December time

Creating and making in North Edinburgh

All over North Edinburgh people have been either making products to sell at markets with our Create Community Wealth project and Community Shed or making presents and useful textile items for friends and family in our Stitch in Time group. Everywhere people are busily creating and making, preparing for the festive celebrations which gather momentum throughout December. Our creative business microgrants (distributed via the Create Community Wealth project) have been immensely popular with people working towards their enterprise aspirations. It is encouraging to see a hub of activity, ideas and positivity to keep us going into the new year.  

December traditions and gift giving

Especially this year, people are concerned with the costs, needs and wants associated with Christmas. In times like this, it can be useful to reflect on where our traditions come from, and which areas of the tradition give us meaning. Gift-giving is something done across cultures, and here in Scotland our traditions have changed and adapted throughout the years.  

In Scotland in 1640, Christmas was banned under the Protestant Reformation Act with extravagant ‘Yule’ celebrations an imprisonable offence. This also included the baking of Yule bread.  Yule bread is a rich honey loaf that was traditionally given to family and friends with a small charm hidden in one of the freshly baked bannocks. The family member or friend who found the hidden charm would be granted good luck for the year ahead.  Yule bread is easy to make and a great gift for family and friends, and is a lovely Scottish tradition, just don’t hide charms in the bread without warning! Here’s a link to one of the recipes if you’d like to give it a go:  Jul Yule Bread Recipe| Scotland – Winter solstice Cailleach’s Herbarium (cailleachs-herbarium.com)

It is worth remembering that it wasn’t until 1958 that Christmas Day became a Scottish public holiday.  

The Scottish tradition of ‘First Footing’ is often associated with New year but this actually was a Christmas tradition, where the first visitor who came into the house of Christmas Day would bring a gift to wish good luck to the home and included things like coal, whiskey, salt and bread. These were useful and symbolic items; coal to tend the hearth, whisky to warm the cockles, salt to cure the meat, and bread to fill the stomach.  

When thinking about gifts, it’s not what we buy, but the thought behind it. So, feel free to give away lumps of coal!