December 2010, Issue 11
Foods In Miniature
Page 70
Run, Run, fast as you can
Putting a silver coin in the pudding is another age-old custom that is said to bring luck to the person who finds it. The traditional coin was a silver 'six pence' but the closest coin to that now is a five pence - which every year I painstakingly wrap in silver foil and push into the pudding. Someday someone is going to break their teeth on one!
Another symbolic food of Christmas is the mince pie. Like Christmas Pudding, these were originally filled with meat rather than the sweet, dried fruit mix of today. The very first mince pies were made in an oval shape to represent the manger that Jesus slept in as a baby, with the top representing his swaddling clothes, rather than the round shape we have now.
A custom from the middle ages says that if you eat a mince pie on every day from Christmas to Twelfth Night (January 6) you will have happiness for the next 12 months! You might be overweight, but you'll be happy!
On Christmas Eve, it is traditional for children in the UK to leave out mince pies with brandy or some similar drink for Santa Clause along with a carrot for his reindeer. By the time the jolly old elf has finished delivering all his parcels worldwide he must be really jolly. No wonder he needs to sleep for the rest of the year! I like to think that instead
LEFT, Gingerbread carousel by IGMA Fellow Linda Cummings
RIGHT, Santa at the Palms by Courtney Strong
of sleeping he can be found relaxing in the sun under a palm tree on his own desert island!
Custom Dolls, Houses & Miniatures / CDHM