6 Teaching Ideas for a Historical Christmas

We all know how Christmas should be celebrated: stockings by the fireplace, presents under the tree, carol singing, decorations, and of course all that food! But has it always been like that?

Here are 6 ways Christmas has been celebrated in the past, that you can use to boost your history lessons this holiday season!

While the Romans are famous for having their own Gods, the Emperor Constantine eventually legalised Christianity, and the first ever Christmas celebrations are recorded as being celebrated in 354AD.

December was already a month full of festivals for the Romans. They celebrated Saturnalia (a week long solstice festival dedicated to the God Saturn) in the second half of December, and the festival of Sol Invictus – the Sun God – on the 25th December.

Saturnalia was particularly popular, with family feasts, games, gift-giving and general partying. This carried over onto the new celebrations, and we still recognise these things as part of the Christmas tradition today.

One unusual tradition was the switching of social roles. Rome was a society in which between 10 and 20% of its subjects were enslaved, but during Saturnalia the slaves became the masters. Slaves were allowed to eat and socialise with the household as if they were free, although once the festival was over, everything reverted to the status quo.

Teaching idea:

Designate half the class as masters and half as slaves. Let the masters order the slaves around until you declare that Saturnalia has started, then tell the slaves that they are now the masters! The masters now have to do everything the slaves tell them. Do this at the class Christmas party if you really want to capture the atmosphere – the masters now have to serve all the food and drink and the slaves can just lay about eating!

How do the children think the slaves would have felt after Saturnalia?

Anglo Saxons gave us the word Christmas! From Cristes mæsse – literally Christ’s Mass – it was a far more muted affair than the Roman Saturnalia-inspired celebration. Egbert, an Anglo Saxon monk in the mid-700s AD wrote:

‘the English people have been accustomed to practise fasts, vigils, prayers, and the giving of alms both to monasteries and to the common people, for the full twelve days before Christmas’.

Once the twelve days was up, however, there would be a huge feast and plenty of drinking!

Teaching idea:

Giving alms (charitable donations) to the poor was a big part of the Anglo Saxon Christmas. Have the children research a local charity which helps people in need and have a collection or fundraiser for them. Perhaps a sponsored “fast”; giving up lunch on one day, or not eating sweets for a week!

The Vikings of course had their own Gods – you have no doubt heard of Thor, Odin and Loki – but this didn’t mean December was a dull month for Scandinavians.

Before their conversion to Christianity at the end of the first millennium AD, Scandinavians held a three-night Yule feast at midwinter. It was a time to remember the ancestors, worship the Gods and celebrate the lengthening of the days.

Winter was a cold, hard time in Scandinavia, and the solstice was a beacon of hope that promised the return of the sun after the shortest day. Eventually King Haakon of Norway decreed that Yule be moved to coincide with Christmas in the late 900s AD.

A large Yule log would be burned in the hearth and Vikings would celebrate by boasting about their achievements in the past year, and making oaths promising what they would achieve in the next. Perhaps a precursor to our New Year resolutions, these oaths would be sealed by placing hands on a pig which was then sacrificed to the Gods. This would then be followed with plenty of ale!

Teaching idea:

Have each child stand and say something they are proud of having achieved in the past year, and something they will try to achieve in the next year. It can be as big or small as they like, and there’s no need to swear it on a pig! You could use apple juice instead of ale, and children could have a drink to seal the deal. You can then have them write down their “oath”, keep them all in an envelope until the end of the school year, and then see if they managed to achieve what they wanted to.

If this could cause conflict with any child’s own religious beliefs, ensure that it’s clearly explained that they are not swearing to the Viking Gods, they are just stating what they would like to achieve in the coming year.

The Tudor Christmas introduced turkeys (from the newly discovered America), mince pies (with actual mince!) and the first book of Christmas carols.

No-one was allowed to work for the whole 12 day period, excluding those essential jobs like looking after livestock. Women were not allowed to spin thread, and spinning wheels were decorated with flowers to stop them being used.

With nothing else to occupy their time, drinking and feasting became even more important. Houses were decorated with evergreens like holly, ivy, mistletoe, yew and laurel. Christmas trees were being invented in Germany, although they wouldn’t reach Britain until the Victorian period.

A early version of Father Christmas was also becoming popular. Dressed in green, and with a comic mask and wooden club, Old Father Winter, or the Winter King (or my favourite – Captain Christmas!) took control of the festivities and threatened everyone into having a good time!

Teaching idea:

Investigate evergreen vs deciduous trees. What characteristics do evergreens have? Why do you think that is? Why did evergreens become associated with mid-winter?

Go for a walk in a local wood and collect evergreen plants. Use them to make Christmas decorations for your classroom using florists’ wire. If plants are not easily available in your area, make decorations from green paper in the shape of holly, ivy and mistletoe, and string them together.

Christmas traditions between 1644 – 1659 are rather lacking, due to Christmas being cancelled!

After the English Civil War, the Puritan government decided that Christmas was, well, un-Christian. The celebration featured drinking, feasting, theatrical performances and all kinds of immoral excesses, which went wholly against the ideals of Puritanism.

Christmas was just one of the celebrations that fell foul of Puritan dogma; all holy days, saints days and festivals were banned, along with theatre, music and dancing. Christmas particularly was seen as pagan, with its evergreen decorations, yule logs and heavy drinking. Churches were ordered to close, and shops to stay open! Attempts were made to enforce these new rules but many people still celebrated behind closed doors, and when the Monarchy was restored in 1660, Christmas returned with a bang!

Teaching idea:

One of the Puritan objections to Christmas was that there was no evidence for the date of Jesus’s birth in the bible, and therefore there’s no reason to celebrate on 25th December.

Have children use the internet to research the theories as to why Christmas is celebrated on 25th December.

Many of our modern ideas about Christmas can be traced directly back to the Victorians. Queen Victoria’s husband, Albert, popularised the Christmas tree from his native Germany, and Dickens’s A Christmas Carol still reminds us every year of the real meaning of Christmas (Muppets notwithstanding).

The debauchery of earlier Christmas festivities gave way (at least in public) to a more religious, charitable celebration. Boxing day was declared a public holiday in 1871 (although the tradition goes back to at least to the 17th Century), being the day that the wealthy gave “Christmas boxes” of gifts to their servants and employees.

Queen Victoria sent the first ever Christmas Card, and they quickly became popular, with people taking taking advantage of the new “penny post”.

But Victorian Christmas cards didn’t always feature the most festive scenes! The Victorian obsession with gothic romance, obsession and death led to some downright weird designs. From Santa abducting children to murderous frogs and dead robins, Victorians truly stretched the definition of what made for good Seasons Greetings.

Teaching idea

Make the least Christmassy Christmas Card you can think of! Draw, paint, collage or print your odd Victorian-inspired card and see who can make the “worst” design (from the perspective of a modern Christmas).

And with that…

We wish you a very Merry Holiday Season and a Happy New Year!