Thedarkside of christmas

Our festive traditions may feel rooted in celebrations of the birth of Christ, but the trees and plants we use for decoration tell a different story

→ When the Tudor poet Thomas Tusser wrote of “Turkey wel drest” as part of a Christmas feast in 1573, he was in fact taking part in a trend new to these shores. Turkeys, those red-necked birds who gob

Celebrated in the loveliest of carols, holly warms hearts anew each winter, but there’s more to the spiky gem than merely Christmas cheer, writes Deborah Nicholls-Lee

Jolly frock-coated robins, majestic geese and arboreal partridges make for both literal and symbolic centrepieces at Christmas, says Matthew Dennison, as he revels in the cultural history of the season’s feathered fowl and game

The myth Father Christmas delivers your children’s presents. The “truth” If he’s leaving gifts, he isn’t Father Christmas. That’s not what FC does. The first personification of Christmas that we know

You might be surprised to learn that there are more ghost sightings on Christmas Eve than there are at Halloween, so what better time for a ghost hunt? The festive season has always been favoured by l