The use of evergreens to decorate for Christmas goes back to Kalenós, the ancient mid-winter feasts of the Romans.

The word pomander comes from the French pomme d’ambre, meaning amber apple. Pomanders, small balls of perfume carried in a hinged metal case or aromatic spheres prepared with fruits and spices, had a dual purpose.

Carols were first sung in Europe thousands of years ago. These were pagan songs sung in celebration of the winter solstice, or mid-winter. Over time, wassailing and Christmas caroling went hand in hand in Tudor England.

In Tudor times, what was wassail, and what was wassailing? During the Christmas season, groups of people traveled from house to house with a communal wassail bowl to wish good health to their neighbors and sharing the wasssail drink.

Agecroft Hall was built in Richmond with the intention of it becoming a museum.

Games like Nine Men’s Morris (a cross between checkers and tic-tac-toe) and stoolball (similar to baseball and cricket) were homemade games available to the working and servant classes, however, working men and women did not normally have much leisure time for game-playing.

The kissing ball, or bough, comes to us from the Middle Ages.

A Tudor Word Search

If you have ever watched a movie like Freaky Friday, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle or Your Name, you are familiar with the idea of two people swapping bodies and living each other’s lives for a while.

You may be familiar with the tradition of “popping” Christmas crackers during the holidays.

In Medieval England gingerbread meant preserved ginger. The hard cookies were a staple at Medieval fairs in England and on the continent. These became known as “gingerbread fairs” and the cookies called “fairings”.

Mincemeat pies, or Christmas pies, are a traditional main course dish dating back to Tudor times.

The idea of sugaring plums and other fruits and roots originated in the 1600’s in England as a way, along with smoking and salting meats, to preserve foods.