Question: What are Christmas Crackers?
Christmas just isn't Christmas without Christmas Crackers -the quaint British custom of placing the cardboard tubes containing paper crowns, novelties of toys, and silly Christmas jokes or motto's on the Christmas table makes for a traditional British festivity.
Answer: Sitting round the Christmas dinner table with silly paper crowns on our heads is a traditional part of a traditional British Christmas as the pudding.
Christmas crackers were invented by Thomas Smith in 1846. During a visit to Paris he came across the bob-bon, a sugar almond wrapped in tissue paper (with a twist either side of the centrally placed sweet). He expanded his idea by adding the novelty of a motto, originally a love poem, and then the 'crack' from chemically impregnated paper making the loud bang when the cracker was pulled apart. The paper crown is believed to have originated from Twelfth Night celebrations, where a King or Queen was appointed to look over the proceedings.
Crackers can now be as tacky or sophisticated as your budget; the more expensive the better the novelties and the quality of the paper crowns. Whatever you choose, no Christmas table is complete without them.
Christmas crackers were invented by Thomas Smith in 1846. During a visit to Paris he came across the bob-bon, a sugar almond wrapped in tissue paper (with a twist either side of the centrally placed sweet). He expanded his idea by adding the novelty of a motto, originally a love poem, and then the 'crack' from chemically impregnated paper making the loud bang when the cracker was pulled apart. The paper crown is believed to have originated from Twelfth Night celebrations, where a King or Queen was appointed to look over the proceedings.
Crackers can now be as tacky or sophisticated as your budget; the more expensive the better the novelties and the quality of the paper crowns. Whatever you choose, no Christmas table is complete without them.
