Celebrate the Holidays in True British Fashion with Our Guide to London at Christmas (2023)

FAQs

How do British people celebrate Christmas? ›

In the UK (or Great Britain), families often celebrate Christmas together, so they can watch each other open their presents! Most families have a Christmas Tree (or maybe even two!) in their house for Christmas. The decorating of the tree is usually a family occasion, with everyone helping.

The Regent Street Christmas light switch on will take place on 9 November, 2022. This year, the lights will be on between 3pm and 11pm only for a more environmentally friendly display.

They decorate their homes with holly, ivy, and other evergreens and hang a mistletoe "kissing bough." Throughout the holidays, carolers go from house to house at twilight ringing handbells and singing Christmas songs. "The Holly and the Ivy" and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" are English favorites.

Christmas Day is celebrated in the United Kingdom on December 25. It traditionally celebrates Jesus Christ's birth but many aspects of this holiday have pagan origins. Christmas is a time for many people to give and receive gifts and prepare special festive meals.

This is believed to be because "happy" took on a higher class connotation than "merry," which was associated with the rowdiness of the lower classes. The royal family adopted "Happy Christmas" as their preferred greeting, and others took note.

Christmas Lights and Decorations

The beautiful Christmas decorations at Covent Garden, there is usually a Christmas food fair here too. London is all lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree early, you'll see lights on almost every street in the city. The lights are normally switched on in the first week of November.

Slide into Christmas by spinning around on one of London's best ice rinks, all of which are open on Christmas Eve. Winter Wonderland's is the biggest; Canary Wharf's is open for the longest period (18 sweet weeks!); Somerset House's is the most fabulous; and Glide at Battersea Power Station is the newbie.

From Christmas markets and ice skating to festive afternoon tea, London is the perfect place to spend your holiday vacation.

The essential Christmas holiday in England can be up to four days off in a row. Not only is Christmas Day, December 25th, a public holiday, but so is the day after Christmas, December 26th, known as Boxing Day.

Where is the best place to see the Christmas lights in London? ›

Regent Street Christmas Lights

The massive (in every sense of the word) shopping street gets its annual festive glow-up with garlands of lights down the length of the road.

British style is loved because its austere elegance, classic luxury, high quality materials, the presence of many decorative elements and the absence of too catcy accents. In its best form, it is an example of elegance and good taste.

For ease, here is a brief overview of when London's Christmas lights light up for the 2022 season. Most lights will stay lit until New Years Day, although some will remain shining until the 6th of January.

The word Christmas is no exception; some Brits will informally call it Chrimbo. In Britain (and several Commonwealth countries), Boxing Day is the day following Christmas which serves nowadays as a bank/public holiday.

Popular customs include exchanging gifts, decorating Christmas trees, attending church, sharing meals with family and friends and, of course, waiting for Santa Claus to arrive. December 25—Christmas Day—has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1870.

These celebrations commemorated Christ's birth and the name Christmas (Christ's Mass) is first recorded in England in 1038. Medieval celebrations also combined the servants-as-masters antics and gift-giving of Roman Saturnalia with customs belonging to the midwinter feast of Yule.

Christmas, Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus. The English term Christmas (“mass on Christ's day”) is of fairly recent origin. The earlier term Yule may have derived from the Germanic jōl or the Anglo-Saxon geōl, which referred to the feast of the winter solstice.

The greeting dates back to at least 1534 in London, when it was written in a letter sent to Henry VIII's chief minister Thomas Cromwell from bishop John Fisher. Scholars also note the phrase was used in the 16th century English carol "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

It generally is used to express good cheer and being in a state of content. When people use “Merry Christmas” they are expressing their desire for the other person to be joyful and have a wonderful holiday season.

Where do people celebrate Christmas in London? ›

London Christmas lights are often turned on by a local celebrity, the Christmas lights on Oxford Street, Bond Street, Carnaby Street or Covent Garden are by far the best in London (in our opinion). Oxford Street lights were first lit in 1959 following the footsteps of nearby Regent Street.

Many churches and cathedrals around London host Christmas Day services, even the big ones like St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. There's also a Christmas Day service at St Martins in the Field in Trafalgar Square.

December 25 is really the only day of the year when London well and truly grinds to a halt (in the best possible way). But if you baulk at the idea of imposed downtime, or you don't celebrate the big day, you can get out into the city and do stuff.

We can accurately forecast if snow is likely on any given Christmas Day up to five days beforehand. Since 1960, around half of the years have seen at least 5% of the network record snow falling on Christmas Day. This means we can probably expect more than half of all Christmas Days to be a 'white Christmas'.

Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park is the biggest and most famous of all the Christmas markets in London. Originally opening in 2006, Winter Wonderland has grown to feature the UK's largest outdoor ice-skating rink, a giant Ferris Wheel, a magical ice kingdom, several foods, and merchandise stalls, and more.

The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree is a Christmas tree gifted to the people of Britain by Norway each year since 1947. The tree is prominently displayed in Trafalgar Square from the beginning of December until 6 January.

Leadenhall Market Christmas lights - 17 November

As is tradition, the Lord Mayor does the honours, lighting up the large central Christmas tree, colour changing LED lights, and fir tree garlands throughout the Market. The switch-on, at 6pm, is accompanied by firework fountains.

The trick (at least for classic British fashion) is to stick with neutral, dark colors and only wear one patterned piece at a time. Layering different textures is also good – combine cotton with suede, leather, soft plaid, and of course knit fabrics for an aspect of British style.

Perhaps the most famous national dress in Britain is the Scottish kilt with its distinctive tartan pattern. The kilt is a length of woolen cloth, pleated except for sections at each end. The kilt is worn around the waist, with the pleats at the back and the ends crossed over at the front and secured with a pin.

Which place is famous for Christmas? ›

Bethlehem, West Bank

With the hectic schedule of your life, you have forgotten the real meaning of Christmas. To go for Christmas family vacation, visit Bethlehem as the celebration of this festival can't be more striking than the birthplace of Jesus. It is one of the best places to spend Christmas holidays.

Reykjavík, Iceland - snowy christmas and Northern Lights

The weather's snowy and there's a good chance of Northern Lights. Reykjavík is breathtakingly beautiful at any time of year, but on Christmas Eve the city is transformed with dozens of Christmas trees and decorations.

Rovaniemi - Lapland, Finland

Rovaniemi in Lapland, Finland, may be the best place on earth to celebrate Christmas. Located just north of the Arctic Circle, Finns argue that it makes a much likelier home for Santa than even the North Pole.

Many Christians will go to church to sing carols and to celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day. More people attend the church on this day than any other day of the year. People put on their best clothes to go to church. The whole family sit down for Christmas dinner at mid-day.

Beyond turkey, traditional British Christmas food usually consists of stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts, carrots, and parsnips. What is this? Redcurrant jelly, Yorkshire pudding, pigs in blankets, and other sides and condiments figure in as well.

The precise date of Christ's birth was decided as 25th December by Pope Julius I in the fourth century, long before the Anglo-Saxon invasion of England. The original Germanic invaders – Angles, Saxons, and Jutes – were not Christian, but were still engaged in celebrations on the 25th December.

People may attend a church service, often called midnight mass, on Christmas Eve, even if they do not regularly attend church services. Traditionally, midnight masses started at midnight, as Christmas Eve becomes Christmas Day, but now often begin earlier in the evening.

Christmas is a magical time of year to be visiting London. There are spectacular decorations everywhere and people are generally in a festive mood. Here are some of our favourite seasonal experiences which are all great reasons to visit London during the Christmas holidays.

Christmas in London is always one of the most exceptional ways to experience the city, with a huge variety of festive treats on offer to enjoy.

From Christmas markets and ice skating to festive afternoon tea, London is the perfect place to spend your holiday vacation.

What is a traditional Christmas dinner in London? ›

1. Turkey. This one is probably one of the most popular dishes at Christmas because it is usually the main course! Other popular dishes include ham or roast beef, but in the UK, turkey is definitely the main course of choice.

Traditional Christmas dinner features turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and vegetables. Other types of poultry, roast beef, or ham, are also used. Pumpkin or apple pie, raisin pudding, Christmas pudding, or fruitcake are staples for dessert.

Celebrations can increase our appreciation for the positive elements in our lives, and will draw upon stores of positive emotion that we've built through memory. So go ahead and put up that Christmas tree. Even if there won't be as many people gathering around it this year, it should still make you feel better.

Christmas is celebrated to remember the birth of Jesus Christ. Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The name Christmas comes from the mass of Christ. A mass service is where Christians remember that Jesus died for us and then comes back to life.

It is a yearly celebration marking Jesus Christ's birth; it is observed on the 25th of December as a cultural and religious celebration among a lot of people all over the world. Christmas is celebrated in all Christian countries but there are differences in the way each nation celebrates this date.

Father Christmas is the traditional English name for the personification of Christmas. Although now known as a Christmas gift-bringer, and typically considered to be synonymous with Santa Claus, he was originally part of a much older and unrelated English folkloric tradition.

The English Origins of Father Christmas. From his earliest days until the 19th century, Father Christmas was a strictly allegorical figure. He was a symbol of the Christmas season, rather than a mythical being. He was often depicted as a merry old man who presided over festive parties, not a gentle giver of gifts.