HISTORICAL OVERVIEW: Christmas in Scotland

Christmas as a celebrated holiday in Scotland began with the Vikings bringing across their paganistic traditions when they raided and later settled in the late 700/ early 800’s AD, Christmas as it is recognised today developed as a Christian holiday with days spent feasting and playing games. 

Scotland began to change its religious stance, moving from Catholic to Protestant in 1560. This change in religious understanding meant that the celebration of saints and activity that was seen as extravagant were frowned upon and ultimately forbidden for long periods of time. However, the flexibility from town to town and parish to parish on the celebrations of saints is surprisingly wide. The Act of Parliament banning the celebration of Christmas was eventually lifted in 1712 but this did not mean that festive celebrations returned as they had once been. With the lack of Christmas celebrations it meant that Scottish would instead focus on Hogmanay (New Years Eve) as a festive substitute. 

In 1958, Christmas would become a public holiday in Scotland. Today, the celebrations in Scotland mimic the celebrations seen across Europe and the Western World, with Christmas trees, wreathes, German style Christmas markets, and of course Father Christmas and his reindeer.