Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the InstantAtlas team

At home with InstantAtlas in Edinburgh

As the festive season approaches we have brought a little bit of Edinburgh to your doorstep to give you a feel for what happens in Scotland over the holiday break. You may not know that until the 1950s Christmas was not celebrated in Scotland. Oliver Cromwell, who ruled United Kingdom banned Christmas in 1647. Although the ban was lifted in England with the fall of Cromwell, Scotland continued with it. The Presbyterian Church in Scotland discouraged Christmas celebrations and people who went against it suffered severe punishments. It wasn’t even a public holiday until 1958 so if you want a traditional Scottish Christmas, you should go to work on Christmas Day.

A lot of our Christmas customs have come from either the US or England. Conventional Christmas lunch includes Scotch broth, smoked salmon, roast turkey, roast potatoes, carrots, brussel sprouts, Christmas pudding and brandy custard. A Pudding known as Clootie dumpling is a traditional Christmas dessert in Scotland. Children eat it with custard sauce while adults prefer rum or whisky with it. Bannock cakes, made of oatmeal, are also traditionally eaten during Christmas.

Click here to read our full Christmas article – Enjoy!!