Boxing Day began way before than they say in the video. There was a box for customers to throw a coin in throughout the year for the professional's apprentices; for example, a blacksmith working throughout the year would have one, maybe two, apprentices, who worked only for their keep and learnt the trade - they were usually indentured for around 7 years, but could only be released into the world if the "blacksmith was happy with the standard of their work. That box was opened on Boxing Day and they could then share the coins/tips dropped into the box.
Brigid, be wary using underlines - it can just make your text into _italics_ if there's a space after? similarly asterisks make text bold and dashes create strikethrough (like -this- ).
@wessexdruid7598 I know how to use the asterisks and the underlinings, thank-you. ... I have discovered that the 'strike throughs' occur if the asterisks are placed at both ends of the words / sentences. ... Having done so, the way I type, I'd (typos aside, which I do _try_ to avoid, but if missed, I _try_ to return to edit later - if possible - which it isn't always, as I need to get a new Tablet) I thus, mostly intend to write (type) _exactly_ as I do because each _intended_ word or phrase, or simple sentence I employ, is as _I want it_ , _not an accidental even_ t, (as you seem to be implying...)
@@brigidsingleton1596 asterisks will give you *bold* text, not - strike through - . 🙂 I was just flagging what is called syntax, in coding. The final result isn't visible before you actually post. I was just trying to make you aware, if you weren't...
Christmas pudding is wonderful. Imagine a heavy, very moist, fruit cake that has been steam-cooked then had brandy added and served with cream or custard. Boxing Day is in many days the real holiday. You're recovering from Christmas Day, and there's plenty of Christmas leftovers for your meal, so you don't need to cook! Many people spend Christmas Day partying with their families and Boxing Day partying with friends.
What about Christmas Cake? A fruit cake, covered in marzipan and then white "royal icing" with a little bit of tasteful red and green icing for decoration.
@gregorygant4242 Definitely more cakey than stollen with its more bready texture. I'm also not sure why you got a German hate vibe from my message, but I personally would never have Christmas without some pfeffernüsse. I'm also Australian.
@@michellewest3404Well many Brits still hate Germans but mainly the older generations .How do you know about this stuff did you ever spend time in Germany it seems like you know some German there. Are you a Mennonite? Where from in Australia? Just asking.
Interesting that the brittish take down their decorations on the 12th night after christmas, here, most people do it on the 20th day after christmas, in fact we have this tradition similar to trick or treating on halloween where kids dress up and go around to different houses and symbolically "sweep out christmas" in return for some candy
I think the American xmas card idea of sending a photo of _yourself_ is so, so self-centred. Most UK cards that people exchange are sold/bought in aid of various worthy, reputable charities, or at least tbe sellers of Xmas cards mostly offer donations to charity. People might enclose little kid's school photos in a card addressed to grans or aunties, or relatives far away. But the card itself will say on the back 'this card supports treatment for harness-galled donkeys in Pakistan', 'sold in aid of Cardiac Research' or '10% of this cards's retail price will be donated to charities supporting mental health'.
The biggest difference is the amount of time away from work. A lot of people will use a few days of their annual leave and add that to the public holidays, meaning they finish working just before Christmas and not go back to work until the new year. A good break away from work with lots of family time
A pudding in the UK isn't the same thing as a pussing in the US. A pudding in the UK is traditionally a steamed cake/pie. These days, pudding is used by many just to refer to dessert in general
I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thought mistletoe had red berries. I learned about this last week. Turns out Mistletoe has white berries and long leaves with rounded edges and the one with the red berries and pointy leaves is actually Holly
Pudding is a difficult word to define, especially transatlantically as in modern Britain it's mostly used interchangeably with dessert, whereas in America it seems to relate exclusively to a form of custard dessert, but in older English it could describe pretty much anything made with any kind of batter. Someone else here said technically to be a pudding rather than a cake it needs to be steamed or boiled, and there are certainly a lot of examples of that, but the most common use of the word in Britain outside of as any dessert is a Yorkshie Pudding, which is not steamed or boiled..
A bit off topic, considering this video is about Christmas traditions in Britain as well as Christmas in general Dickens grew up in the 1810s, during a decade of unusually cold weather in Britain, which is sometimes called the "Little Ice Age". He described these winters as "clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold" in his writing. Dickens's 1843 novel *A Christmas Carol is considered to have helped establish the Victorian Christmas story genre and to have revived the holiday's celebration. The novel includes descriptions of snowy scenes. A Christmas Carol, published on 17 December 1843. Arguably Dickens’ most famous story and said to have had the greatest impact on Christmas celebrations in the western world*, the story’s focus on the triumph of good over evil and the importance of family brought a new meaning to Christmas in the Victorian era and established the modern interpretation of Christmas as a festive family gathering. So if it's not how you think it should be (*A white Christmas*), then arguably you could blame Dickens for fostering that view? Boxing Day, as you show was in the main a Victorian tradition. Something not celebrated in the USA. Also Dickens writing was/is seen as a social commentary on living conditions and standards at that time. His stories were at first printed in the papers (weekly if I recall) and that allowed a certain freedom to add information, and character traits etc to his stories allowing them to grow organically and also he used childhood memories from his own family life in the stories as well. The Christian church began celebrating Christmas on December 25 in 336 CE, during the reign of Constantine. The date was chosen for a variety of reasons, to coincide with pagan festivals. The date coincided with the winter solstice and the Roman festival of Saturnalia. Some speculate that the church chose this date to weaken pagan celebrations. The church may have chosen this date to make it easier to merge the celebration of Christ's birth with other seasonal festivities. The Christian Council of Tours in 567 established Advent as a season of preparation for Christmas, and declared the 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany to be a unified festal cycle. The earliest document to place Jesus's birthday on December 25 is the Chronograph of 354, also known as the Calendar of Filocalus. However, early Christian writers like Irenaeus and Tertullian did not mention birth celebrations. Twelfth niight is the Eve of Epiphany, Epiphany being January 6. The early Christian Church had no festival of Christ's birth. Easter was its main festival and, besides that and Pentecost, it celebrated Epiphany (the showing of Christ to the world) as a major festival. However, observance of the pagan festival of mid-winter survived and the Church compromised, saying that many of the ceremonial observances were so divorced from pagan worship that it did not matter if Gentile Christians took part - provided that the emblems of the rituals were removed before Epiphany. So the pagan symbols came down on Twelfth Night. Later the Church "Christened" the midwinter festival as Christ's Mass (just as the festival of Eostre was subsumed into Passover and the remembrance of Christ's Passion) but the 12-day rule was retained. Ergo Christmas today is in a way a British Invention (see above) , with additions from pagan traditions. Others will argue differently, but Dickens had a huge impact on how we percieve a "traditional Christmas" to be. Americans do Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and then the next day (26th Dec) stores and shops in America take down Christmas decorations etc and then gear up for Valentine's Day and Easter! "Happy Holidays" 😉😉🎅🏻🤶🏻🎄
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It is holly that have red berries Ryan
Was about to say that as well. Never saw mistletoe with red berries on it. Holly - yes.
Christmas pudding is a steamed rich dried fruit pudding (pudding meaning steamed or boiled) cakes are baked.
there are baked puddings, e.g. the Yorkshire pudding
A good Christmas pudding with custard or cream is incredible.
“In half a minute Mrs Cratchit entered - flushed, but smiling proudly - with the pudding, like a speckled cannon ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half a half a quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas Holly stuck into the top. Oh, what a wonderful pudding!”
A Christmas Carol. Charles Dickens. 1843.
I have to watch "A Christmas Carol"every Christmas,it's the best film ever to watch at this time of year,I love that animated one that was made a few years ago with Jim Carrey it's really good and still love the Muppet one 🤭😁
Mince pies are not meat. The mincemeat is dried fruit that has been steeped in alcohol.
Wonderful.
My favourite christmas book/movie! I love it so much 🥰
"The King´s Speech" great Movie
Boxing Day is also known As the Feast of St Stephen (St Stephens Day), traditionally throughout Advent the churches had boxes which collected Alms for the poor. And on Boxing Day the church would open the boxes and distribute the money to help people last the winter months. The carol Good King Wenceslas is about this date
You've reminded me of a story in which my two-year-old niece freaked me out one year (she's a grown-up now). As often happens, I'd lost track of the seven days of the week during the holiday, and half jokingly asked if she knew. "It's Saint Stephen's Day!" she replied, as if I was stupid for not knowing. We had a little chat about King Wenceslas and the comparative luxury of central heating versus the hardship of the olden days.
To me boxing day is saint Stevens day my family always called it saint Stevens day
Australians follow many British traditions at Christmas. We eat Christmas Puddings with custard and mince pies. While many Aussies have BBQs for Christmas dinner, many still have traditional British type dinners with turkey, pork and ham with veggies. We also have bon bons with the paper hats. We just crank up the aircon. Many also watch the Queen/King's speech. We also celebrate boxing day.
I loved our Aussie Christmas traditions that are based on the British ones with an Aussie twist. Like having a traditional turkey, ham and veggies lunch with the addition of a lot of seafood.
What aircon? Who can afford that?
Cray, prawns and beer...
Then 4 days of leftovers!!
@@michellewest3404 we often have prawn cocktail starters in the uk
@@michellewest3404as a Pom with close family that took Aussie citizenship I love spending Xmas in Straya. (The weather LOL) although all of the snowy imagery seems somewhat incongruous. I'm in Oz currently. Love it!
I'm having a fruit mince pie with my tea right now and I don't live in the UK. I live in South Africa which is a commonwealth country so we basically have the same traditions. Only difference is that it's mid summer now and we're melting from the heat.
Hi from Australia. I can relate re the summer heat! It has been hot here in Perth Western Australia.
Merry Chritmas! 🎄
Yup, we are going through a heat wave of note here in Gauteng at the moment. I fear I may wake up in the morning to find I have turned into a puddle on the floor, LOL. Christmas for us is spent in and around the swimming pool. No hot puddings, thanks! I do like the puddings though, and usually buy one but have it whenever I feel like it, not necessarily on Christmas.
I'm in Norfolk in England and it's currently 9C so it's quite warm but it's pouring with rain!
Ditto here in New Zealand, though sadly the weather has packed in with rain in the last day or so. Expecting a hot Christmas Day though - though probably not as hot as Aus or RSA will get :)
Of course servants had homes and families. Yes, they lived in servants' quarters when working, but would visit their families and friends in their homes on their days off. Very often married couples were allowed to live in cottages on the employer's estate, as in Downton Abbey.
Similar to Mothering Sunday - the middle Monday in Lent when servants - often practically children went to visit their mothers
Boxing day the servants also visited their families with gifts boxes.
12th Night is 3 King's day in Spain. Another day to celebrate.
Mistletoe has white berries
that you shouldnt eat
you'll be spending some time on the sprint
Must be thinking of holy
It's holly that has the red berries. Both bear their fruit at around Christmas time, so were traditional decorations.
Actually you can get both red and white mistletoe. Viscum cruciatum (red mistletoe) and Viscum Album (white mistletoe). 🙂👍
Here in Ireland we make Christmas puddings in October. It is made with raisins bread crumbs and whisky. A coin is added it is then steamed in a large saucepan for a couple of hours. Before serving you pour brandy over it then set fire to it. It is usually eaten with brandy butter and cream
Boxing Day, „I thought it was a day to return gifts” just so typically American.
How very rude it would be to do so.
traditionally boxing day was when people boxed up the unwanted gifts and took them to churches, community centres etc to be given away to the poor who would otherwise get nothing, im not sure when the tradition started but its been going awhile
The servants day to visit their families and take gifts ie, boxes.
In fact, apart from being a day for giving gifts outside your family, it's our equivalent of "black Friday".
When I think of Christmas charles Dickens comes to mind . He loved Christmas . Christmas eve we have all our party food . Christmas day Turkey and all the trimmings 😊
I didn't know that Americans didn't have Christmas crackers with the hats and silly jokes in or the mince pies or the burning Christmas pudding. We in Ireland call the 26th of December- St Stephen's day. It's a good time to meet up with family.
The small mince pies contain dried fruit mince, not minced meat.. they are sweet pastry.
Red berries are on Holly, another plant used for Christmas decorations.
My Dutch friends make mulled wine at Christmas, it’s delicious! Sweet spiced red wine served warm to be sipped and enjoyed.
Gluhwein in Switzerland - yum!
Real, live mistletoe has white berries, not red. 'Mincemeat' as used in mince pies, has no meat content, it consists mostly of dried fruits soaked in alcohol and seasonal spices and eaten as a sweet treat, often hot with a topping. The tradition comes from the days before refrigeration and the 'off' taste of bad meat would be disguised with the alcohol, fruit and spices, but eventually the actual meat content was left out and more sugar added. Think of mince pies as spiced fruit pies flavoured with brandy and sherry. We usually have turkey and pork along with the potatoes and various vegetables. Using brandy to flame puddings is also very popular in Europe and is called ***** flambé (flaming), Crêpes Suzette are served that way.
12th night is a religious ritual, (actually pre-Christian from the 12-day Yuletide festival adopted by Christianity).
Baked beans in tomato sauce by the US company Heinz, were introduced to Britain by American GIs in WW2, they are not a native dish, so blame yourselves, not us.
Baked beans originated in Native American cuisine and were adapted by English colonists in the 17th century. They had absolutely nothing to do with WW2. Brits began eating baked beans as far back as 1869, when American entrepreneur Henry Heinz brought five cases of canned baked beans to London as a sample.
Potatoes came from usa to
Well, proper mince meat us still made with suet, which is animal fat.
@@sharonmartin4036 Well slap my thigh, so it was an American who was producing baked beans, presumably in America, otherwise how could he have "brought them to the UK". So whatever the date, or the circumstances, it was an American product that was introduced to the UK by an American. Am I correct in understanding that, as that was my point really, or did you not understand? Most Americans these days seem to think that it is solely a British product which is below their delicate palates. Oh and GIs did bring quantities of these into the UK, or so I am led to believe from various sources.
@@helenfitch6590 So is Christmas pudding, and any other suet puddings, such as suet sponges, 'spotted dick' etc and the best chips and roast potatoes use suet, lard or other animal fats such as goose fat, but fats are not considered as meats, simply 'animal products'. Therefore, my observation is correct, "no actual meat in mincemeat"
Ryan, do you ever eat fruit cake? Christmas cake is filled with dried fruits that have been soaked before adding to the cake batter and baked. Christmas pudding is similar but doesn’t have as much flour in it, the dried fruits are cooked with the alcohol of choice, some flour and lard, and whatever other ingredients your recipe calls for such as spices or a cup of orange juice. The thick mixture is then placed inside a calico cloth and tied at the top, hung over a thick stick and held in place over a big pot of boiling water where it’s steamed for hours. It’s kept in the cloth for weeks until Christmas when it’s unwrapped and served on a plate, then drizzled with brandy and lit until the alcohol has evaporated. It’s served with warm egg custard. In Australia, we add ice cream as well.
My stepdads father was the only person ,I ever saw eat fruitcake
Alternatively you put the delicious Christmas Pudding in the microwave and heat it that way.
@@JennieShaw-b2i Yes, if it’s winter. Our Christmas is in the heat of Summer, so warm with ice cream. 😋😋🇦🇺
That reminds me of my granny. She used to cook the pudding from scratch as well and added brandy butter. My mom would hide a penny in the cake and whoever got the penny in their slice could make a wish. The penny was boiled to clean it.
I find 'fruit cake' to be a very different beast in the US. The stuff I've seen is packed full of awful dayglo/multi-coloured glace fruits and some nuts and kind of a last resort...the sort of thing you give to people you don't like all that much. Look it up, you'll see what I mean. It's not at all anything like what we would call fruit cake.
Hey, don't knock the pudding until you try it! It's the highlight of the year for me 🤪 You are correct that it is a lot like the cake, only even richer in fruit & nuts. They light it to burn off the alcohol that has just been poured over it, usually brandy, yum yum! 🙋♀️🇬🇧🥳🤗
@@JenniferRussell-qw2co for me too. I love it.
Ryan discovered bon bons/Christmas crackers over on his Aussie channel this week- and hence the comment about the silly paper hats 😂
Christmas Crackers: The loud crack comes from the cardboard strip with a spot of gunpowder on it that explodes like a cap gun when the strip snaps apart.
it'll be a red phosphorus thing
like a cap
@@andyf4292 Inside a cracker there are two strips of card, attached end-to-end with a slight overlap. This overlap is treated with gunpowder - a mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulphur. A Cap requires an impact to set it off this is just the friction
@@andyf4292 Black (gun) powder.
For the first time in 25 yrs, I'll be enjoying Christmas in England next week. This is thanks to my third son and his (American) husband and their boys, Týr & Kári, in Barnes. Roast goose with Cumberland sauce, roast potatoes, parsnips, bruxelles, a light Christman pud with brandy butter, Stilton, crackers, the King's message, monopoly, all washed down with oodles of Pinot Noir. I can't wait to begin it all listening to 9-yr old Kári and his fellow choristers sing Midnight Eucharist, and then eating a hot mince pie and melted cheese, before we sleep while Sion Corn does his thing!! 😅
Christmas puddings have Brandy added, which is what burns when lit.
Addendum. Brandy is one of the ingredients but the alcohol from that gets driven of during cooking, so neat brandy is poured on when it's time to light it.
We generally put whisky in but vodka gives the best flame.
1:30 Christmas Cards - 1 shilling in 1843 is roughly equivalent to £5 in 2024. The 1 shilling = 5 pence thing is a direct equivelency between coinage at decimalisation in the 1970s, not relating to historical values.
I read an account of wages in Ireland a bit before that, before the famine, and a shilling was a days wage for farm workers. 4d a day for women preparing flax. There may have been a difference in the cost of living between the two places but allowing that people then had to work longer to gain less material benefit that would still mean a shilling was worth at least £40 today.
My grandpa set his arms on fire bringing the brandy soaked flaming Xmas pudding in to the table. He didn’t drop it though which will tell you how tasty it was and how much he didn’t want to disappoint us all 😂❤ He was fine and the pudding was delicious. For anyone who hasn’t tried it. It’s like a fruit cake but way softer and boozier and almost gooey crumbly cakey boozy sweetness. You pour cream and a wedge of brandy butter on it 🤤
But if it goes cold it is very solid and denser than cake.
Mulled cider is very nice too.
Note for Americans, this is alcoholic cider not the apple juice USA sells as cider.
And yes is good, as is a mulled ale.
@ yes. I realised after that I’d typed it that I should’ve explained that. White wine is quite nice too.
Merry Christmas to you, Ryan and family 🎄
Ueggg why don’t they explain it properly. Mince pies are sweet and boozy in a pastry with cream. Once you have one you become part of the cult. Then you ration them, stockpile and hide them and sometimes share them with your absolute favourite people 😂❤
You didn't really explain what they are either....
@ like a short crust pastry pie and then inside is a mix made from things like dried fruit (so raisins and dried apricots and sometimes nuts with tons of brandy, spices like cinnamon and fat a bit like butter). Then it is baked in the oven and best eaten when you split the top open a bit and put either cream or brandy butter in the top and let it melt into the centre. So you get creamy boozy pastry spiced fruity goodness 🥰. However when the addiction takes hold you might find yourself jamming them in the gob cold with no cream. 🤣 one or two is filling enough but my friend Robbie was at the Xmas fair last night genuinely confused where 9 mince pies had disappeared too while clutching a box of a dozen like golem with crumbs around his mouth. 🤣
@@Supercocono6Was he mumbling "my precioussssss"? 😉😀🇦🇺
@@taniahabib2275haha yes how did you know 😂
Missed off the Christmas cake. Served later in the evening with Brandy. Also the Christmas pudding can last years as long as you feed it (meaning with brandy) we used to have last year's made pudding so it was 12 months maturing. Served with either brandy sauce or brandy butter, can replace brandy with rum. Used to be wrapped in muslin and steamed. The six pence , mum always made sure us the kids got one each and was then exchanged with modern currency. As six pence was old money that our nan had saved from per 1971 i think. Which was decimalisation. They seem old fashioned or weird but its British tradition and so it should continue to adapt but the heart of these elements should be maintained and understood.
Christmas cake would never get eaten on Christmas Day in my family as everyone was too full from lunch so mum would remove the merry christmas writing & replace it with Happy Birthday. Every year I got boozy xmas cake for my birthday on 26th!!
The Christmas pudding is covered in brandy and then set fire to, to burn the alcohol off - then you eat the pudding with brandy butter, or (in my house) with white sauce made with rum. Basically an excuse to eat a very tipsy dessert!
Don’t forget putting coins into the ‘pud’. I’ve kept threepences & sixpences from Australia’s old currency…£ S D
The alcohol for the flambé process has to be added just before lighting. The alcohol content of the cooking most of the alcohols of the recipe (Old ale, brandy, sherry etc) is actually boiled off during the steaming process as it's boiling point (78°C) is much lower than that of water (100°C), it's mostly just the alcohol flavours that are left behind.
Oh Ryan! I really feel sorry for you missing out on Christmas pudding and mince pies. Christmas pudding is lovely reheated in the frying pan the next day. I’d love to see you react to adverts for Aldi supermarket featuring Kevin the Carrot and his family. This year Kevin and his wife Katie have been James Bond style spies. The adverts over the years have been works of art.
Red berries? Are you sure you're not thinking of holly?
I loved the British christmas tradition in the British Army. They close shop on the 17th or 18th of December, and return to work on the 6th of January. Almost 3 extra weeks of leave, on top of the annual 6 weeks! And a christmas bonus, too. But that was 10 years ago, I dont know if they still do it like that.
The problem nowadays is that we are so bombarded with entertainment that something as simple as a burning Christmas pudding seems ridiculously unimpressive, but to Victorians it would be like watching a TV premier.
Ryan some Crackers are duds (the one in the clip is a good example) fail to make little or no noise when pulled...they can cost a little as £5,but upmarket London store Fortnum and Mason do a £1,000 box🎩
By Victorian's what do you mean old English Victoria or Victoria in Australia?
@@gregorygant4242 It normally refers to anything that happened during the reign of Queen Victoria 1837 - 1901. We have Victorian houses, sewers, gas lights, the people. My house is Victorian 1860 along with all my neighbours. It's our most talked about era.
fruit !! actual fruit!! in winter!! and it's HEATED!!!
Foto in a Christmas card is probably a US thing.
Family holding all their guns 😂😂
06:07 “now that was a very small explosion“ 😂 I love your quote 🎉 and your great videos, thank you 🤗
Hi Ryan, if you have ever sung the Xmas Carol "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" then you have been singing in part, about the Xmas pudding. When they mention the "Figgy" pudding that is the original Xmas pudding.
Twelfth Night, also known as Epiphany Eve, falls on the 5th January and is the end of the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas. Decorations were taken down, and it was commonly believed that misfortune would befall those that left their decorations up beyond that night. Although, during the Elizabethan era people often left greenery up until Candlemas, 40 days after Christmas.
The 6th January was known as Epiphany, which historically, held as much importance as Christmas Day. Also known as The Feast of the Three Kings, it was a time for celebration, marked with feasting and entertainment.
The 12 days of Christmas were taken from the much older Northern European festival of Yuletide when the festival was taken over by Christians as were other festival dates such as the festival of Eostre in the spring (now Easter) so that Northern Europeans would accept Christianity and it's rituals more readily by using existing periods of celebration and writing the Christian Story around them. Yuletide was a celebration of the solstice and -as they saw it - the rebirth of the sun. And by the way an old man with a flowing beard and pointy hat used to fly around in a sleigh accompanied by elves during that period, but he was known as Odin (or Woden) and not Santa.
In my family christmas decorations were put up on Christmas Eve and it was regarded bad luck to put them up before. Also taken down on 12th day.
I put mine up on the 6th December, St Nicholas Day.
My Dads birthday was in December so we put them up the weekend after his birthday, so he that week to have his cards up, before they went down and the Christmas decorations went up
If a Christmas decor has red berries that is holly not mistletoe.
Sounds like he talks with a slight Lisp.
It’s pretty much a standard middle class accent. Which is devoid of regional influences. I think of it as accentless.
The man also has a condition known as rhotacism which is where someone can't pronounce the R sounds. Speech therapy often helps, but many people don't go for it.
Aka common RP.
@ I didn’t think it’s quite as posh as RP .
@@phoenix-xu9xj It's definitely not.
US is definitely the sending a, highly posed, photo of the family as the "Christmas card". It's always felt very odd to me. Usually comes across as bragging.
We've received cards from friends all over the world nobody else does this.
Some still include the yearly newsletter but more are the card only.
(Might just be the US people I know.)
There is a reason for lighting the brandy on the pudding, if you burn off the alcohol it leaves the flavour behind. It's called flambé cooking. It's not just pudding that can be cooked this way, it's done with some meat dishes too.
Tragic to think that Boxing Day is the day to return unwanted gifts.
The first one was so far off base. A shilling is indeed the modern equivalent of 5p but a shilling in 1843 would be the equivalent of spending 9 dollars today. A typical man earned around 15 shillings a week and a woman earned around 7 shillings. So a shilling for a card wasn't something a working class person would have spent their money on. For perspective a pint of beer was a ha'penny or 1/24th of a shilling.
christmas pudding is great , it is moist and rich in flavour with a hint of brandy and a lot of dried fruit and somtimes nuts ,,,,,, it is a steamed pudding not baked like a sponge and is heavy on the guts after eating , normally severed with brandy butter and or fresh cream .......
Don't forget it has to flamed in brandy before eating!
@@Lily_The_Pink972 definately , but not to long in flame it burns the booze off......lol ( i think i may be to fond of brandy... )
Make my ‘pud’ Aug-Sept, & hang it in the garage, off the clothesline. It becomes like a cannonball. Whenever 6’2” Dad ventured downstairs, kids wd yell…”watch out for the………o oh…he found it…pudding!” 😅
Christmas pudding made with dried fruit and plenty of brandy, then steeped in brandy and set alight, then portions served covered with hot white sauce containing more brandy! Yum! You cannot imagine how delicious this is, a very fitting end to Christmas dinner 👍😊
Paper hats come in the Christmas Crackers. with a silly toy and a joke.
Unless you buy expensive ones from Harrods etc when they can contain expensive jewellery or other such valuable gifts.
The Christmas pudding being brought in on fire is really magical and if you are lucky you find the silver in your pudding.
So, that "glogg" is really (since it's Swedish and we have three more letters) glögg. Translitteration turns 'ö' into 'oe' so gloegg would be better. Glogg you get when you take the diacritics off of the ö. In this case, the two dots above the o are called the diaeresis, or trema, or umlaut.
Glögg is what you have each Sunday in Advent starting first Sunday in December. You heat the glögg and then put some almonds and raisins in.
The day to return gifts. Is the next Christmas. Or you can just give to someone else instead.
Paper crowns never fit me. It's actually bad luck to take your decorations down early, many make that error.
Mistletoe berries are WHITE, you mixed it up with HOLLY, which has red berries.
European Mistletoe has white berries, but there is a red berry variety that is common to the Mediterranean and Africa.
Mistletoe is a tree parasite that takes water and nutrients from it's host.
Hi Ryan.
Oh yes - you must definately set the pudding on fire.!
And yiu almost always have a tipple with it - I recommend a sweet port wine or sherry (a tall glass for me !!!).
And lashings of cream.
I believe there are folk who put something in the cream as well.!!!
Francis Bourgeois the anorak trainspotter is a national treasure here in the UK!
So much so that this is the first time I've heard the name.
@@gio-oz8gf Same...never heard of her or him...what ever....who cares.
Hearing english speakers try to pronounce "Glögg" or anything in swedish with the letter Å, Ä or Ö in it is HILARIOUS!
Oh come on. If that’s hilarious it leaves no room to describe what it’s like when we try to say “seven seasick nurses” in Swedish. When I tried someone did the Heimlich Manoeuvre on me.
@@Dasyurid 🤣😆
Is that similar to grog I think that's English ?
Warm red wine with spices is a delight.
It's a bit misleading when she says the equivalent of 5p today. A shilling was worth 1/20th of a £ so yes it was around 5p. But with inflation it's around £5 in today's money.
Sausages in bacon = pigs in blankets.
A couple of interesting bits they didn't mention - Christmas Day and Boxing Day are both national holidays, but a holiday cannot fall on a weekend. So if either falls on a Saturday or Sunday, you get an extra day off. If both fall on the weekend, you get two extra days. (Obvs no if you work in retail or pubs or whatever, but it does affect how much you get paid).
And 12th Night - the date depends on where you are. In some places it's the 5th, in some it's the 6th. Has to do with church holidays, and the changes in the calendar.
Mince pies are very old, it was brought to England by returning crusaders who had pastry filled with spices, mutton and dried fruits from the middle east.
Overtime the meat was left out or is replaced with suet but the name still sticks of mincemeat.
Thank you for explaining them properly!
@@livb6945 They weren't explained properly. The confusingly named mincemeat is raisins, currants, candied fruit peels, and lemon and orange zest.
Technically we used to get down every Christmas decor including the tree around 6th of January (Poland - I guess it was some religion related superstition) right now when I am decorating the tree, I am keeping it until I am in the mood to clean it, which may be end of January...or the beginning of March. My record was a week before Easter, but it is so annoying to get all the lights and balls down from the tree, so I am usually too lazy to do it on time. Lights in my window I sometimes keep for the whole Winter or even whole year as a decoration - lights kinda lost Christmas feel for me, and got a new, mood improving meaning, I like having them on every evening, especially when it is so dark (November - December are incredibly dark here) . but at the same time, I kinda rebelled against many traditions, and kinda created my own :)
12th night (5th Jan) is the end of Christmas in the Christian calendar.
Sounds wonderful. Merry Christmas, Ryan! 🙏😘
The Pudding is kind of a thing here in Australia too, but not for everyone. I never got it to be honest, just like Mince Tarts, not for me.
You trying to grow a Santa beard and dye it for xmas for your son? got a week mate !should have started in Oct ! hehe ... nice vid
Ryan, if you never had mulled wine you HAVE to try it, when it's cold outside it's a real wonder! You just mix some cinnamon, orange and/or lemon peel, cloves, nutmeg (or the spices of your choice) with some sugar, you pour a bottle of red wine over them, and leave them to boil for more or less 20'. It's THAT easy, and after boiling it's all flavor and no alcohol.😋😋👍
Lovely recipe! I'd say don't boil it though, or else all the alcohol will evaporate. A gentle simmer for a bit longer will work best 😊 Merry Christmas! 🎉
It's all over German Christmas markets it's called Glühwein.
Well some alcohol is still in there not that much I think.
@@gregorygant4242 after boiling? Almost none.
@@EdgarLopez-ss2hx I understand your point of view, but I boil it ON PURPOSE to make alcohol evaporate, so I can drink as much as I want (I'm not a teetotaler but I don't usually drink alcohol and I "feel it" too much, I feel dizzy after 1 glass of wine...)
As a kid watching the Christmas pudding being brought out was very exciting. Boxing day has 2 claims to its origins 1 was a day for the servants who catered to the household on Christmas day to have the roles reversed for the day at the end theywould recive a box of gifts. The other is the day people would box up presents for the poor. There us an alternative Christmas message as well given by a different person each year more of a comedic look back on the year (Stephen fry did last years)
We do no TV over the Christmas period so the children (and adults) still find me lighting the pudding good entertainment.
The Christmas pudding and the mince pies are best served with the brandy sauce and some ice cream. Definitely have to try it. For me personally I'm weird so I can eat my mince pies at room temperature or I would have it with the brandy sauce (not warmed up, so its thick) and with ice cream. I remember mum making the pudding in like October and hanging it up (wrapped in cloth and tied) in a closet under the stairs. If you were to try these foods definitely go with the warm brandy sauce and ice cream route, not with the cream.
Didn’t think the US didn’t have crackers, mince pies, paper hats and Christmas cake. So strange
To clear up matters - holly has prickly leaves and red berries. MIistletoe has soft, sparse green leaves and white berries, and is a fertility symbol/instigator of romance. Ivy has lobed leaves on long, twining stems. The ivy's berries are not usually used as part of the decoration, but they are black. All these berries are toxic to humans.
Family photos as a Christmas card is definitely not a thing like it is in USA! Mistletoe has white berries, Holly has red berries. Christmas pudding is a fairly dense steamed pudding, set on fire using brandy & usually served hot with brandy butter (butter creamed with brandy) double cream (heavy whipping cream as it's called in USA) or for the kids ice cream.
The US doesn't have an equivalent for double cream (48% fat). Their 'heavy' cream is the equivalent of our whipping cream (37% - the minimum to hold a whip).
@@wessexdruid7598 Yes I know but heavy cream is the nearest USA equivalent to double cream! It took me a few months to figure out all the food differences when I moved to California...and then I found the British food store in Burbank...joy!!
If you want to set something on fire on christmas day, I recommend Feuerzangenbowle
a queimada is better
Are you German that's a German thing but it looks very nice with the flaming sugar cube in the mug ?
I think that's a rum drink right ?
@@gregorygant4242 yes, it's a german tradition: you pour rum over a piece of sugar above a pot of mulled wine. The caramelized sugar (and the rum) drops into the pot, very tasty😊
@@txipironnever heard of it before, looked it up, sounds amazing!
@@Julie-qc8cd i know about your ( I cant write it :) ) because the special "spoon" used to the sugar, it6 looks delicious and good for cold days
The mince in mince pies isn't meat, it's basically raisins
Raisins and sultana's
You say you've never had a pudding lit on fire and brought into the room in the dark but the majority of us have as most in UK and US put candles on a birthday cake.
Lol, not just the UK and the US.
This tradition can be traced back to Ancient Greece, but the earliest clear link between birthday cakes and candles is the Kinderfest in 18th century Germany. It was only in the 19th century that it reached the rest of Europe and then North America. Since the 20th century, it has become a near-global tradition in Western-style birthday celebrations.
The sausage in bacon is called pigs in blankets, Christmas pudding is laced with alcohol, on the day you pour a little brandy over and light it.😂😂 christmas cake is slightly different, when baked you would let it mature, then cover it with marzipan and icing. Merry Christmas 🎅🤶 everyone.
hi from the uk, couple to add, we always have a nice breakfast with butter pastries and jam, with orange juice & champagne. Then, after dinner - a blazing row 😂
The accent is middle class English, London. Some may not agree but this is how my friends and I speak. I still fire up the Christmas pudding.
Does he have a slight speech impediment with r? That’s something I’ve heard before in Australia.
@@Jeni10It happens here too. Johnathan Ross. Look him up lol. Definitely not Australian.
I was going to suggest somewhere beyond Kingston - perhaps Surrey, but I wasn't certain enough to say
@@MrOgMonsterKingston is in Surrey?
@@Jay-xw9llKingston-upon-Thames was until 1965. Unless you mean Kingston-upon-Hull, Kingston Jamaica or one of the various other Kingstons around the world.
Glögg with a side of mashed?? Did you miss that the glögg was a Swedish version of the English one..
Is that similar to the German Gluhwein ?
Yeah a US politician family all with a gun in their hands: Michele Fiore, Thomas Massie, ... Merry Massacre
As I understand, Ryan, Boxing Day began way before than they say in the video. There was a box for customers to throw a coin in throughout the year for the professional's apprentices; for example, a blacksmith working throughout the year would have one, maybe two, apprentices, who worked only for their keep and learnt the trade - they were usually indentured for around 7 years, but could only be released into the world if the "blacksmith was happy with the standard of their work. That box was opened on Boxing Day and they could then share the coins/tips dropped into the box.
Twelfth Night is not the _6_th of January.
Twelfth Night is on the _5_th of January.
Brigid, be wary using underlines - it can just make your text into _italics_ if there's a space after? similarly asterisks make text bold and dashes create strikethrough (like -this- ).
@wessexdruid7598
I know how to use the asterisks and the underlinings, thank-you. ...
I have discovered that the 'strike throughs' occur if the asterisks are placed at both ends of the words / sentences. ...
Having done so, the way I type, I'd (typos aside, which I do _try_ to avoid, but if missed, I _try_ to return to edit later - if possible - which it isn't always, as I need to get a new Tablet)
I thus, mostly intend to write (type) _exactly_ as I do because each _intended_ word or phrase, or simple sentence I employ, is as
_I want it_ , _not an accidental even_ t, (as you seem to be implying...)
@@brigidsingleton1596 asterisks will give you *bold* text, not - strike through - . 🙂
I was just flagging what is called syntax, in coding. The final result isn't visible before you actually post. I was just trying to make you aware, if you weren't...
Christmas pudding is wonderful. Imagine a heavy, very moist, fruit cake that has been steam-cooked then had brandy added and served with cream or custard. Boxing Day is in many days the real holiday. You're recovering from Christmas Day, and there's plenty of Christmas leftovers for your meal, so you don't need to cook! Many people spend Christmas Day partying with their families and Boxing Day partying with friends.
What about Christmas Cake? A fruit cake, covered in marzipan and then white "royal icing" with a little bit of tasteful red and green icing for decoration.
Is that similar to the German stollen ?
Maybe I shouldn't ask that of a Brit since you hate Germans' guts so much.
@gregorygant4242 Definitely more cakey than stollen with its more bready texture. I'm also not sure why you got a German hate vibe from my message, but I personally would never have Christmas without some pfeffernüsse. I'm also Australian.
@@michellewest3404Well many Brits still hate Germans but mainly the older generations .How do you know about this stuff did you ever spend time in Germany it seems like you know some German there.
Are you a Mennonite?
Where from in Australia?
Just asking.
Interesting that the brittish take down their decorations on the 12th night after christmas, here, most people do it on the 20th day after christmas, in fact we have this tradition similar to trick or treating on halloween where kids dress up and go around to different houses and symbolically "sweep out christmas" in return for some candy
I think the American xmas card idea of sending a photo of _yourself_ is so, so self-centred.
Most UK cards that people exchange are sold/bought in aid of various worthy, reputable charities, or at least tbe sellers of Xmas cards mostly offer donations to charity. People might enclose little kid's school photos in a card addressed to grans or aunties, or relatives far away. But the card itself will say on the back 'this card supports treatment for harness-galled donkeys in Pakistan', 'sold in aid of Cardiac Research' or '10% of this cards's retail price will be donated to charities supporting mental health'.
Well Mr.Bean does it when he goes out to a restaurant.
Lol ,lol !
@@gregorygant4242 What on earth are you wittering about?
Small silver trinkets as well as silver coins were used in christmas puddings.
Glueing mit amaretto is zeir gut.
A spot of Cointreau in Mulled Wine is also excellent
The biggest difference is the amount of time away from work. A lot of people will use a few days of their annual leave and add that to the public holidays, meaning they finish working just before Christmas and not go back to work until the new year. A good break away from work with lots of family time
A pudding in the UK isn't the same thing as a pussing in the US. A pudding in the UK is traditionally a steamed cake/pie. These days, pudding is used by many just to refer to dessert in general
Maybe you can start king bean tradition in your family 😊?Merry Christmas to you all 🎄🎁🎁🎶
My christmas hat always end up around my neck😂
No one calls you big-headed, then..
I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thought mistletoe had red berries. I learned about this last week. Turns out Mistletoe has white berries and long leaves with rounded edges and the one with the red berries and pointy leaves is actually Holly
Ah Ryan, Christmas pudding is the best bit! Very popular here in Ireland too.
Australians also have those hats though
In Denmark the king speak on New Year’s eve at 6 pm
Pudding is a difficult word to define, especially transatlantically as in modern Britain it's mostly used interchangeably with dessert, whereas in America it seems to relate exclusively to a form of custard dessert, but in older English it could describe pretty much anything made with any kind of batter. Someone else here said technically to be a pudding rather than a cake it needs to be steamed or boiled, and there are certainly a lot of examples of that, but the most common use of the word in Britain outside of as any dessert is a Yorkshie Pudding, which is not steamed or boiled..
Another non dessert would be black pudding.
A bit off topic, considering this video is about Christmas traditions in Britain as well as Christmas in general
Dickens grew up in the 1810s, during a decade of unusually cold weather in Britain, which is sometimes called the "Little Ice Age". He described these winters as "clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold" in his writing. Dickens's 1843 novel *A Christmas Carol is considered to have helped establish the Victorian Christmas story genre and to have revived the holiday's celebration. The novel includes descriptions of snowy scenes. A Christmas Carol, published on 17 December 1843. Arguably Dickens’ most famous story and said to have had the greatest impact on Christmas celebrations in the western world*, the story’s focus on the triumph of good over evil and the importance of family brought a new meaning to Christmas in the Victorian era and established the modern interpretation of Christmas as a festive family gathering.
So if it's not how you think it should be (*A white Christmas*), then arguably you could blame Dickens for fostering that view? Boxing Day, as you show was in the main a Victorian tradition. Something not celebrated in the USA.
Also Dickens writing was/is seen as a social commentary on living conditions and standards at that time. His stories were at first printed in the papers (weekly if I recall) and that allowed a certain freedom to add information, and character traits etc to his stories allowing them to grow organically and also he used childhood memories from his own family life in the stories as well.
The Christian church began celebrating Christmas on December 25 in 336 CE, during the reign of Constantine. The date was chosen for a variety of reasons, to coincide with pagan festivals. The date coincided with the winter solstice and the Roman festival of Saturnalia. Some speculate that the church chose this date to weaken pagan celebrations. The church may have chosen this date to make it easier to merge the celebration of Christ's birth with other seasonal festivities. The Christian Council of Tours in 567 established Advent as a season of preparation for Christmas, and declared the 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany to be a unified festal cycle. The earliest document to place Jesus's birthday on December 25 is the Chronograph of 354, also known as the Calendar of Filocalus. However, early Christian writers like Irenaeus and Tertullian did not mention birth celebrations.
Twelfth niight is the Eve of Epiphany, Epiphany being January 6. The early Christian Church had no festival of Christ's birth. Easter was its main festival and, besides that and Pentecost, it celebrated Epiphany (the showing of Christ to the world) as a major festival. However, observance of the pagan festival of mid-winter survived and the Church compromised, saying that many of the ceremonial observances were so divorced from pagan worship that it did not matter if Gentile Christians took part - provided that the emblems of the rituals were removed before Epiphany. So the pagan symbols came down on Twelfth Night. Later the Church "Christened" the midwinter festival as Christ's Mass (just as the festival of Eostre was subsumed into Passover and the remembrance of Christ's Passion) but the 12-day rule was retained.
Ergo Christmas today is in a way a British Invention (see above) , with additions from pagan traditions. Others will argue differently, but Dickens had a huge impact on how we percieve a "traditional Christmas" to be.
Americans do Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and then the next day (26th Dec) stores and shops in America take down Christmas decorations etc and then gear up for Valentine's Day and Easter!
"Happy Holidays" 😉😉🎅🏻🤶🏻🎄