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Christmas party games make any holiday celebration fun. Party games
get the party going and keep it going. Like most Christmas traditions,
Christmas games were enjoyed throughout the centuries as an important
part of holiday celebrations.
As early as the 16th century it was
customary to play games at Christmas. Late medieval English law allowed
servants and commoners to play games at Christmas that were forbidden
the rest of the year. These games included tennis, dice, cards,
billiard and others.
Christmas games enjoyed in the modern period
were blindman's bluff, feed the dove and hot cockles. In Hot Cockles
each player in turn is blindfolded. The blindfolded player puts his
hands behind his back, palms up. One of the other players hits the
hands of the blindfolded player. The blindfolded player must guess
which of the other players has hit him. If he does so correctly, he may
penalize the player whom he "caught." hose who preferred a greater
mental test might retire to a game of chess, while the physically agile
might
challenge each other to tennis or skittles.
The English also
enjoyed playing cards and gambling at Christmas time, especially with
dice. During the reign of the Tudor kings, working people may have
found greater pleasure in these games than the well-to-do, since they
were prohibited by law from playing games except at Christmas time. In
the sixteenth and 17th centuries the Puritans condemned those who
celebrated Christmas by playing games and gambling.
In Victorian
England parlor games remained popular Christmas entertainments
throughout the 19th century. Victorians favored such games as
Snapdragon, Forfeits, Hoop and Hide (Hide and Seek), charades, Blind
Man's Bluff, Queen of Sheba (a variation on Blind Man's Bluff), and
Hunt the Slipper. In Snapdragon players gathered around a bowl of
currants covered with spirits. A lighted match was dropped into the
bowl, setting fire to the alcohol. Players challenged one another to
grab a flaming currant out of the bowl and pop it into their mouths,
thus extinguishing the flames. A bit of light verse describes the
fearful delights of this game:
Here he comes with flaming bowl,
Don't he mean to take his toll,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
Take care you don't take too much,
Be not greedy in your clutch,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
With his blue and lapping tongue
Many of you will be stung,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
For he snaps at all that comes
Snatching at his feast of plums,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
But Old Christmas makes him come,
Though he looks so fee! fa! fum!
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
Don't 'ee fear him, be but bold-
Out he goes, his flames are cold,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
Players heightened the effect of the
glowing, blue flames by extinguishing all other lights in the room
except that cast by the burning bowl.
In Hunt the Slipper players
formed a circle around one person. They held their hands behind their
backs and passed a slipper around the outside of the circle. The person
in the center of the circle had to
guess who was in possession of the slipper at any given moment.
A
number of other English Christmas games have now disappeared so
completely that only their picturesque names remain behind. Folklorists
cannot now say how they were played. These forgotten
games include Shoeing the Wild Mare, Steal the White Loaf, Postand
Pair, Feed the Dove, Puss-in-the-Corner, and The Parson Has Lost His
Cloak. Before a Christmas party broke up for the evening, the sleepy
guests might play one last, quaintly named game called Yawning for a
Cheshire Cheese. The players sat in a circle and yawned at one another.
Whoever produced the longest, most open-mouthed, and loudest yawn won a
Cheshire cheese.
Christmas
Games are also played in other Countries. Some traditional Christmas
games are for children. In many nations Advent calendars amuse children
with a kind of counting game in the weeks before Christmas. Children in
Mexico often play games with piñatas at holiday season parties. In Iran
youngsters play egg-tapping games at Christmas time. Most Christmas
games, however, involve adults and younger people. In a number of
different countries sporting matches, games of chance, or
fortune-telling games are associated with one or more days of the
Christmas season.
In past times Swedes used to play games with
Christmas gifts, which they call Julklapp, on December
24. On St. Stephen's Day both Swedes and Norwegians used to race horses
(see Norway, Christmas in). Ethiopians celebrate Christmas Day by
playing ganna, a sport that resembles hockey (see Ethiopia,
Christmas in). In the United States, many people enjoy watching
football bowl games on New Year's Day. In Lithuania people entertain
themselves on Christmas Eve with fortune-telling games.
Some
popular Christmas games we enjoy today are Yankee Swap, Elephant Gift
Exchange, cookie exchanges, caroling and others. There's no doubt that Christmas party games still play a big part in making the season special and memorable. |
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