Whilst last Christmas was about small gatherings or parties at home just for close family, Christmas 2021 can’t come quickly enough for me! After the long lockdowns and worries of 2020, it’s time for the glitz and glamour, bubbles and baubles and lots of Christmas traditions. It’s time to make Christmas magical again.
It seems that ‘tradition’ is going to be everything this year both in terms of what we buy and give and the way we celebrate. According to retail experts, the most popular toys this Christmas are going to be traditional toys and games that can be enjoyed by the whole family. Likewise, families nationwide are already planning their get togethers; Christmas lunches, parties and of course…trips to see the big man himself…Father Christmas.
Did you know that Santa gets billions of letters every year from children all over the world? The country sending the most mail to Santa every Christmas season, according to statistical data, is none other than France. French children are sending a staggering 1.7 million letters each year to Jolly Old Saint Nick, compared to just 800,000 from the UK. Though it’s a tradition many of us would have done ourselves, or with our children or grandchildren.
What traditions will you be doing this year? Making a ‘Christmas Eve Box’, watching the Polar Express or White Christmas, catching a local Panto (it’s behind you!), baking cookies for Santa or lighting a Yule Log? Did you know, the lighting of the Yule Log is actually an old Cornish tradition? A stickman, or woman, is chalked on the log as a symbol of the death of the old year and the birth of the new and then thrown on the fire.
In fact there are lots of traditions unique to our county of Cornwall – some heart warming and some strange, including the festival of Montol. Montol, which means ‘winter solstice’ in Cornish, is a recently-revived ancient festival that takes place every year in Penzance. The ritual heart of the festival, which has been likened to a Venetian Masquerade, is the huge ‘Rivers of Fire’ procession, which features countless home-made lanterns, the Penglaz ‘Obby Oss, guise dancers and musicians and culminates in the ‘Lighting of the Mock’ at Lesckudjack Hill Fort, one of the most ancient and stunning sites in Penzance.
So this year, make sure you create some new traditions of your own and be sure to celebrate together. Here at China Fleet, we’ve got Christmas Lunches, Boxing Day Brunch, Festive Afternoon Teas, New Year’s Eve Party and of course….our traditional Christmas Grotto and Breakfast with Santa.
Celebrate the most magical time of year with friends, family…and us.
See you next week and see you at the Club soon,
