Christmas Firsts #8 : Turkey

If your family is like ours, we love to have turkey at Christmas. I have often wondered whether the tradition of Christmas turkey has its origins in England or in the USA. Turkey was already popular in the American colonies but Henry VIII (1491 - 1547) was the first English king to enjoy turkey and was the first recorded king to have turkey on the Christmas menu in 1526. However, eating turkey at Christmas didn't really become fashionable until the reign of Edward VII ( 1841-1910).

Mrs Beeton, in her 1861 Book of Household Management indicated that turkey was not popular as “a Christmas dinner with the middle classes” until the 19th century. At first, in medieval England, a main course of boar was the most popular. Through the 16th and 17th centuries goose or capon was commonly served, and the rich sometimes dined upon peacock and swan.

Turkeys, while becoming more available, remained a luxury until 1950’s. Working class families were not able to afford turkey even for Christmas. ( Do you remember a famous Christmas dinner scene at the end in Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1843), where Scrooge sends Bob Cratchitt a large turkey as an especially generous gift.)

I can’t remember when we first started to include turkey for our Christmas dinner in Australia. I don't recall turkey for Christmas when I was a child, but for all of my married life,(46 years) we have owned and served on two large turkey platters. I am only assuming that turkey at Christmas must have been popular in Australia from about or before the 1960’s as one of our platters, a Johnson Brothers is from that decade.

Comments

Giveaway - Gifts for You on My Birthday

Giveaway Gifts T his week is blog giveaway time! Last week I celebrated my birthday. I’ve had far too many to count the candles, but I had a wonderful party on the weekend with my family - with an indulgent birthday cake, favourite foods cooked by my husband and great company. ( In case you were wondering about the writing on the cake , Por Por = Chinese grandmother) I also got great gifts from my family and friends. There seemed to be a bit of a theme this year – with many of my gifts and cards depicting matryshoka ( babushka) dolls and tea drinking. As it is also winter here in Australia , it was easy for me to decide what I could offer as gifts in this birthday giveaway. All the gifts are handmade by me. Gift 1 - two little fabric matryshoka dolls Gift 2- a little bag made from colourful teapot and teacup fabric . The design is called a jester bag, but it is suitable for carrying s...

"Temari Or Not Temari?" Tutorial

Background Information: Temari (literally translated “hand ball”) is a Japanese folk craft that is alleged to have originated in China and was introduced to Japan five or six hundred years ago. Traditionally, the balls were constructed from wrapped kimono fabric remnants and silk threads. They were made by mothers and grandmothers for children to play with. Nowadays, decorative embroidered temari represent a highly valued and cherished gift symbolizing friendship and loyalty. Recently I've wondered if your don't use traditional techniques whether you should call what you create "temari". That is an ongoing debate but today I share what I do to make a "non-traditional temari".... 1.I start with a polystrene ball ( traditionally the balls were wound silk scraps or other organic materials) and begin to wrap with approx 4 ply wool, turning the ball as I wrap. 2. I then wrap another layer of wool in a similar fashion , this time a 3 or 2 ...

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks .... The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or my husband or from off cuts gifted to us from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks. Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Search This Blog