h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

If there are any Americans reading this, could you tell me if crackers are part of your Christmas tradition? Not the biscuits - the paper tubes you pull and break with small gifts, hats and jokes inside them.

Thanks,

Infie

Nope. Sure confused me when I read Harry Potter the first time.

Thanks, Mr X.

Pay no attention to Mister X-ion (misdirection).
He is either deliberately misleading you or simply unaware of this tradition.

Paper crackers are quite popular in my North America at birthday parties and Christmas possibly because both celebrations usually involve a sit-down meal and they are set at each place looking not unlike a rolled napkin. A small explosive 'cap' ignites with a bang when the ends are pulled and there is usually some small party favour inside.



They come in colours suitable for each occasion and it is considered quite gauche to use birthday crackers at Xmas and vice versa. The prizes inside are also often tailored to the occasion. No other celebrations are inclined to use them but occasionally leftover Xmas crackers might appear at a New Year's meal.

peace
~jwf~


~jwf~

No disrespect, jwf, but I deduce from the words "North America" and the way you spell "favours" that you are Canadian. Are you sure they do the same sort of thing south of the border?

We haven't as long as I've been alive, anyway.

I've never heard of crackers being used for Christmas in the US at all. I can confirm that I've never used them at home (Chicago) or at any holiday celebration with family in any of eleven other states.

Thanks, chaps.

What about the mince trilogy. My father used to say that Christmas cake, mince pies and Christmas pudding was the same stuff served up three different ways.

And do they celebrate Guy Fawkes Day in Canada?

Infie

By the way, what are "mince pies"? Are they like chicken pot-pies?

Mincemeat is a combination of raisins, sultanas, candied peel and so on, dating back to a time when "meat" meant something broader than animal muscle. The classic mince pie is small and round (two or three bites), with short pastry all round and sugar sprinkled on the top. You can eat it hand-held, or heat it up, put some brandy butter on the top and break it up with a spoon.

With Christmas pudding and Christmas cake, the wheat flour is mixed in with the mincemeat.

Mince pie is also Cockney rhyming slang for eye, as in "I couldn't believe my mince pies."

'do they celebrate Guy Fawkes Day in Canada?'

No.


We seem to get the crackers out at Christmas in my extended family, but I get the feeling it's not familiar to everyone in the country. Of course, my family is of old Upper Canadian stock which has, until more recent generations had a fairly strong attachment to the Old Country. Now we live in the prairies where 'settlement' was later and the first non-aboriginals were from all over the global map. I don't get the impression that old British traditions are terribly deeply rooted in this neighborhood.

But we still use s

I don't think there's much difference culturally between Canada and the US. Same thing really.

>>What about the mince trilogy.

Year ago the place I worked regularly had American colleagues over. One time, they were quizzing us about our Christmas traditions:

'What's Christmas cake?'

'It's a load of dried fruit and spices and brandy, all baked together.'

'Oh, OK. So what's Christmas pudding?'

'It's a load of dried fruit and spices and brandy, all boiled together.'

'Oh, OK. So what are mince pies?'

'They're a load of dried fruit and spices and brandy, all baked in little pies.'

I liked minced pies when I spent a Christmas in the UK a few years back. I always thought they'd be made with minced meat.

Fruitcakes are a seasonal dessert here, for some, but for a lot of people they're a bit of a joke. Spice cake with dried fruits and sometimes nuts. They're vile, and usually so hard or chewy they'll break your teeth.

Actually...some recommend baking a kidney until it goes crispy and adding it, minced up.

In Yorkshire there's a tradition of eating rich fruitcake with Wensleydale cheese. It works!

<'do they celebrate Guy Fawkes Day in Canada?'>

Neither do we in the UK as I recall - it's Bonfire/Fireworks/Guy Fawkes Night isn't it?

'Tis the season for burning effigies of Catholics.

I read somewhere that mincemeat originally did contain meat. They kept adding spices and dried fruit as the meat got less and less digestible (and less and less tasty) until they decided to leave the meat out all together. I don't know, though, whether the mincemeat with real meat in it of days of yore was kept just for Christmas or eaten all the year round.

As for crackers, they are relatively rare in Germany. I pounced on some I saw in a shop at the end of last year, only to find that they were the German version. These are for New Year and only spread a load of confetti, and contain no presents. Made an awful mess across the dinner table.

my mistake. Guy Fawkes NIGHT.

They take the catholic thing seriously in Lewes, Sussex. I only saw it once, but was a bit surprised to see a sign that read "No Papists".

Apologies, TC. Simultaneous post.