In this time period, one of the world 's most popular sports emerged. Folk Football, better known as soccer, had been played in towns according to their customs and most of the time …show more content…
The English originally gave Christmas gifts to their servants, the poor, and others who provided service for them on Christmas day, while gift giving for families occurred on New Year’s Day (Gulevich 785). The revival of this holiday put a spin on gift giving too. Once the Victorian Age arrived in England, the recently revived Christmas holiday helped transition family gift giving from New Year’s Day to Christmas Day (Gulevich 786). However the transition of gift giving was not the only change for the holiday season. Thanks to Prince Albert, a new tradition was added to Christmas time (Gulevich 786). He was credited for importing this originally German idea to the country (Gulevich 786). This newly found tradition also included decorations as well. During this time period, Christmas trees were covered with things to eat and many small gifts (Gulevich 786). The tree was also in the center of the home, which became the sight for the exchanging of gifts (Gulevich 786). Gifts and Trees were new traditions to this festive time of year, but there were also many different types Christmas novelties and other forms of …show more content…
The first novelty was created in the 1860s and they were seasonal greeting cards (Gulevich 787). However, these cards were not originally for this time of year. The cards actually read Happy New Year instead of Merry Christmas but with the revival of the holiday card makers started to make them with Merry Christmas on them (Gulevich 787). These cards were also made with silk, cords, and even tassels (Gulevich 787). Another novelty was a huge hit for children. This was called a Christmas cracker, which was a cardboard tubes, wrapped in wrapping paper filled with a variety of small trinkets (Gulevich 787). Two children would then grab the two ends of the cracker and when it would burst producing a loud popping noise (Gulevich 787). Then there were also parlor games to look forward to. The most well known parlor game was called Snapdragon and this was when someone would take a bowl full of raisin-like fruit, pour spirits on top and then light it on fire (Gulevich 787). Then people would dare each other to pull one of the fruits out of the bowl (Gulevich 787). Christmas today is still if not more festive as it was during the Victorian