If you are an international student or an overseas visitor on their first homestay in Britain, the run up to Christmas is yet another great opportunity to find out about some of the fascinating traditions that have become part of celebrating the festive season in this country.
Advent Calendar
From late November, for example, you might see the younger members of your homestay accommodation family bring home from school, Advent calendars, which they made themselves for counting the days leading up to Christmas Day. A large square card will contain around 24 ‘windows’, which are then opened consecutively, one for each day of December. Each window might contain an image, a poem, a snippet of the Nativity story or a small gift, such a sweet, chocolate or a toy.
Counting down the days to Christmas is a western European tradition, which dates back to 8th century Latin manuscripts, and is often accompanied by the Advent wreath containing four candles. Each candle is lit on the first four Sunday’s in Advent, which was a symbol in northern Europe long before the arrival of Christianity, although the first Advent calendar is known to have been made in 1851.
Christmas Lights
However, some more recent British traditions are definitely aimed at announcing the ‘number of shopping days’ to Christmas! Apart from the annual release of the John Lewis ad, a tradition, which only began in 2007 but is now a national event anticipated like a major movie premier, the switching-on of the London’s Regent Street Christmas lights is a custom dating back to 1948 when the street was only decorated with Christmas trees, there has been a full lighting display since 1953 with a different theme every year.
It’s a custom that is widely copied in city and town centres around Britain, wherever your homestay accommodation, from Brighton to Bristol, Oxford and Cambridge, etc. If you’re based in Birmingham, for example, the Christmas Lights Switch On and Christmas Parade launches five days before the Birmingham German Christmas Market, which begins November 13. Staying in Liverpool? Your local night sky will soon be ablaze with lights being switched on around Greater Merseyside – from Southport to St Helens. No problem finding your way home from a late night party!
Christmas Cards
The giving of Christmas cards is another British tradition, which you will also start to see as we head into December. Although Christmas cards were also mass produced in North America from the late 1870s, it was in Britain that the custom of sending Christmas cards was started in 1843 by a government civil servant named Sir Henry Cole. Until the arrival of the “Penny Post” in 1840, ordinary people could not afford to send letters. Now they could buy cards, which usually depicted the Nativity scene or by the late Victorian era (from 1850), popular images of the British robin and winter snow scenes.
Christmas Trees
As the weeks and days pass, you will notice Christmas trees suddenly springing up everywhere – on the main high street, in shop windows, restaurants and supermarkets, in your college reception area, and in the front room of your homestay family lounge!
The evergreen fir tree has been used to celebrate winter festivals (pagan and Christian) for thousands of years and were first used as Christmas trees in Northern Europe around 1,000 years ago. Fir tree branches were also used to decorate homes during the winter solstice, as a reminder of the spring to come. However, it was Queen Victoria’s consort, Prince Albert, who is generally recognised as having introduced the Christmas tree into England in 1840, although it was the wife of “Mad” King George III, who set up the first known English tree in December, 1800.
No mention of Christmas trees is ever complete without referring to the mighty Christmas tree displayed in London’s Trafalgar Square from the beginning of December until 6 January. Standing over 20 metres tall, and decorated with some 500 lights, a 50 to 60 year old spruce has been a gift from the people of Norway in recognition of Britain’s support during World War II ever since 1947.
If you’re a student or overseas visitors staying in Britain over Christmas, a rich tradition of ancient folklore and some of the newer, typically English customs, such as watching the Queen’s Annual Christmas Message, will be unveiled as the season continues.
Watch this space for PART TWO as the big day itself draws ever nearer!