Q. What do you get if you eat Christmas decorations?
We all know that the first Christmas trees to appear here in Britain arrived sometime during the 1930s, that the lovely people of Oslo in Norway gift us the Trafalgar Square tree every year and that in Ukraine, trees are often decorated with sparkly spiders-webs…
Wait, what? You didn’t know about the spiders-webs?
Well, pour yourself an egg nog and gather ‘round, here are a few other fun facts about Christmas decorations that might be news to you.
From the USA we have the tradition of stringing popcorn and you will all have seen Chandler, Monica and their friends decorating their tree this way in the long-running sitcom, the name of which escapes us.
But why popcorn? Well, simple really, popcorn was used to feed birds and other wildlife, it looked a bit like snow and hey presto, a tradition was born in the 1920s.
In Finland there is a very old tradition that’s bang on trend, geometric designs that were originally made by shaping rye straw are now produced using paper, the shapes are thought to bring good luck when hung above tables and who are we to argue, the Finns know a thing or two about design.
Some traditions are a little more…edgy, in fact some are positively scary. The Icelandic ‘Yule Lads’ represent a group of trolls that visit children before Christmas, leaving small gifts in their shoes. And while we’re on the subject of shoes let’s talk about the absolutely terrifying Krampus.
Krampus is a goat demon that terrorises, we mean thrills and delights, children across central Europe by threatening to put them in a sack and carry them away if they’ve been naughty…on the whole, we think that Santa’s list is a little bit friendlier!
Back to happy thoughts about decorations and we’re off to everyone’s favourite lowland country, The Netherlands for a tradition we can all get behind. Kerstkransjes biscuits are a delicious, edible salute to the Christmas wreath, hang them on your tree and gobble them up when nobody is looking.
As you might expect, Japan favour a little bit of origami in the shape of brightly coloured birds while in Australia, seashell decorations are popular.
…and finally, what Christmas would be complete without pulling a cracker or two?
Invented ‘by mistake’ in the mid-1880s by a London sweet shop owner, the cracker is now associated with paper hats, little toys and appalling jokes…and that reminds us.
A. Tinsilitis.
And with that, we’ll leave you in peace!
