Where are our British Christmas traditions going?

[RabbitsNBears]

I can’t help but feel ever so sad about the wonderful Christmas traditions we grew up with are disappearing. It's like we are raising our young ones in the USA. Who is “Santa”? In my day he was called Father Christmas. What is this elf on the shelf nonsense, as far as I can tell he teaches our grandchildren that misbehaving is amusing, not the old fashioned lessons of behaving as Father Christmas knows if you’ve been good or bad. And don’t even get me started on how my DIL had the grandchildren leaving “Santa” cookies and milk. What’s wrong with a glass of brandy and a mince pie?

Yep

Silly me - I thought it was a USA bashing thread!

Even the OP's 'Nanna' is anti-American.

Hey ho

It is an Americanism, even if it did come here quite some time ago. It is from the Dutch for Saint Nicholas who actually has no connection to Father Christmas. The British Father Christmas has now merged with the European St. Nicholas (US Santa Claus) so most people don't realise they don't have the same origin. Interesting article: The History of Father Christmas | English Heritage

Or Sunty Ne Scotland.

The above pronunciation is probably dying out now.

’Santa Claus’ was already popular over here by the 1880s, and appeared in England at around the same time as the idea that he brought children presents. If you want to maintain an older idea of Father Christmas, even one based on earlier 19th century English traditions, he might be riding a goat (no reindeer), he’s probably not wearing red (more likely brown or green), he’ll wear holly on his head instead of a hat, and you’ll need to have him stop giving gifts to children…but then you’d lose the traditions of children writing letters and putting out mince pies and a glass of something for him.

The traditions you’re worried about losing are based on traditions that had already evolved.

My children are still visited by Father Christmas, we leave a mince pie out & a glass of booze, plus a carrot for the reindeer.

There is no Elf on the Shelf! They have soft toy Elves (not the hideous plastic faced "naughty" ones, and I've told them their Elves monitor their behaviour in December and report back to FC.

We have no christmas eve boxes.

We eat mince pies, christmas cake and stollen, and sing carols round the piano.

In Wales, Santa is known as Siôn Corn which translates to John of the Horn!

I don't know what to say John! That is amazing 😀

We even have a book!

Brummie here and it was always Father Christmas, with no wretched elves anywhere. My parents were definitely not ‘posh’.

He’s always been Santa or Santy in Ireland. We always left a dram and a mince pie then later a pint of Guinness.

I guess my Dad preferred the pint to the dram.

@Shmoigel out of curiosity.....in the book what's the Welsh word for "Blooming" ?

The book is down in my mams I will check it x

Thanks.
I was just curious 🙂
It's one of my favourite books ever.
Trivia...the Milkman who says hello to Father Christmas at the end of the book was based on Raymond Briggs dad who was a milkman.

We have never done the elf thing, seems creepy to me but it is additional tradition to me doesn't eradicate one, same person santa or father Christmas and if people leave food out not everyone left the same nor would leave the same now but something is still left out

We dont do advent boxes, nor Christmas eve ones nor matching pj's but again these are additional traditions cant see any of it removing anything

But why does everyone have to have exactly the same traditions, my husbands family and mine don't do everything the same so we dont do the same as our parents, as families mix things change, just a differenc

Traditions evolve and change.

I've recently discovered it was a ' tradition' for some UK women in factory and similar jobs to pin down male supervisors and strip their clothes off at Christmas or leaving parties in the 60s/70s.

That would be seen as sexual assault now and should have been then.

I'm nearly 50 and we always said Santa so I don't think that's a new Americanism.

Or made up by Dickens.

True 😂
It's all just made up anyway.
(Well St Nick was an actual person but other than that.....)

My dp was brought up with Santa in Ireland.I had to train him into Father Christmas.

I wondered how long it would take before "What's this American Santa nonsense " appeared.

It's ALWAYS been Santa in Scotland, never Father Christmas. Don't assume that if it's not something you say then it must be American.

I am 59 years 9 old and have never in my life said "Father Christmas". Its Santa where I live.

And again, England is not the UK.
In Scotland its traditional. My grandparents did it and they were born in the 1920s.
Hardly an American import whatever google says.

You sound a bundle of laughs.