The Great British Christmas
The Great British Christmas by Sutton is a 1999 anthology that explores the diverse ways Christmas has been celebrated in Britain over the past 2000 years. This edition, comprising 167 pages, presents a rich tapestry of historical anecdotes, legends, and traditions, including the tale of Arthur pulling the sword from the stone and Kipling’s reflections on the Christmas Spirit. Readers will encounter the festive experiences of notable figures such as Samuel Pepys and Charles Dickens, alongside insights into the customs that have shaped the holiday.
Within its pages, this book delves into various aspects of Christmas, featuring recipes for traditional treats, carols, and stories about the origins of customs like the Christmas cracker. It captures the essence of the holiday through reminiscences of winter sports, village mummers, and farmhouse festivities, providing a comprehensive look at the social and cultural significance of Christmas in British history.
Official synopsis Publisher
This anthology depicts how Christmas has been celebrated by the British across 2000 years. It includes the legend of how Arthur pulled the sword from the stone one Christmas Day in the 6th century, and Kipling’s verse on the Christmas Spirit. Readers can sense Simon Minc’d Pye’s disgruntlement as he sends out a plea for the restoration of games and special foods banned by the Puritan Parliament; share the Christmases of the famous diarist Samuel Pepys, who let his wife stay in bed after she “sat up till four this morning seeing her mayds make mince pies”; wonder at Charles Dickens’s vivid recollections of his boyhood celebrations and his delight in the present of a jumping frog; revel in a small boy’s attempt to sell left-over cake from his grandfather’s shop to the masters of a grand London house; learn how Queen Victoria and Prince Albert spent their Christmases together; and see Thackeray’s dismay at the proliferation of Christmas books. The book also offers recipes for a horn of mead and Mrs Beeton’s original Christmas cake; traditional carols, the “Ballad of Christmas Ghosts”, reminiscences of winter sports, village mummers and traditional farmhouse festivities, and the story of origins of the Christmas cracker and other Christmas customs.
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