A taste of Christmas Tudor at Kenilworth Castle

17 & 18 December 2011

If you ever wondered about the origins of many Christmas traditions, from St. Nicholas to Christmas pudding, then head for Kenilworth Castle on 17 and 18 December for a series of presentations on festive origins from popular historical interpreting duo, Heuristics.

According to Don Holton of Heuristics, many people take our contemporary Christmas traditions for granted, but don’t know the fascinating stories that lie behind them. “Our traditions have often evolved over the centuries from other celebrations and festivals. For example, in Tudor times, people used to give presents for the festival of St. Nicholas on 6 December, and gifts to the elderly for St. Thomas’ Day on 21 December, but now the gift-giving has moved to 25 December as a Christmas celebration.”

Furthermore, although Father Christmas has become an integral part of the Christian Christmas celebrations, his origins were in a less than spiritual cause: “The first mentions of Father Christmas come from the 12thcentury, when ‘mummers’ used to perform roaming plays and introduced this character to poke fun at the church’s Christmas celebrations. He didn’t really reappear until the Civil War, when Cromwell wanted to distance the country from the religious significance of Christmas and so used Santa as the focus for celebrations.”

Heuristics’ “Tudor Christmas” will take the form of a series of interactive presentations throughout each day by costumed Heuristics, with the duo on hand between shows with curious facts and figures and to answer any questions on Christmases past.

The event runs each day from 11.00am to 4.00pm. Admission prices are £8.00 for adults, £7.20 for concessions or £4.80 for children. A family ticket (two adults and up to three children) is available for just £20.80. English Heritage members get in free.

For more details, please visit www.english-heritage.org.uk/kenilworth or call 0870 333 1183.

ENDS

Other events in December include:

The events programme resumes on the evening of Friday 20 January with spooky Ghost Tours.

For further media information, please contact:

Jay Commins – PRO English Heritage (West Midlands)

Tel: 0113 251 5698

Mob: 07810 546567

Email: jay@fim.org.uk