Page 58 - All About History - Issue 72-18
P. 58
Fe
Tudor Christmas traditions
On the 12th Day of Christmas,
my Tudor love sent to me…
p
Two Boy Bishops Fou r
rCarol Singers
The ecclesiastical answer to the Made po
opular in Italy in the 13th
Lord of Misrule, a choirboy wouldd be century, and first recorded in England
elected to the role of bishop fromm 6 in 1426, Christmas carols involved
December until Holy Innocents’ DDay dancing as well as singing. Secular
on 28 December. The boy would be themes such as feasting, hunting and
dressed in full bishop’s regalia (thhe merry- making became more popular
m
boy bishop of Westminster Abbeyhad under t he Tudors, although carols
e
h
fine silk robes decorated with silvver remaine d predominantly religious.
and gilt flowers) and would conduct Manyca rols – such as the Coventry
all ceremonies except mass with his Carole, r ecorded in 1534 – were
fellow choirboys. Reflecting turbulent compos ed for Mystery Plays, a form
Tudor attitudes towards the churrch, of open- -air religious theatre that was
the practice was abolished by Heenry banned under Henry VIII and restored
VIII in 1542, revived by Mary I in 15552 under M ary I, before eventually
E
y
b
l
i
and finally ended by Elizabeth I. declining
and
l
l
y
a
ended
fi
n
za
h
et
g in popularity around 1600.
b
I
Three Yule Logs
A pre-Christian tradition thought
A Spinning Wheel to have been introduced by the
Covered in Flowers Norse, a large log from the base
of a tree would be decorated
The Tudor twelve days of Christmas with ribbons and dragged home.
was a period in which tools were Laid upon the great hearth of
downed and work was forbidden the manor on Christmas Eve, it
between Christmas Eve and Epiphany would be kept smouldering over
(6 January). To keep women from their the full twelve days of Christmas.
chores it was customary to decorate It was considered lucky to keep
the home’s spinning wheel with some of the charred remains for
flowers, while the house was decked in next year’s fire.
evergreens: holly, ivy and mistletoe.
SixMarching
Turkeys Eight Cockenthrices
Henry VIII is credited with adopting thee The Tudor lust for meat reached
turkey as a Christmas bird following its peculiar heights at Henry VIII’s dining
introduction to Britain from America table, with chefs stitching together
in the 1520s. It quickly became cadavers to create a whole new beast
fashionable among the Tudor elite and – the cockenthrice, which was the front-
was often served in the coffin-shaped end of a piglet with the hind-quarters
Christmas pie, where it was stuffed of a turkey. Another oddity was the
with numerous other game birds. Helmeted Cock, in which a chicken was
Thedemandwassogreatthatflocks mounted h l l
d on the pig wearing a little
of tur ke y sw er e dr t L d helmet and carryinga shield. For fans of
of turkeys were d iiventoLondon
on foot from Norfolk, Suffolk and meatfeast without thetheatre, the Rôti
d
FiveBoars’Heads Cambridgeshire, with the trek starting Seven Sans Pareil was seventeen birds stuffed
as early as August.
MincedPyeses”
The centrepiece of the Christmas “Minc ed P y one inside the other.
banquet from at least the Medieval
period, the presentation of the bo oar’s Rather than a sweet snack, the “minced
head is rooted in pre-Christian tradition pye” was served at the beginning of the
but came to signify Christ’s triump ph meal. Baked with prunes, raisins, dates,
over sin – the boar being frightenin ng powdered beef, butter, egg yolk, flour,
to rural folk and worthy quarry for suet or marrow and minced mutton,
hunters. Though supplanted by more and seasoned with salt, pepper and
fashionable fare at court, it was the e saffron. A total of thirteen ingredients
subject of the Boar’s Head Carol represented Christ and his Apostles,
published in 1521: “The boar’s head in while the loaf-like shape echoed
hand bring I, Bedeck’d with bays an nd the crib of the infant Christ and was
rosemary. And I pray you, my masters, sometimes adorned with an image of
be merry, Quot estis in convivio.” the babe in pastry.
