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MrsMerlot
Unconditional Love
Member since 4/06 6005 total posts
Name:
Chrissy
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Is it only in England? Christmas related...
I watched "notes on a scandal" last night, and they're celebrating Christmas...and I noticed everyone wearing these paper crowns...is that only in England?
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Posted 12/19/07 12:30 PM  |
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kerrycec03
Mom of 2 beautiful boys!!
Member since 6/06 13519 total posts
Name:
Kerry
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Re: Is it only in England? Christmas related...
never heard of this, maybe
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| Posted 12/19/07 12:31 PM |
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MrsMerlot
Unconditional Love
Member since 4/06 6005 total posts
Name:
Chrissy
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Re: Is it only in England? Christmas related...
I should've googled first!
copyright of projectbritain.com
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Crackers are very popular and accompany many meals over the Christmas period, especially on Christmas Day.
A Christmas Cracker is a brightly coloured paper tube, twisted at both ends. There is a banger inside the cracker and when it is pulled by two people, the cracker snaps in half making a loud bang.
Inside the cracker there is a paper crown made from tissue paper (see photo on left), a joke on a slip of paper and a little gift.
How to pull a cracker
The traditional way to pull a cracker is crossing your arms and pulling a whole circle of crackers all around the table. Everyone holds their crack in their right hand and pulls their neighbours cracker with the free left hand.
Why do we wear king's paper crowns?
We wear paper hats on special occasions like Christmas Day and birthday parties. The tradition of wearing hats at parties goes back to the Roman Saturnalia celebrations (celebrated around 25 December) when the participants also wore hats.
The idea of wearing a paper crown may have originated from the Twelfth Night celebrations, where a King or Queen was appointed to look over the proceedings.
The paper crown hats we wear today are found inside the Christmas crackers. Crackers are very traditional items to have at Christmas. A cracker consists of a cardboard tube wrapped in a brightly decorated twist of paper, making it resemble an oversized sweet-wrapper. The cracker is pulled by two people and each one contains a small toy, a joke or motto, and a tissue-paper crown hat, usually a crown.
Please send a postcard to our students,
to help them learn about the place where you live.
History of Christmas Crackers
Christmas crackers were invented by Thomas Smith in 1846.
During a visit to Paris he came across the bob-bon, a sugar almond wrapped in tissue paper (with a twist either side of the centrally placed sweet). Thomas decided to try selling similarly wrapped sweets in the lead up to Christmas in England. His bon-bons sold well at Christmas but not at other times of the year.
In the early 1850s Thomas came up with the idea of including a motto with the sweet. As many of his bon-bons were bought by men to give to women, many of the mottos were simple love poems.
In about 1860, Thomas added the banger, two strips of chemically impregnated paper that made a loud noise on being pulled apart. At first these novelties were called 'cosaques', but they soon became known as 'crackers'.
Unfortunately for Thomas, his 'cracker' idea was copied by other manufactures and so he decided to replace the sweet with a surprise gift.
When Thomas died his two sons took over the business. The paper hat was added to the cracker the early 1900s and by the end of the 1930s the love poems had been replaced by jokes or limericks.
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| Posted 12/19/07 12:33 PM |
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MrsMerlot
Unconditional Love
Member since 4/06 6005 total posts
Name:
Chrissy
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Re: Is it only in England? Christmas related...
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| Posted 12/19/07 12:33 PM |
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ODonnell
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Member since 9/05 5983 total posts
Name:
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Re: Is it only in England? Christmas related...
They probably got them out of Christmas crackers.
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| Posted 12/19/07 12:35 PM |
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sticklee
LIF Adult
Member since 8/06 2984 total posts
Name:
Stick
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Re: Is it only in England? Christmas related...
we did this last year - my aunt had bought a pack of them for fun
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| Posted 12/19/07 12:38 PM |
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MrsPJB2007
MBA at your service!
Member since 7/06 12020 total posts
Name:
MJ
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Re: Is it only in England? Christmas related...
i've seen that in movies too in england---the hugh grant movie "About A Boy" and they did it in "Bridget Jones Diary" i was always curious about it
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| Posted 12/19/07 12:39 PM |
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Re: Is it only in England? Christmas related...
I had never heard of this either. Then I spent Christmas with Kevin's family, apparently they do this every year.
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| Posted 12/19/07 12:42 PM |
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ODonnell
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Member since 9/05 5983 total posts
Name:
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Re: Is it only in England? Christmas related...
Posted by sticklee
we did this last year - my aunt had bought a pack of them for fun
They actually sell them here. I have bought them at Marshalls and Bed Bath & Beyond. We have them every Christmas - some traditions are hard to give up
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| Posted 12/19/07 12:46 PM |
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Gatsbygirl
Please St. Therese....
Member since 10/07 8494 total posts
Name:
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Re: Is it only in England? Christmas related...
Williams Sonoma and Homegoods have those crackers. My mom got them one year. It's a nice tradition. I wish it would catch on here
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| Posted 12/19/07 2:15 PM |
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yankinmanc
Happy Days!
Member since 8/05 18208 total posts
Name:
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Re: Is it only in England? Christmas related...
Yes, everyone wears them in england at Christmas dinners. They ALWAYS come in the crackers. My christmas do is this friday, I will take some pictures of my team in paper crowns.
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| Posted 12/19/07 2:31 PM |
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MsMBV
:P
Member since 5/05 28602 total posts
Name:
Me
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Re: Is it only in England? Christmas related...
they come in the christmas crackers!!!! We have many a picture with paper crowns!
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| Posted 12/19/07 6:14 PM |
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annie
This is how I play basketball!
Member since 6/05 1980 total posts
Name:
Stephanie
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Re: Is it only in England? Christmas related...
we wear them every year at Christmas Eve dinner. we make a big deal over everyone opening their crackers, reading the jokes, and putting on the crowns. super corny, but such a nice tradition!!
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| Posted 12/20/07 10:28 PM |
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klingklang77
kraftwerk!
Member since 7/06 11487 total posts
Name:
Völlig losgelöst
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Re: Is it only in England? Christmas related...
They wear them in Australia too.
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| Posted 12/20/07 10:34 PM |
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Moehick
Ready for the sun!
Member since 5/05 30339 total posts
Name:
Properly perfect™
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Re: Is it only in England? Christmas related...
They wear them in Ireland too
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| Posted 12/20/07 10:35 PM |
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leese
Sarge!
Member since 5/05 1965 total posts
Name:
Leese
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Re: Is it only in England? Christmas related...
We wear them every year. I fight for the purple one.
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| Posted 12/21/07 8:47 AM |
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yankinmanc
Happy Days!
Member since 8/05 18208 total posts
Name:
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Re: Is it only in England? Christmas related...
I will probably be wearing one tonight. God help me.
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| Posted 12/21/07 8:50 AM |
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MsMBV
:P
Member since 5/05 28602 total posts
Name:
Me
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Re: Is it only in England? Christmas related...
Posted by leese
We wear them every year. I fight for the purple one.
so do I. I have to have the purple one or I pout
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| Posted 12/21/07 9:00 AM |
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