By Jacquline Kelly –
Christmas celebration centres on a special meal, although what is eaten varies from nation to nation. Christmas is one time in the year when you have the right to feast, a time to indulge and forget your diet. The goodies range from “Yule Log” to “Mince Pies” to Turkeys. Christmas is equivalent to celebration and this involves wining, dining and soaking in the good cheer.
Also read:
Christmas Feast: The Proof is in The Pudding!
Sweets are an inseparable part of Christmas traditions.
In India, Christmas is a special festival for the Christians who spend time with their families, attend special Church services, eat a festive meal and wear new clothes. Traditional, homemade sweets are laced with love and pride. Sweets are exchanged among relatives and friends. The commonly made sweets are Marzipan, Guava cheese Kul kuls, Milk cream, Candy cane, Rum, Plum, Fruit and Wine cakes. The list of Christmas goodies is endless!
The ginger bread house is a must delicacy. Families start preparing traditional sweets almost a week or fortnight before Christmas. There may not be a White Christmas. What we celebrate is a western version of Christmas but that does not stop people of all faiths from visiting a Church. There is hope, there is peace and there is the Spirit of Christmas in India.
Traditionally, the Yule log symbolizes the battle between good and evil, as the log burned and turned into ashes, it symbolized Christ’s final and ultimate triumph over sin.
The earlier term Yule may have derived from the Germanic Jol or the Anglo-Saxon ‘geol, referred to as the Feast of the Winter Solstice.
In Europe and China, feasting or rather enjoying and appreciating food is a way of enhancing life. In Britain, it takes decorating trees and the buying of presents to get everybody in the mood. The Americans merely rely on snacks but at Christmas, they feast. The Yule Log is a log-shaped chocolate cake eaten at Christmas.
In Singapore, the Tiramisu Yule Log is famous.
In European countries a special cake is eaten on the Christmas eve, in England it is the Christmas cake, in Germany the Stollen [containing crystallized candied fruit] and in France the Yule log.
In Yorkshire, a special Yule cake was eaten on Christmas Eve, “made of flour, large cooking raisins, currants, lemon-peel and nutmeg” and about as large as a dinner plate “Frumenty” [a dish made of hulled wheat boiled in milk and seasoned with sugar and spice] was the first thing eaten on Christmas morning. Ale posset [a mixture of beer and milk] was the last thing drunk on Christmas Eve. In Shropshire, caraway buns dipped in ale were eaten on Christmas Eve. In Italy, stewed eels are particularly popular on Christmas Eve. Russians sit down to honey and porridge on Christmas Eve. In France, various sorts of cakes and loaves are baked at the season of Noel[Nativity].
Loaves called Cornaboeux, made in the shape of horns or a crescent, are distributed to the poor on Christmas morning. In some parts of France, the ploughmen give as many cornaboeux to the poor as they possess oxen and horses. French bakers sell little cakes called Noulets, which actually represent the Holy Child.
In French Flanders, Coignoles [oblong cakes] are adorned with the figure of the infant Jesus in sugar.
In Denmark and Sweden, a pig’s head was one of the principle item of the great Christmas Eve meal. It is the most remarkable of Christmas cakes or loaves and is known as the “Yule Boar”. This is a loaf in the form of a boar pig, which stands on the table throughout the festive season. It is often made from the corn of the last sheaf of the harvest.
Without the sweets, Christmas would hardly be Christmas at all.
Tomorrow: Christmas Pudding: It’s All in The Pudding!
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