Jonathan's Yorkshire Blog

  A Very Yorkshire Christmas  “Nowhere are the traditions of Christmas kept up with such splendour as in Yorkshire.” (Visitor to the county 1812) Source: pintrest Yorkshire is a fantastic place to be all year round, but at Christmas it is extra special. It has always been an area full of tradition, none more so than over the festive period. Throughout history Yorkshire has provided some major contributions to Christmas and the festivities surrounding it. Roman York A portrait of what Saturnalia could have looked like by Antoine Callet in 1783. Souce:wikipedia creative commons The origins of Christmas celebrations in Yorkshire date back as far as Roman Times and centred on the city of Eboracum. The Saturnalia festival which took place from around 17 th  – 25 th  December was dedicated to Saturn, the god of harvest and agriculture, which is something that resonated well with Yorkshire folk. The festivities included a relaxing of the normal Roman society rules. The ...

  by Jonathan Rudd Welly wanging originated in Yorkshire! What on earth? The custom of Welly wanging is a sport in which competitors have to throw a Wellington boot, or welly as far as they can. The person who can throw it the furthest is the winner. How did this happen? The spiritual home of welly wanging is in Upperthong, near Holmfirth in West Yorkshire. Many years ago at the village pub, it is said that two farmers got into an argument after one of them accidently spilled his pint on the other’s leg. The ale trickled down his foot and into the Wellington boots he was wearing. In anger the wet farmer chased the clumsy farmer out of the pub and in the process took off his boot and threw, or wanged it at the other as he ran away. News of this incident soon travelled around the village and in their amusement the people re-enacted the event by throwing wellies at eachother. This evolved into a game to see who could throw a welly the furthest and so the custom of welly wanging was bo...