Advent Calendar 2020 Day 22: 5 Unique Symbols of the British Christmas

Father Christmas Depending on who you talk to, Father Christmas in the UK can be seen as a very different figure from Santa Claus.  Father Christmas began as a symbol of the holiday following the English Civil War.  The Puritan government outlawed the celebration of Christmas as “papist” and so Royalist supporters often distributed flyers depicting him as a symbol of the banned Christmas traditions.  Following the Restoration, the symbol of Father Christmas was kept alive in mummers’ plays and, in the Victorian era; Father Christmas began to take on some of the attributes of his American cousin thanks to “Twas the Night Before Christmas.”  Whereas the character has primarily been a representation of feasting and merriment, he also took on the role of gift-giver and friend to children. Twelve Days of Christmas While in the US, it is merely a song, other parts of the world including Britain treat the twelve days of Christmas as the official period of celebration.  In the UK, the twelve days of Christmas begins on Christmas Day with the birth of Christ and goes through January 5, which is Epiphany Night, celebrating the visit of the Three Magi to the home of Joseph, Mary, […]