Regular contributor Sarah Bryson talks to us about Tudor Christmas traditions.
Sarah Bryson is the author of "Mary Boleyn: In a Nutshell" and "Charles Brandon: The King's Man". She is a researcher, writer and educator who has a Bachelor of Early Childhood Education with Honours and currently works with children with disabilities. Sarah is passionate about Tudor history and has a deep interest in Mary Boleyn, Anne Boleyn, the reign of Henry VIII and the people of his court. Visiting England in 2009 furthered her passion and when she returned home she started a website, queentohistory.com, and Facebook page about Tudor history. Sarah lives in Australia, enjoys reading, writing, Tudor costume enactment and wishes to return to England one day.
Thanks Sarah, I really enjoyed your video. It’s very interesting how customs have evolved down the centuries, and amazing that we still have some of the same traditions today as back then. We still decorate our homes with holly and berries. We still have the mince pies (although minus the meat), and I think they still have the traditional yule logs in Scotland.
Merry Christmas Sue! I live in Australia so there is no decorating with holly and berries unfortunately. However we have lovely mince pies too, yum yum!
Thank you so much, Sarah, for this lovely talk. I really enjoyed it and now I feel even more festive, as I think, as Sue said, how we still carry on many of the traditions.
Your talk has taught me so many interesting new details. I didn’t know that there was a mass before dawn and then 2 more masses during the day. How fascinating that the mutton in the mince pies represented the shepherds; how poignant to think of Henry rejecting Katherine of Aragon’s gift; and how interesting that men and women were not allowed to plough and spin. I love your description of the peacock…What an impressive sight that must have been. I keep visualising it with the boar’s head and the swan!
I loved all the amazing detail: the yule log burning, the feast of St Stephen, the crib shaped mince pies, Holy Innocence Day, Plough Monday, the ” boy bishop, ” the unlawful games act….and my favourite, the 12th night celebrations complete with wassail.
Thank you so much, Sarah. Wishing you a very happy Christmas.
Merry Christmas Elizabeth! Thank you so much for your kind words xx
Wonderful!
Thank you xx