Christmas Traditions In England

England has celebrated Christmas for more than a thousand of years, Christmas traditions in England remains to be meaningful, fun and interesting.

English families express their most sincere excitement in celebrating Christmas day by counting down from the first of December. Each family has their own Christmas Advent Calendar to make it more exciting. This is usually a thin rectangular card with 25 pop-up doors. Behind each door is a traditional Christmas scene. One door is opened each day until the 25th of December. In the recent years, this advent calendar have evolved into advent trucks or trees that are crafted with tiny doors. The children open up one each day to see a lovely surprise.

Another countdown to Christmas practice is the advent candle. In the past (shown in the Amazon picture here) one candle with 25 marks on it, is lit each day and burned up to the mark. This goes on until the Christmas day. Modern practices might involve 25 candles, lighting one every day. However, most families opt to have the four candle Advent wreath that is lit once every Sunday before Christmas.

On Christmas eve, families celebrate by carol singing, attending the midnight mass and sharing a feast. This is the most exciting time for the kids. This is when they start to hang their stockings and go to sleep right after. They open their gifts in the morning which they believe are from Santa Claus who travels on a reindeer sleigh ride.

They believe that Father Christmas (Santa Claus) knows what gifts to bring them because as part of the Christmas traditions in England, they write their wishes in a piece of paper and send it up the chimney, to Santa via the reindeer mail.

Another important event on this day is the traditional Christmas message from the Queen of England. Queen Elizabeth II continues to observe this practice. English families listen or watch her message while partaking their Christmas dinner at home.

Right after Christmas, the celebration continues as the English people give gifts to their friends and servants on what they call as the Boxing Day. Families usually spend the day moving around town and meeting up with close friends.

Aside from the staple Christmas meal of roasted turkey, also seen in the table during this season are potatoes, sausages and pudding. Another one of the Christmas traditions in England that will not be missed, is listening to Christmas carols from village choirs who rehearse well in advance and present in parks for the public to witness. They usually do this to raise money for charity and share it to those in need.