Christmas in Scotland: History, Traditions & Celebrations

In the 1600s when Oliver Cromwell ruled the United Kingdom during a period called the Reformation, Parliament put in place the banning of "Christ's Mass". When Cromwell fell from power the ban was lifted, other than in Scotland where our very own Grinch, John Knox, founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland kept the ban in place. Christmas was removed from the Calendar altogether and punishments for celebrating Yule were harsh. Prior to the Reformation, the winter solstice was referred to as Yule (Yogh in Older Scots or Jul in Norse) in a similar fashion to the rest of Catholic Europe.

It wasn't until 1958 that Christmas Day was recognised as a public holiday and until then it is was just another working day for many Scots. Sadly few adults exchanged presents but children would receive small treats and some families may have decorated with boughs of Holly. I must ask my Grandad more about this as it amazes me to think that within his lifetime the day has changed to become a highlight of every Scots year! Without a large Christmas, we simply shifted the celebrations back a week and for many years Hogmanay was the biggest winter celebration for Scottish people. Perhaps this is why we now have the reputation of hosting the best New Year celebration in the World. You can read all about traditional New Year celebrations in Anna's guide to Hogmanay.

One of the many Scottish Christmas traditions that were banned for all those years was the baking of Yule Bread, an unleavened bread loaf made with caraway seeds and plaited to form a circle representing the sun. During the ban, bakers had to give the authorities the name of anyone requesting this festive treat. Each member of the family is said to have had their own loaf and the family member who found a trinket in their loaf was to have good luck all year. Today the tradition of hiding a charm for good luck is more often associated with Christmas pudding or the Clootie Dumpling. A slightly darker tale says that the loaves were also placed under the beds of newborns and that spirits would have to count the seeds found in the bread, distracting them from stealing the child!

Scott Richardson-Read's blog, Cailleach’s Herbarium - Exploring Lost Scottish Folk Customs, Practices, Traditions and Lore talks more of the folklore surrounding Yule Bread and shares a recipe if you'd like to make your own loaf.

Carrying on the Yuletide theme, the Yule Log tradition dates back to Viking times. On the shortest day of the year, pagans would burn a specially selected Yule log, with the charred remains from the previous year's log, and all who sat around the burning fire would have good luck and prosperity throughout the year.

Today Yule Logs are most commonly thought of as a chocolate roulade cake which acts as a fantastic show stopping Christmas desert. No one is exactly sure how the yule log became a popular dessert but it's a great nod to our pagan ancestors and a very tasty treat for the family.

While we are still talking food... one of our favourite topics in the ScotlandShop office! Mince Pies have always caused a lot of confusion, containing a mixture of dried fruits and spices called "mincemeat" opposed to ground beef mince but traditionally the pies would have contained meat as well as the fruit and spices we know today. As with Yule, bread bakers were forbidden to prepare the pies and the small size of mince pies came about as the little pies made it easier to hide them from the prying eyes of the church.

In a similar vein to the Pagans and their Yule Log, the Celts went a little further, with the tradition of the Cailleach, or “Old Woman Winter”, a log carved with the face of an old woman, also known as the Hag of Winter who was said to bring the long nights and cold.

By burning the log the Celts were banishing any lingering bad luck as well as banishing the cold and darkness.

Burning a Rowan Tree branch also became a popular tradition as a way to clear any bad feelings between friends and family. The tree itself was said to bring protection to the area by which it grew, and was the chosen plant badge for clans Malcolm& MacLachlan. In Scots Gaelic its name is Caorunn which can be seen across the Highlands with place names like Beinn Chaorunn in Inverness-shire and Loch a’chaorun in Easter Ross.

Now synonymous with Christmas, Mistletoe was also popular with Pagans as they brought greenery into their homes as a symbol of life during the dark winter nights. The potential origins of kissing under the Mistletoe come from Norse mythology with a tale of the god Baldur who's mother, Frigg, cast a spell to ensure no plant grown on earth could harm her son.

The only plant her spell didn't reach was mistletoe as it doesn't grow out of the earth but instead from a tree's branches. When another Norse God, Loki, discovered this he created a spear from mistletoe which killed Baldur. Following his death Frigg declares mistletoe to be a symbol of love for her son and promises to kiss anyone who passes underneath it. Mistletoe is also the plant badge of Clan Hay who own Duns Castle, just a few miles from our HQ.

With Christmas celebrations growing in popularity ever since the Victorian era, more on this later... Boxing Day also became a public holiday in Scotland in 1974. The origins of Boxing Day aren't clear but it's said that wealthy residents would allow servants to visit their families following their hard work on Christmas Day, and in recognition of their efforts would present them with a Christmas Box. I doubt many families still had servants here in the 1970s, but in the rest of the UK Boxing Day had been observed as a bank holiday since 1871. In parts of Scotland, Boxing Day was known as ‘Sweetie Scone Day’, and similarly to Christmas Boxes the ‘sweetie scones’ are said to have been given by lords and ladies to hardworking staff and those less well off.

Originally made famous by 17th-century Scots poet Robert Fergusson, the phrase ‘daft days’ describes the fun and merriment of the twelve days that run between Christmas, New Year, and the first Monday of the year, known as Handsel Monday. This whole period is known as the Daft Days because it is given over to celebration, merriment, and excess, with many people having the license to act in daft ways.

Last year, poet Len Pennie wrote A Toast Tae The Daft Days, Len is a strong advocate for Scots and has gained a loyal online following for her modern-day Scots poetry, Amy caught up with Len to hear all about her fascination for the Scots Language on Anna'nother thing about tartan.

Known around the world as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus, Kris Kringle & Papa Noel, in Scotland we simply refer to Father Christmas as Santa.

One of my favourite Christmas songs by The Scottish Quest All Stars even claims that Santa's a Scotsman!

Where would Santa be without his reindeer? The claim that Santa is a Scotsman could in fact be true as the only reindeer in the UK live in the Scottish Highlands. The 150-strong herd roam the CairngormMountains and can be visited all year. The Reindeer have been in the Cairngorms since 1952, 6 years before Christmas was even a public holiday! Maybe Santa just needed time to train the Reindeer?

Mikel Utsi and his wife Dr. Ethel Lindgren were the co-founders of the Reindeer Company and whilst on their honeymoon very quickly identified the Cairngorms as an ideal place for reindeer to be:

It may seem a rather far-fetched idea to bring reindeer by ship from Sweden to Scotland but reindeer are actually native to Scotland with records from about eight centuries ago of reindeer and red deer being hunted together in Caithness by the Earls of Orkney. On arrival in Scotland, the reindeer had to quarantine at Edinburgh Zoo for 28 days before being released in the Cairngorms! Seeing just how cute the reindeer are I might just have to pay them a visit later this year!

As we saw with Mistletoe the tradition of bringing greenery inside during the winter months is a longstanding tradition but Christmas Trees didn't become popular in the UK until the Victorian Era. Queen Victoria grew up with the tradition of decorating a tree thanks to her Hanoverian ancestors and German mother, but it wasn't until Prince Albert, also of German descent, who was particularly fond of the tradition took on the role of decorating the trees at Windsor Castle that this became popular and spread rapidly across Britain.

While Victorian trees featured candles, sweets, fruit, homemade decorations, and small gifts. Today lights, baubles, and unique decorations are more commonly seen so why not show off your Scottish roots this year with a Tartan Heart or Highland Coo?

It was also during the Victorian Era that our modern-day Turkey dinner replaced goose as the preferred festive feast, and this seems to be when the mince pies we explored earlier transformed from meat pies into our modern-day sweet treats.

However, the most significant transformation during the Victoria era was the idea of Christmas centering around the family. As well as preparing a feast and decorating a tree, gift-giving, entertainment, and parlour games all became essential traditions for the whole family to enjoy. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is said to have encapsulated the joyful spirit of Victorian Christmas, popularising these traditions and forming much of what we recognise as a traditional Christmas today.