Christmas Cards Direct

Christmas Dinners

Christmas dinner in the UK generally takes places around midday on the 25^th of December. It consists, usually, of roast turkey, though there are a number of alternatives, notably chicken, goose, or roast beef. Stuffing is often served, as well as pigs in blankets, potatoes and vegetables. Vegetables normally present are carrots and Brussels sprouts, and usually Christmas dinner is presented with a serving of gravy. A traditional Christmas pudding is also served as dessert, as well as mince pies and trifle.

The traditional Christmas dinner which we may know isn’t how it used to be presented. In medieval England, a boar would have usually been the main meat, instead of turkey. King Henry VIII is noted to being the first English monarch to have Turkey on his Christmas dinner during the 16^th century, which soon caught on and became so popular it was then considered the norm to have turkey on Christmas dinner, instead of boar. The tradition of turkey has remained constant since this time, and is the most popular and common meat on Christmas dinners now.

The most popular Christmas dinner scene is often regarded to take place in Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, which involves Scrooge sending Bob Cratchitt a turkey for Christmas.

Many countries have different traditions when it comes to Christmas dinner. Here are some examples.

Austria – Baked carp is served instead of turkey.

Brazil – Along with turkey, Brazilians eat ham and rice as their Christmas dinner.

Egypt – People in Egypt eat a Christmas meal known as a fata. This consists of bread, rice, garlic and boiled meat. Then they eat a shortbread type of food called kaik with friends and relatives.

Georgia – Christmas is celebrated on 7^th January, and the traditional meal would consist of marinaded pig, the host’s choice of fish and traditional Georgian bread.

Russia – Dinner includes various different meats such as goose, sausage and pig.

So as you can see, whilst tradition varies from country to country, each one has their own interpretation of a traditional Christmas feast which they adhere to year after year.

---