Long before Santa Claus, caroling, and light-strewn Christmas trees, people in medieval Europe celebrated the Christmas season with 12 full days of feasting and revelry. Christmas in the Middle Ages was preceded by the month-long fast of Advent, during which Christians avoided rich foods and overindulgence.
Once Christmas Day arrived, people were expected to eat, drink, be merry, dress up, play games, and go dancing around the neighborhood for 12 solid days. The degree of Christmas decadence depended on your social status, but the spirit of celebration was universal.
Feasting
Let’s step back in time and discover the lavish and surprising dishes that adorned the tables of medieval Christmas feasts.
Mince pies are one of the oldest traditions from midwinter festivities. They were originally meant as a way to re-use shredded meats from banquet leftovers like goose, chicken, or beef. The pies were filled with fruits and spices, possibly to mask the smell and taste of the slightly off bits of meat.
The addition of meat in the dish was removed in the 1800s, making it much closer to the sweet dessert we know today. Despite the changes over the centuries, mince pies remain a staple of Christmas celebrations.
While having a turkey as the centerpiece of our Christmas dinner is now the norm, this wasn’t the case in the medieval period. But the idea of having a bird as the main course does pre-date our modern-day meal. In medieval celebrations, birds were served at the banqueting table in most wealthy households.
Unlike our roast turkeys, these birds were served to look like they were still alive! The animal was skinned, then roasted, and a replacement skin was sewn back onto the meat. This was done so that the meat looked like it was being served from a living bird. The peacock was considered the most prestigious of these creations because its feathers would bring awe to all the guests present. Smaller households, inspired by the royals, would serve a simple goose.
If you don’t have turkey on Christmas, you might have a large roasted Christmas ham. The tradition of eating pork during the Yule time celebrations goes all the way back to the Middle Ages. Instead of meat from the hind leg, people would dine on the boar’s head!
This tradition is thanks to the Vikings, who would sacrifice a boar to the god Frey during the Yuletide. Frey was known to ride a great gold-bristled boar named Gullinbursti. As Frey was the god of fertility, rain, and sunshine, it was thought that this sacrifice would bring good fortune and a healthy harvest to the people. Eating a boar’s head became even more popular across Europe when it became a popular part of a Christmas carol, the “Boar’s Head Carol.” Eventually, the traditions evolved into what we now know as the roast ham.
Plum pudding, a dish most popular in the UK, has its roots in medieval England. Originally, it was more akin to a porridge, created from beef and mutton mixed with raisins, wine, and spices. Despite its soupy consistency, breadcrumbs were added to provide thickness. This hearty dish was considered a luxury for poor families struggling to find something warm and filling during the Christmas season.
A delightful tradition associated with plum pudding is the hiding of small treasures inside the dessert. These could be silver coins, small crowns, or rings, hidden before baking. The person who finds the treasure in their slice is said to be the King or Queen of the dinner, bringing them good fortune for the coming year. Just be sure to use food-safe materials to continue this charming practice safely!
Wassail, a warm and spiced beverage was a staple at Yuletide festivals. Made from hot mead or mulled cider, it was brought to the tree of worship by pagans, who would pour it over the roots of a great apple tree to ensure a good harvest the following year. This ancient tradition was so integral to the festival that an entire Christmas carol is dedicated to Wassail.
Decorating
Discover the enchanting and symbolic Christmas decorating traditions from the medieval era, revealing the roots of some customs we still cherish today.
During the cold and dark winters, the idea of bringing greenery into your house was a popular medieval tradition. The idea of seeing these green boughs was meant to symbolize life during a season when everything else seemed to be dying. While the outdoors was barren and gray, your home was not.
Even the most impoverished household could go out and collect greenery to decorate the house, so its popularity was wide-ranging. Two of the most popular plants to collect were holly and ivy. Since they had roots in Saturnalia’s pagan festival, the church widely disapproved of this kind of decoration. But the people persisted with it, nonetheless. Holly is one of the oldest good-luck charms used by ancient Celtic druids to ward off evil spirits. It was thought to also protect the home from lightning and was used for good luck.
Mistletoe is another plant that has been used in Christmas celebrations for ages. It was long thought to be used as an ancient cure-all by the druids. People would use it for fertility, to protect their crops, and even to ward off witches. The mistletoe myth of bestowing love upon any couple who kiss beneath it dates to the Norse gods.
The Norse god Balder was thought to have died after being killed with a spear made from the mistletoe. His mother, Frigg, wept upon finding her son dead, and her tears turned into the white berries on the plant. Frigg ensured that whenever a couple met under the mistletoe, she would protect them in a way she could not have saved her son. And instead of becoming known as a deadly plant, it was known as the plant of love. The idea of kissing under the mistletoe comes from England, when servants were allowed to steal a kiss from any woman under the mistletoe, and refusing was seen as bad luck. Another tradition goes that you must kiss once for every berry on the mistletoe and pluck them as you go until all the berries are gone.
In medieval times, druids were known to worship oak trees. This enraged many early Christians, including St. Boniface, who despised their love of the great tree. One day St. Boniface headed out to the great oak and cut it down. When it fell, a fir tree grew up from its roots.
Boniface proclaimed that this fir tree symbolized Christ, as its branches never turned brown, a symbol of Jesus’s eternal life. Being amazed at the sight, many of the druids decided to finally convert to Christianity.
The earliest known decorated Christmas tree was noted in 1419 in Freiburg, Germany. The Baker’s apprentices decorated a tree outside the local hospital with apples, wafers, gingerbread, and tinsel.
They decorated it at Christmastime to bring joy to those suffering inside whenever they looked out their window.
Pagan and Norse people would perform a yearly ritual to appease the god Thor. They would place a log in the hearth, and if the log burned throughout the Yuletide celebrations, this would ensure the sun’s return.
The Yule Log tradition is a testament to the deep connection between medieval societies and their natural surroundings, seeking harmony and balance during the harsh winter months.
Music
Dive into the enchanting world of medieval winter songs and discover the melodies that defined the season.
Medieval winter songs have their roots in the mid-12th to the mid-14th century, where they were closely tied to the French 'carole,' a type of monophonic dance song. These caroles were often accompanied by choreography and were a popular form of entertainment during this period.
In medieval England, the term 'carol' referred to songs with a specific structure, featuring a burden (refrain) and several verses (stanzas). These songs could be about various subjects, including religious themes, the winter season, or social and political issues.
St. Francis of Assisi is often credited with the invention of the Christmas Carol. In 1224, during one of his nativity services, he led the congregation in a song of praise for the baby Jesus. This joyful practice quickly caught on, and the tradition of singing festive tunes during the holiday season began.
St. Francis's influence helped popularize the idea of communal singing during Christmas, laying the foundation for a beloved tradition that continues to this day.
Initially, medieval carols were monophonic, meaning they had only one melody line. This simplicity made them easy to sing and popular among groups.
By the 15th century, carols evolved to become polyphonic, incorporating multiple melodic lines sung or played simultaneously. This added complexity made the music richer and more elaborate, often with each verse set to different music.
The popularity of carols declined during the Reformation, as Christmas customs were suppressed by the Puritans. Many traditional practices, including caroling, fell out of favor during this period.
However, the 19th century saw a revival of interest in medieval carols. This resurgence was part of a broader movement to rediscover and celebrate traditional customs, leading to the reestablishment of caroling as a cherished holiday tradition.