The holiday feast of winter solstice dates back roughly three centuries preceding Christ. In celebration of the harvest, people ate whatever was in abundance, while also taking a moment to pray to the gods for a good season coming up. While we may not eat the same things, the communal meal on Christmas is still a focal point of our festive gatherings and one that borrows from many other cultural traditions.

The Christmas feast of modern Americans may include biscuits, stuffing, roast pork, ham, beef, turkey, goose, mincemeat pie, eggnog, roasted chestnuts and apple pie. In England, there were many similar findings at a Xmas party: cranberry sauce, turkey, ham, roast beef, stuffing, corn, squash, green beans, pumpkin pie, marzipan, pfeffernusse, sugar cookies, fruitcake and mince pie. In England, feasting on Christmas Day has largely fluctuated between fashionable and offensive.

For instance, Henry III had 600 oxen slaughtered for a feast in the mid 1200s, yet he also made it customary to give food to the poor. Following suit, Richard II feasted with over 10,000 guests. However, Martin Luther’s Reformation struck down the season’s decadent ways, replacing the parties with fasting and private prayer. It wasn’t until Queen Victoria’s reign that all of the Christmas feasting resumed. The Queen and her German-born husband, Prince Albert, dined on goose, turkey, roast beef, mince pie, Yorkshire pudding, plum pudding, eggnog and wassail.

More On: The Holiday Feast

Technorati Tags: The holiday, on Christmas, Xmas party, on Christmas Day, Christmas Day, this Christmas

Quickly bookmark What Is The Holiday Feast? at:                                                

This entry was posted on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 2:37 pm and is filed under Holidays & Special Occasions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.