Christmas Through the Ages: Christmas in the Middle Ages

What was Christmas really like in the Middle Ages?

Long before Christmas trees, greeting cards, crackers, and the modern Santa Claus, medieval Europeans were celebrating one of the most important seasons of the Christian year.

Christmas Through the Ages: Christmas in the Middle Ages takes you inside that fascinating world with 500 trivia questions and answers exploring the faith, feasts, folklore, entertainment, and everyday traditions of medieval Christmas.

 Journey from candlelit churches and monasteries to roaring castle halls filled with musicians, minstrels, and enormous feasts. Discover what ordinary villagers might eat, why imported spices were signs of wealth, how Advent shaped the weeks before Christmas, and why the celebration didn't end on December 25.

 Along the way, you'll encounter Saint Nicholas, the Magi, mystery plays, mummers, Boy Bishops, holly and ivy, Yule traditions, boar's head feasts, minstrels, Twelfth Night, and the strange world of festive role reversal. You'll also travel across medieval Europe to discover how climate, language, food, religion, and local culture produced very different Christmas traditions.

Finally, put popular history to the test in Myth vs. Reality: Medieval Christmas. Did medieval families have Christmas trees? Did everyone feast for twelve days? Was turkey on the Christmas table? And how many supposedly “medieval” traditions actually belong to much later centuries?

 Inside you'll find 10 categories and 500 questions featuring multiple-choice, true-or-false, and short-answer formats, with answer sections providing additional historical context. Perfect for Christmas enthusiasts, medieval history fans, trivia lovers, teachers, homeschool families, senior activities, and anyone fascinated by the origins of our holiday traditions.

500 questions. 10 categories. One journey back to Christmas in the Middle Ages.

Part of Horsecreek Digital's Christmas Through the Ages series.