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Chris Campbell – Historian Highlight
In a post that seems strangely apropos for the Yuletide season, DHP’s master of ‘Historian Highlights’, Jake Bransgrove interviews his successor, Chris Campbell! A hearty welcome to Chris and the incoming team for DHP 2025! Chris Campbell, Interviewed by Jake Bransgrove, (@Jake_Bransgrove) * * * * * Chris, can you tell me what you’re currently…
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More Gravy than Grave
Christmas has always been fabled for its moreish cuisine. From Tudor feats of venison, boar, and beef, to today’s lean gobblers, the feast of St. Christ has been through quite a few meaty reincarnations. Once upon a midnight festive, the sight of arching swans or flamboyant peacocks would have been standard fare at Christmas. This…
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Queen Victoria’s Christmas Tree
By Fabia Buescher (fb586@cam.ac.uk) Today, one of the most prominent Christmas traditions in Britain is the Christmas tree. Real or artificial, it is decorated with Christmas baubles, tinsel and lights. But how did fir trees become such an integral part of Christmas? Since antiquity, many cultures, including Egypt, China and Rome, used evergreens for festive…
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Hannukah Bushes? The Twentieth Century Origins of the Festival of Light
For many Jewish families today, Hannukah, or the festival of light, is a holiday season highlight. It is full of fried potato pancakes known as latkes, spinning tops called dreidels, and the exchange of gifts over eight nights marked by the lighting of the Menorah. While the miraculous origins of Hannukah trace back to the…
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Myrrh – From Sacred Gift to the Singapore Sling (Cocktail Recipe Included)
by Tiéphaine Thomason (@teaphaine) This is the second post in a three-part series for the Doing History Advent Calendar on the history of the senses and the gifts of the Magi. Myrrh is the second ‘ingredient’ discussed in our series on gifts by the Magi to the infant Christ. It is a fragrant resin, often…
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