In late 18th-century northern England, the Christmas season (Christmastide) was observed from St. Nicholas’s Day (6 Dec) through Twelfth Night (Epiphany, 6 Jan) . In the aristocratic castle, the season was marked by a series of private entertainments – family gatherings, balls and dances, church services, and feasts. Many noble households began the season by exchanging small gifts on St Nicholas’s Day . On Christmas Day itself the gentry attended church in the morning and then returned for a grand Christmas dinner . Typical menus included roasted goose or turkey (and often venison for the landowning class) followed by plum pudding . Guests might linger after the meal for parlour games and conversation. In practice, surviving diaries show that even wealthy families often kept the day relatively restrained: for example, Yorkshire gentleman John Courtney’s 1789 diary records only church attendance and a modest supper on Christmas .
In the castle household, the decoration and hospitality of Christmas were important. Evergreens (holly, ivy, mistletoe) were not brought indoors until Christmas Eve, when family members festooned the halls with wreaths and “kissing boughs” (garlands of holly and candles) . A massive Yule log was cut on Christmas Eve, carried home wrapped in hazel branches, and burned in the great hearth throughout Christmastide . According to tradition the master of the house should save a splinter of this log to light the next year’s fire . (Folklore held that the old log-embers, thrown back on the blaze on Christmas Eve, could safeguard the home from fire and storm .) Christmas Day and the Twelve Days were also an open season for hospitality: country houses in principle maintained an “open-house” for friends and neighbours throughout Christmastide . Even if not lavish, the castle might host carol-singing waits or instrumental ensembles, and family and retainers joined in to eat, sing and dance.
At larger estates the servants had their own Christmas customs. It was customary to let the staff have the day after Christmas (Boxing Day) off to visit family, and to present each servant with a small gratuity or gift on St. Stephen’s Day (26 Dec) . These “Christmas boxes” – typically coins, clothing, or household goods – symbolized the master’s goodwill. In some households the week after Christmas featured a servants’ ball or supper (often on Twelfth Night), when servants could dress up, dance and socialize as peers . (Later tradition, as depicted in Downton Abbey, shows masters sometimes even waiting on servants for a night – a vestige of the ancient Saturnalia spirit. ) According to one estimate, the custom of giving Christmas boxes to servants and tradesmen was well-established by the 18th century, and masters often gave seasonal alms to the poor on St. Stephen’s Day . (In fact, contemporary newspapers note that some northern landowners donated whole oxen, bread and pence to hundreds of paupers during Christmastide .)
Village Traditions and Community Celebrations
In the surrounding village, Christmas combined religious observance with older folk customs. Villagers generally attended the parish church on Christmas Day (and on Sundays in the Twelve Days); some accounts note double services on Christmas morning and afternoon . Afterwards, people would visit neighbours’ homes or the local inn to share food, ale and tobacco – often a crock of warmed wassail (mulled beer or wine) passed among the company . Rural families hung holly and ivy on 24 Dec and sat around the Yule log fire. They prepared special dishes such as furmety (a sweet porridge of wheat, spices and milk) on Christmas Eve and apples or nuts as treats.
Folk entertainment was abundant. In some villages a band of Waits (carol-singers) wandered at midnight on Christmas Eve or early Christmas morning, singing simple carols for donations (the tradition often vexing those who wanted to sleep ). Children and youths paraded through the village on Christmas Day carrying lanterns and begging “Christmas boxes” (gifts of money or sweets) from neighbours . Mumming plays and wassailing were part of the season: villagers might visit apple orchards on Twelfth Night, singing to the trees and sharing ale to ensure a good harvest (this pagan‐rooted ritual lingered in cider regions) . On Boxing Day many young men and boys went out hunting (in poorer areas perhaps for rabbits or birds), or helped drag a plough through the streets in the Plough Monday custom (the first Monday after Epiphany). The Plough Monday festivities – noted into the late 18th century – involved ploughmen singing “God-speed the plough” and dancing with a decorated ploughshare, collecting money by threat of playful mischief (“ploughing up” a refuser’s yard) . In this way the agricultural community welcomed the new year and blessed the coming planting season.
Despite social differences, castle and village traditions often mingled. Landlords expected decorum among villagers (some gentry frowned on raucous revelry), but most British Christmas customs were shared across classes. Charity and social obligation played a key role: poor families could expect handouts or entertainment from the local squire. For example, an 1810 report from East Yorkshire records a squire giving an ox, loaves of bread and coins to the poor on Christmas and New Year’s Day . Local clergy or gentry might also host a dinner for tenantry or poor householders at Christmas. Conversely, villagers sometimes contributed gifts of farm produce (turkeys, geese, cheese) to their lord as a token of loyalty.
The Twelve Days: Schedule of Festivities
A typical Christmastide in 1789 unfolded roughly as follows:
- St Nicholas’s Day (Dec 6): The season’s opening, often celebrated by gift exchanges among friends and family . Tradition held this as the start of Christmas festivities.
- Christmas Eve (Dec 24): Houses were decorated with evergreens (holly, ivy, mistletoe) – but only on this night, since bringing greenery in too early was unlucky . In the evening families gathered around the fire. A Yule log was chosen and brought home (sometimes with festive singing), then set on the hearth to burn through Christmas . A small portion of the old log was often kept aside to light next year’s fire.
- Christmas Day (Dec 25): Morning Church service was mandatory. After church, the household assembled for the Christmas feast – typically featuring roast goose or turkey (and venison or beef in richer homes) . Mince pies, pudding and other seasonal fare were served. Throughout the day and evening there was visiting, games and music (often carols and country dances) . Even villagers, despite objections from austere neighbors, made merry with songs and wassail.
- St Stephen’s Day (Dec 26, Boxing Day): Formerly a day for almsgiving and charitable feasting, by 1789 it had become known as Boxing Day. Gentry gave Christmas boxes to servants and tradesmen (hence the name). Servants customarily had the day off. Sporting pastimes like the fox hunt or stag hunt often took place on or around this date – nobles and their huntsmen rode out for sport while families and staff in villages and townseye enjoyed the day.
- Dec 27–31: The holiday season continued. Gentlemen and yeoman farmers pursued winter hunts. Houses remained decorated; there would be card games, dancing, and invitations of neighbors. Some families held small balls or assemblies between Christmas and New Year’s, especially if the gentry had large social networks .
- New Year’s Day (Jan 1): Traditionally a day of eating boiled meats or brawn and saluting the new year. In aristocratic circles the New Year might be ushered in with toasts or fireworks.
- Twelfth Night (Jan 5 or 6): The climax of the festivities. The family often threw a large party. A special Twelfth Cake (fruit cake) was served: by custom a bean and pea (once baked into the cake) would determine a mock “King” and “Queen” of the evening (a tradition known since Medieval times ). Games like “bob apple” (bobbing for apples) and snapdragon (snatching raisins from flaming brandy) were popular . Wassail bowls of spiced wine or ale were passed around . At the same time, villagers gathered for wassail and final mumming plays.
- Plough Monday (first Monday after Jan 6): This marked the end of Christmas festivities. Villagers carried out the plough play rituals . Housewives and servants took down evergreens and extinguished the Yule candles by Epiphany’s end or face bad luck . With the new year, life returned to ordinary work routines.
Food and Festive Fare
Food was central to the season. On the Christmas Day table aristocrats served roast meats and rich accompaniments . Common dishes included: goose or turkey (often with forced plumes of paper decorations), roast beef or venison, and boiled or baked hams. As Historic UK notes, “for Christmas dinner there was always a turkey or goose” and for the gentry venison was “the meat of choice” . Pudding was essential: a boiled Christmas pudding (sometimes called plum pudding) flavored with suet, dried fruits and spices followed the roast . Many 18th-century cookbooks also include mince pies (meat or fruit versions) and sometimes a vast “Yorkshire pie” – a standing crust pie stuffed with a layered stack of boned fowl (duck, goose, turkey, etc.) in a concentric arrangement . These elaborate pies, often decorated with pastry swans or birds, were showpieces of the feast.
Poorer households and village bakers added their own seasonal specialties. Mince pies (small sweet tarts of chopped suet, fruit and spices) were widespread by the late 1700s . In northern England there were also local favorites: a “hackin pudding” (a sort of sweetened haggis of meat, grains and fruit) has been recorded in the North as a forerunner of the Christmas pudding . On Christmas Eve and Day, many families shared nuts, apples and cheese; on New Year’s Day they might roast or boil the boar’s head or other boar’s head game as a further celebratory dish. Frumenty (a thick wheat porridge with milk, sugar and nutmeg) was another Christmas Eve tradition in Yorkshire .
Drinks were seasonal too. The sweet wassail bowl – a hot punch of spiced ale or cider, sometimes mixed with cider brandy and roasted apples – was a staple at hearty gatherings . Mulled wines, spiced cider and beer were common. Alcohol consumption was high (and often admonished by stricter clergy). Women of the house might brew a large batch of “lamb’s wool” (light ale with roasted crab-apples floating on top) or other festive concoctions to toast each household member’s health.
Music, Dance and Entertainment
Music and merriment were hallmarks of Christmas. In the castle’s great hall and parlours one would hear the upbeat strains of the latest country dance tunes on fiddles and flutes, or simple carols on voice and harpsichord. Singing of traditional carols (many of which date to earlier centuries) was common in social gatherings . Ecclesiastical services featured hymns, but much of the caroling was secular or folk in style: for instance, local youths might swing from house to house singing “Here we come a-wassailing” and similar songs in hopes of a penny. A period account complains that in one village “all the young Gangrills in the Town [run] and shouting a merry Christmas” demanding payment for their carols .
After church on Christmas Day, families played parlour games. Snapdragon (snatching flaming raisins), bobbing for apples and blind-man’s-bluff kept guests amused around the fire . Many families also engaged in rustic theatre: mummers’ plays were acted out either in barns or the street during the Twelve Days, often involving characters like Saint George, a dragon, and fool figures (a tradition derived from older folk drama) . By Twelfth Night, dancing and even masked balls were common in wealthier circles. In fact, country houses of the late Georgian era frequently hosted formal balls during Christmastide . The servants themselves joined the fun: a servants’ ball, held for the staff often on Twelfth Night, included dancing, music and a special cake. One account notes that such balls “continued in the country houses of Britain” well into the 19th century and often took place around Twelfth Night .
Not all entertainments were boisterous. Storytelling and needlework were popular for quieter evenings. Children might receive simple toys (dolls, ribbons, nuts) from family or elders. Blessed by the household minister, Christmas charity collections or alms-boxes placed in village churches were distributed on Boxing Day, reinforcing the religious aspects of the season.
Religious Observance
Christmas remained a Christian holy day above all. By 1789 the Church of England had fully reintegrated Christmas into its calendar (after the Puritan ban in the 17th century). On Christmas Day most people – from the lord of the manor to the peasant – would attend communion or matins. Special lessons (such as the Gospel of the Nativity) and carols were read or sung in church. Sermons often emphasized charity, the Christmas story and the promise of the new year. A contemporary Yorkshire squire notes routinely attending two services on Christmas .
The church also structured the festive season: candles and greenery were blessed, and the church itself might be decorated from Christmas Eve through Epiphany. In rural parishes a “Christingle” or nativity play was less common then; church rituals were more sober than later Victorian pageantry. However, St Stephen’s Day (26 Dec) retained the older role of charity: parish records from the era often show vestry minutes allocating bread or money to poor parishioners on that day . In practice, charity by landowners and clergy (like distributing a Christmas box of food) mirrored this custom.
By Twelfth Night, the religious season ended. That evening was sometimes marked by a final church service or by folk traditions (the eve of Epiphany). On Epiphany itself (6 Jan) some villagers kept the custom of blessing their homes, chalking the door lintels with the new year’s date and the initials of the Magi (e.g. 18+C+M+B+89) for protection.
Gifts and Social Obligations
Gift-giving in 1789 was less extravagant than today’s standards. Presents at Christmas were modest. In aristocratic families gifts (often books, gloves, or small tokens) might be exchanged at the start of the season (St Nicholas’s Day) or on Christmas morning . Among neighbours and labourers, it was customary to give fruit, cakes or small sums of money to servants and apprentices. Entire villages might gather for communal games of forfeits or gingerbread (a sort of lottery or cake-walk) at Christmas tide – a way of bestowing little “gifts” on winners or all participants.
Crucially, Christmas was a time of obligation. Landowners felt they must show generosity: many records note that the gentry provided an ox or turkey to feed all the poor on Christmas Day, as part of their patronal duties . Employers were expected to reward servants and tradesmen with a holiday bonus. Even “charitable subscriptions” were collected in the countryside to help the needy at Christmas. In return, tenants and dependents observed social courtesy: showing up to the lord’s Christmas dinner (if invited), presenting seasonal gifts, or helping in household preparations. Thus Christmastide reinforced the hierarchical bond: nobles and clergy dispensed goodwill, and in exchange received loyalty and festivity from those below them in rank.
Folklore and Superstitions
Mixed in with the observances were numerous beliefs. The Yule log itself carried charms: families whispered that saving the embers would bring luck and keep evil at bay . It was said that making three wishes while the log burned would see them fulfilled in the coming year . The act of trailing smoke from the burnt log around the house was believed to cleanse it of bad spirits.
The Twelfth Cake had its lore: finding the bean or pea determined symbolic rulers of Twelfth Night . (By 1789 the practice was waning, and later guides note that the bean-and-pea had often disappeared from recipes , but the idea of a Twelfth Night king and queen persisted as a parlor game.) Kissing under the mistletoe was a developing custom; some families hung mistletoe for its promise of love, though devout households sometimes avoided it as a pagan relic .
Many thought that leaving decorations up past Epiphany could bring bad luck – so hearths, greenery and ornaments were taken down on Twelfth Night or Plough Monday . In farming communities, legend held that the first guests of Christmas (and the first footing on New Year’s) were potent omens for the family’s fortune. People often prepared a special large cake or bread for New Year to be cut at midnight, believing the slice offered to the hearth’s fire spirit would ensure protection. While overt witchcraft fears had faded, the season’s long nights still saw stories by the hearth of ghosts and wassailers (in the manner of later Victorian tales like “The Christmas Carol”).
Evidence from the Record
These customs are documented in contemporary sources. Estate papers and newspaper reports record gentry donating food and money at Christmas . Family diaries and letters (where available) mention guests, meals, and church attendance. For example, the diary of John Courtney of Beverley (East Yorkshire) covering 1789–1805 repeatedly notes simply that on Christmas Day he and his family “went to Church and had dinner,” with only a few guests, implying a subdued observance . A nearby schoolmaster, Robert Sharp of South Cave, kept detailed diaries into the 1820s which vividly describe villagers on Christmas morning: “young lads and lasses…running about for Christmas Boxes” after being awakened by the waits singing . Lists of provisions in household accounts (e.g. at stately homes) show heavy purchases of spices, raisins, sugar, and exotic fruits in December – evidence of preparing plum puddings, mince pies and sugared fruit desserts. Parish records often note special church collections or entertainments for the poor at Christmastide. Such documents, while fragmentary, confirm that an “open-house” policy prevailed through Christmastide : visitors were received, and even the poor expected some holiday cheer from their betters.
In short, Christmas 1789 in a northern English castle and village combined duty with delight. The aristocrats upheld formal tradition – church services, honed menus and genteel hospitality – while the rural folk carried on older folkloric customs of wassailing, mumming and Yule fires. Both groups found reason to celebrate: a pause from toil, hope for the year ahead, and a reaffirmation of community ties through feasting and gift-giving. The interplay of church, feasting, and folk ritual created a rich tapestry of midwinter festivity that would evolve but remain recognizable into the Victorian era.
Sources: Contemporary diaries, parish and estate records, and period accounts (e.g. Yorkshire diaries and Georgian Christmas guides) provide first-hand testimony. For example, the Georgian Society of East Yorkshire highlights 18th-century local diaries noting simple church-and-supper observance . Food and custom details are drawn from period cookbooks and travel accounts . The weaving of folk beliefs is confirmed by regional histories and antiquarian studies . We have prioritized sources specific to the North of England wherever possible, including Yorkshire chronicles and estate papers, as well as broader eighteenth-century customs compendia.
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