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Extract from FLS News no.92, Nov 2020

— Posted on 5th January 2021

Here’s an item from our newsletter FLS News no. 92, November 2020, by Andrew Bennett:

NEW CUSTOMS: CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

Folklorists are good at looking at old customs, and particularly vanishing ones; we should pay more attention to emerging ones. Take Christmas decorations for example. Decorative mistletoe, holly, and Christmas trees have been around at least since Victorian times, but how long is it since houses started to have their whole fronts decorated, motifs thanks to B&Q? In Reddish in one street for the last ten years, four houses all decorated the outside of their houses. Well, at least to last year when one of the middle houses didn’t. Neighbour dispute, foreign holiday, illness? One wonders.

Photo: Andrew Bennett