We all have different traditions on Christmas Day (and the days around it). Sometimes we attend community events, sometimes we have specific meals, and sometimes we see specific people. Depending on where you live and your family, you also might spend at least part of the holiday season playing games. While these days there tends to be more Monopoly, Jenga, Ticket to Ride, and Codenames, historically there has been a very wide variety of preferred festive games. So, if you are looking for suggestions for your own holiday celebrations, maybe you will find some in the history of Christmas Games!
Games- A Legal Requirement?
Games have been associated with the holiday season for several centuries now, longer than you might imagine. Late medieval laws in England specifically allowed commoners to play enjoy games that were otherwise banned throughout the year. By King Henry VIII’s reign, these specially allowed games included dice, cards, tennis, tables, and bowls. (Tennis was not quite the same as the sport we now know, but the principle still stands.) We see this reversal of “regular” societal rules and standards during the holiday season with other traditions, such as the Lord of Misrule and the Boy Bishop.
Community Games for the Holidays
For several centuries, popular holiday games were played and enjoyed as a community. For example, in Yawning for a Cheshire Cheese (eighteenth century), whichever party guests had the biggest yawn would go home with a prize of cheese. (But… can we bring this game back? I feel like I would be very competitive…)
There are also several games that see one or more people in a large group blindfolded, like Blindman’s Buff where a blindfolded individual tries to catch a player and guess who they are and Hot Cockles, where the blindfolded player gets hit and tries to guess who hit him. (I feel like violent games like this should not be making a comeback, and it seems obvious why they would have normally been banned.)
Gambling- Why Not?
As we learned in the history of Georgian Christmas, gambling was fairly popular in the Royal Family. We see the royals gambling during the Tudor dynasty and continuing on for several centuries. It may seem odd to us that the holiday season could be closely linked with loosing large sums of money, but who are we to say what constitutes the correct holiday games?
The Victorians Shift to Tabletop Gaming
Unsurprisingly, holiday game trends and traditions shifted during the Victorian period. For the Victorian middle classes, gambling was not the preferred game. “The 19th century saw the rise of the board game, which then came to dominate Christmas entertainment until the last half of the twentieth century, when television began to intrude”. (Encyclopedia, 88) Board games brought the focus back to the immediate family-group, a common element in Victorian holiday celebrations. It also just happens to coincide with rise of readily-available manufactured goods.
Board games are still a popular holiday choice in Britain; while they are often paired with various Christmas specials on tv, you would not have to look far to find a board game or two. And this is entirely anecdotal, but a lot of people I know in Canada are turning back to board games around the holidays!
Christmas Day Sporting Events
This is a very American tradition, but professional games also have their place in Christmas in the US. Both the NBA and the NFL play games on Christmas Day. As a Canadian, it seems slightly sad to me that all of the players and staff for the teams and arenas/stadiums have to work on Christmas Day, but I suppose that families also gather to watch the games!
Now that you’re familiar with the history of Christmas games, which would you choose to play?
Cheers,
The Historian
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