The History of 25th December as Christmas Day
Until the time of Julius Caesar the Roman year was organised round the phases of the moon. For many reasons this was hopelessly inaccurate so, on the advice of his astronomers, Julius instituted a calendar centred round the sun. It was decreed that one year was to consist of three hundred and sixty-five and a quarter days, divided into twelve months; the month of Quirinus was renamed 'July' to commemorate the Julian reform. Unfortunately, despite the introduction of leap years, the Julian calendar overestimated the length of the year by eleven minutes fifteen seconds, which comes to one day every in hundred and twenty-eight years. By the sixteenth century the calendar was ten days out. In 1582 reforms instituted by Pope Gregory XIII lopped the eleven minutes fifteen seconds off the length of a year and deleted the spare ten days.
Protestant Europe was not going to be told what day it was by the Pope, so it kept to the old Julian calendar. This meant that Chertsey was a full ten days ahead of Paris. By the time England came round to adopting the Gregorian calendar, in the middle of the eighteenth century, England was eleven days ahead of the Continent.
A Calendar Act was passed in 1751 which stated that in order to bring England into line, the day following the 2nd of September 1752 was to be called the 14th, rather than the 3rd of September. Unfortunately, many people were not able to understand this simple manoeuvre and thought that the government had stolen eleven days of their lives. In some parts there were riots and shouts of 'give us back our eleven days!'
Before the calendar was reformed, England celebrated Christmas on the equivalent of the 6th January by our modern, Gregorian reckoning. That is why in some parts of Great Britain people still call the 6th of January, Old Christmas Day.
This new Gregorian calendar was adopted throughout Catholic Europe and is still in use today. So now, thank goodness, we don’t need to worry about the when Christmas Day is so you and your family can enjoy a fabulous 3 course Christmas Day lunch including a glass of mulled wine and a present for the kids in the family friendly Boat House Restaurant at the value for money Bridge Hotel in Chertsey for just £58 per adult and £29 for children aged 5 to 12 years old.
Christmas Traditions in Victorian Times
- An old Victorian tradition was to hide a glass pickle in the Christmas tree the night before Christmas. Whoever found the pickle would either get a special gift or get to open the first gift. The story behind this tradition goes back to medieval times. A horrible innkeeper stuffed two kids into a pickle barrel. St. Nicholas happened to stroll by the inn later on and heard of the kids' dilemma. He tapped the barrel with his staff and freed the kids, who ran home for Christmas dinner. Now the family friendly Boat House Restaurant has only very friendly innkeepers so this won’t happen to you when you and your family join us for Christmas Day lunch in the value for money Boat House Restaurant.
- Humble (or 'umble) pie was made from the inner organs of a deer. That's the heart, liver, brains and all that good stuff. Lords and Ladies ate the best part of the deer while servants took what was left over and put it into a pie and baked it. This is probably where the phrase, "go eat humble pie" came from. By the 17th century almost everyone had humble pie at Christmas time, at least until the government outlawed it.
