Christmas Traditions

So where do all our modern Christmas traditions come from? Cards, trees, crackers - when did they become a staple of Christmas? For most of them, we can blame the Victorians. Victorian Britain was the superpower of the nineteenth century - France was still recovering from the Revolution and Napoleonic Conflicts; Russia were (mostly) content to keep themselves to themselves; the Prussian states did not start to become dominant until the latter half of the century and the Hapsburg Empire, consisting of Austria, Hungary and the other Eastern European countries, did not have the superior naval power of the British, which meant that they were unable to conquer other countries. 

It was this that gave the British their edge. The new Empire, consisting mostly of African and Asian countries, meant that a number of people became very, very rich, and a new middle class sprung up, of people who benefited indirectly from the wealth which inevitably comes to some when countries are taken over and money is redistributed (usually away from those who need it most and towards those who need it least).

Obviously, there were massive inequalities in Britain still - as well as the "underclass" made up of the natives of the various colonized countries, there were still some very poor people living in Britain itself - both in rural areas and in the back to back housing of inner cities. The middle and upper classes, therefore, wanted to distance themselves from these people, buy spending as much money as possible in the most obvious ways, and (rather sadly, I think) it is from this that we get most of our Christmas traditions today.

Christmas Trees:
Most people know the "story" of how Prince Albert introduced the Christmas tree to the British when he married Queen Victoria and came over from Germany, but this isn't entirely true. Trees had been a staple part of the Christmas celebrations in the Hapsburg Empire since as early as 1605, but actually arrived in Britain before 1840, as most people believe. Queen Victoria saw Christmas trees displayed at Kensington Palace in 1832, before she in fact became Queen, and in 1800, Queen Charlotte, the German born wife of George III had a tree put up for the Christmas Day party she hosted at Windsor.  

 

Christmas Decorations:

Electric lights for Christmas trees were invented in America, rather than Britain, in 1882, by Edward H. Johnson, who was a close friend of Thomas Edison (who had invented the light bulb three years earlier). Earlier in the century, candles had been hung on the trees, in protective metal casing to prevent things celebrations getting too heated, literally. Tinsel was imported from Germany, and trees were also decorated with glass baubles, ornaments made of silver wire, strings of beads and crocheted snowflakes, stars and angels. As ever, size was deemed the most important thing in the celebration, and anyone who was anyone made sure that their tree was large enough to have both ornamental decorations and gifts hanging from it. Gifts were also stacked under the tree, of course having been delivered by...

Father Christmas:

The tradition of hanging up a stocking came from Holland, and began in the seventeenth century, on 5 December, when children would fill their shoes with food for both St. Nicholas (whose night they were celebrating) and his horses. In return, Nick would fill their shoes with gifts (or coal, if you'd been really bad) and the tradition of Sinterklaas was born. It really took off in nineteenth century America, then back in Britain, where Santa Claus was established as a kindly, bearded old man bearing a sack of presents. Interestingly, Father Christmas was originally dressed in green, but became red in the 1930s, after a strong advertising campaign from a certain soft drinks company. 

Thomas Nast's famous 1863 portrait of Santa Claus

Christmas Cards:

Christmas cards were the brainchild of Sir Henry Cole in 1843, who was said to be inspired by the Christmas Pieces children would write at school and take home for their parents. He used a design by J.C. Horsley, which depicted a family at Christmastime, and had a banner underneath which read 'A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year to you'. Only about a thousand cards were sold in the first year, but by 1880, the volume of cards was so great that the post office had to ask people to post early for Christmas. 
 

Other Traditions:
 

Crackers (as in the ones you have at the beginning of a 3294023 course Christmas meal, rather than at the end) were invented by Tom Smith in the mid nineteenth century. He was a confectioner who had the bright idea that he could sell his sweets for two or three times the price if they were rapped in a twist of brightly coloured paper, which also contained a printed riddle. It is said that he was inspired to add the 'bang' after sitting in front of a crackling fire. In the words of his advertisement for them, they 'combine art with amusement and fun with refinement', which doesn't explain at all who's daft idea it was to put those annoying hats in, which only end up confusing me...
 

The Queen's speech originated in 1932, and was the King's sech then - broadcast by George V to the people of Great Britain and the Commonwealth.
 

Brussels sprouts are an abomination and should not be considered a Christmas tradition at all.