Celebrate Christmas Traditions
around the British Isles

At The Copper Stallion

Because Christmas is such a special time of year we want our customers, friends and family to take the time to enjoy it and take advantage of everyone’s good cheer.

Each December we offer complimentary home-made eggnog and British specialty desserts, such as Scottish shortbread, mince-meat pies and Christmas puddings.

What better place to rediscover the holidays with a little British flair than at The Copper Stallion?

We love to create and serve traditional food and drink from Great Britain ~ We are after all a British Restaurant & Pub!

Enjoy our recipes, all authentic and from family and friends from (mostly) England, and enjoy some interesting information about the Christmas holiday and how other people around the world celebrate.

A Bit of History …

Many of our British Christmas traditions started well before the birth of Jesus. They came from earlier festivals which had really nothing to do with the Christian faith. Mid-winter festivals were started when days were shorter and the sun’s rays were at their weakest in the hope that the ceremonies would give back the powers to the sun. The Romans had the festival of Saturnalia in mid-December whereby the people would decorate their homes with evergreens to remind Saturn, their harvest god, to return the following spring.

In the middle ages, Christmas Day was overshadowed by Epiphany, which was associated to the visit of the magi in the west. The Medieval calendar, however, was dominated by Christmas related holidays. The Forty Days of St. Martin, which began on November 11, was known as Advent. Around the 12th century, these traditions transferred back to the 12 Days of Christmas (December 25 – January 5). This appeared as the Twelve Holy Days in the liturgical calendars.

In Tudor England, Twelfth Night marked the end of the winter festival that began on All Hallow’s Eve – now more commonly called Halloween. Twelfth Night, or Epiphany Eve, which takes on a similar significance to Christmas Eve is exactly midnight, January 5, concluding the 12 Days of Christmas. On this night animals are believed to speak, but we mustn’t listen!

In Victorian times new ideas were added to the festivities and Father Christmas, Christmas cards and Christmas crackers were added to the celebration.

Twelfth Night is traditionally the day when all Christmas decorations are taken down. It was thought that leaving the decorations would awaken the tree spirits that hide within the evergreen, holly and mistletoe and they would cause mischief if they were left around the house beyond this date.

Twelfth Night Cake is a traditional British fruitcake that contained a bean. If you got the bean you were considered the King or Queen of the Bean and everyone had to do what you said. Other tasty morsels were hidden to find, however, they were not as pleasant. If you found a clove you were a villain. If you found a twig you were a fool, and if you found a rag you were a tarty girl.

Traditional foods eaten at Twelfth Night were generally spicy and hot foods, like ginger snaps. The traditional drink was a spicy punch called wassail.

In Colonial America, a Christmas wreath always adorned the front doors of homes. When it was taken down at the end of the 12 Days of Christmas, any edible portions were to be consumed with the other foods of the feast. Fruits were considered fine gifts as they were hard to come by, and so they had a place of honour as tree decorations, wreaths and around the home.

Many homes in Wales, Scotland, Ireland and England continue with the tradition of decorating their homes and trees with subtle fruits and natural evergreens, holly and mistletoe. Simple candles were adorned with fresh greenery and the smells quickly became reminiscent of the Christmas holiday season.

We hope you will visit us for one or more of the three weekends set aside for our authentic and traditional Christmas dinners from Wales, Scotland and England eacg December.

We wish you and your family a very special and happy Christmas, where ever you decide to celebrate!