Christmas Joys

Where Did The Holiday Feast Originate From ? by MIKE SELVON

The holiday feast of Christmas is slightly overshadowed by the biggest feast day of the year, Thanksgiving, which falls just a month prior. However, much time and consideration goes into any family gathering. So often we want to say Merry Christmas the way our ancestors might have, unearthing old family traditions and perhaps adding a few new ones too. Certain items like plum pudding, wassail, gingerbread and fruitcakes only make a rare annual appearance on Christmas dinner tables, so where did the feast origins come from?

The Christmas feast of modern Americans may include biscuits, stuffing, roast pork, ham, beef, turkey, goose, mincemeat pie, eggnog, roasted chestnuts and apple pie. In England, there were many similar findings at a Xmas party: cranberry sauce, turkey, ham, roast beef, stuffing, corn, squash, green beans, pumpkin pie, marzipan, pfeffernusse, sugar cookies, fruitcake and mince pie. In England, feasting on Christmas Day has largely fluctuated between fashionable and offensive.

For instance, Henry III had 600 oxen slaughtered for a feast in the mid 1200s, yet he also made it customary to give food to the poor. Following suit, Richard II feasted with over 10,000 guests. However, Martin Luther’s Reformation struck down the season’s decadent ways, replacing the parties with fasting and private prayer.

It wasn’t until Queen Victoria’s reign that all of the Christmas feasting resumed. The Queen and her German-born husband, Prince Albert, dined on goose, turkey, roast beef, mince pie, Yorkshire pudding, plum pudding, eggnog and wassail.

Our global neighbors have their own renditions of the holiday feast too. For instance, France begins a lavish Christmas Eve meal following midnight mass, which extends until dawn, serving up soups, fruits, salads, fish, chicken, cheese, breads, nuts, candy and wine. Poland serves up a twelve-course meal (a dish for each one of the apostles), with beetroot (barszcz) soup and dumplings, herring, pike or carp, boiled potatoes, dumplings with mushrooms and cabbage, poppy seed and honey cakes, fruit compote, pierogi, beans, sauerkraut, babka, assorted pastries, nuts and candies.

In Germany, they once served up boar’s head as a sacrifice for a good harvest, although this was later replaced by pork, roast beef, turkey and goose. Boiled chestnuts are popular in Holland, as are potatoes, red cabbage and pastries. Scandinavia serves up almond and rice pudding as well. In Wales, taffy is the traditional Christmas Day candy.

Hot cocoa, eggnog and wassail are some of the beverages popular during the holiday months. Yet where did this Christmas eggnog come from? In pre-Elizabethan times, eggnog was a cold recipe made from cooked custard, brandy, almonds, candied lemon peel and nutmeg, garnished with a flavored whipped topping. Fasting children would often be treated to a thick tonic of egg yolk, aqua vitae and fresh milk before bed.

Brits with hangovers would often throw some brandy or Madeira in their nog for a bit of reprieve. The earliest American eggnog recipe was found in Sarah Rutledge’s, The Carolina Housewife cookbook in 1847, calling for eggs, cream, sugar, nutmeg and rum or brandy.

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