Which British Christmas traditions make this season special? And what are the historical origins to them?

Christmas is a time for coming together with family & friends to give gifts and to spend quality time & feast together.

So, here are Five British Christmas Traditions that make this such a special time of year.

1. Christmas Cards

The tradition of sending Christmas cards goes back to the Victorian era with the first known paper cards sent in 1843 by a businessman, Sir Henry Cole. Today, in the U.K alone there are over a billion paper greeting cards sent! Thats an awful lot of trees chopped down to make the cards, with estimates of anything up to 33 million trees destroyed!

LOLVE e-cards are a paperless eco friendly option to send greeting cards online. And a tree is planted for each subscriber to help look after our planet & protect against deforestation.

2. Christmas Jumpers

A recent phenomenon that has become a new tradition is donning a fun Christmas jumper festooned with reindeer, Santa or tinsel. You can even personalise your Christmas Jumper with your favourite pet! Brighten up your home, school or workplace with your festive jumper and start the Yuletide in style!

3. Mince Pies

Is there anything more quintessentially British that eating a mince pie washed down with a glass of mulled wine! Todays mince pies bear very little resemblance to the first pies to hold the name. As the name suggests, the original pies from back in the 15th century, were made up of minced up meat preserved with fruit. Todays pies are traditionally wrapped in pastry and filled with tasty mix of dried fruit, candied peel with seasonal spices. Mmmm mm.

4. Mulled Wine

Although Britain cannot claim to have invented Mulled wine, it is most certainly a staple British Christmas traditions. With its warming spices & sweet flavours, todays mulled wine has origins going way back to Roman times! From the Romans mixing their warmed wine with honey & spices, todays many countries have a variant of mulled wine, such as the German Gluhwein.

5. Carol Singing

Carol singing is a British Christmas tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages. Todays most classic carols originate from Victorian times including Away in a manger and O Little Town of Bethlehem.

Today carol singing today is a normal within churches at Christmas. However, since Oliver Cromwell created a ban on joyous church carols in the mid 1600’s, it then became traditional to perform going from house to house.

Whichever British Christmas traditions you follow, you are likely to be passing these on to the next generation for them to continue. As traditions evolve and adapt with each year, it is good to know that some have continued for hundreds if not thousands of years!

Share on Facebook

Tweet