Island Life Magazine Ltd December/January 2018 | Page 59

Notebook
Crowning glory
Let’s face it, Christmas turns us all back into kids, giving
us the excuse to get competitive over the Monopoly
board, wrestle for control of the kids’ Scalextric set –
and sit at the dinner table wearing a daft paper hat.
Most people’s photo
album will feature shots of
otherwise sane and sensible
family members – some of
them pillars of business and
community for goodness
sake – tucking into the turkey
with some silly fluorescent
tissue paper crown perched
on their head.
So where did this bit of
traditional lunacy come
from?
Well, apparently, this
tradition dates back to Roman
times, when participants in the
Roman Saturnalia celebrations,
held around 25th December,
would wear hats just to prove just
how much fun they were having.
It’s likely that our Christmas
version of these celebratory hats
turned into paper crowns as a nod
to Twelfth Night, which was when
the Three Kings arrived to pay
homage to the baby Jesus.
Not that our modern crowns
– those notoriously flimsy
tissue things that fall out of
Christmas crackers – owe
much to the serious gold
headgear of a king.
Ours are more of a signal
to everyone that we’re
operating in party mode –
all ready to play charades,
laugh at the seriously
unfunny jokes that come out
of the crackers, eat too much
chocolate or drink sherry at
3pm if we feel like it.
Because we all know that when
the hat falls off, gets ripped or is
thrown into the bin, it will be back
to our more familiar serious face
for the next 364 days...
www.visitilife.com
59