Christmas at the Tudor Court

Christmas in Tudor England was very different from the celebration we know. For the four weeks leading up to Christmas Day, people would fast in observation of Advent. The twelve days of Christmas began on Christmas day and lasted through January 6th, the eve of the Epiphany for Catholics and Anglicans. On the day of Epiphany there was much celebration, music and feasting.

The Yule Log was an important part of Tudor Christmas celebrations. A family would bring in a log decorated with ribbons and place it in their hearth on Christmas Eve. The large log would burn through the twelve days and ashes of the log were kept to throw on next year's fire for good luck.

Gifts were exchanged on New Year's Day, not Christmas and they had very real political meaning and implication. Rich, gold gifts were often given to court favorites including the King's children, wives, nobility and council members. If a high-born man was left out of this gift giving it could be a sign of disfavor with the royal family. In 1532, in the height of King Henry's divorce drama, he famously rejected a diamond encrusted cup from Catherine of Aragon while accepting a beautifully adorned clock from Anne Boleyn.

 The royal cooks baked a silver coin into the Christmas cake and whoever found it was the appointed "Lord of Misrule". The Lord of Misrule was a commoner who supervised the celebrations of the Twelve Days encouraging entertainment and revelry as well as received lavish gifts and the favor of the royals.

Plow (Plough) Monday was the official end of the twelve days of Christmas named such because it was the time when those who lives on the land returned to plowing.  Wassailing and caroling were also important traditions though we know less about how they worked because they were outlawed in the midst of Edwardian religious reform.

Christmas in Tudor England was based around religion and less materialistic than the way we experience it. Debate about how it should be celebrated in post-reformation England would dominate political conversation for years to come.

Clock given to King Henry VIII by Anne Boleyn
New Year's 1532

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