Royalty has influenced many aspects
of our culture and Christmas is no
exception. The following holiday
traditions at least partially owe their
existence to royalty.

Gingerbread Men

While spiced cookies have been a
mainstay of the Christmas season since
the Middle Ages it took a canny act of
diplomacy to make gingerbread men a
reality.

Queen Elizabeth I held elaborate banquets where there
would be served gingerbread men made to represent her
favoured couriers and foreign dignitaries. Queen Elizabeth
carried out a careful balancing act throughout her reign in
order to avoid being sidelined, attacked, or pinned down. Her
banquets were only part of this strategy and allowed the
Queen to signal who was a rising star and to flatter the
representatives of potentially hostile states.  

The Christmas Tree

While evergreens were an important aspect of Europe's Pagan
and folk religions since ancient times the modern Christmas
tree tradition began in Germany in the 16th century when
devout Christians there started bringing the trees into their
homes and decorating them with candles. There is even a
story that this stemmed from Martin Luther wanting to show
his family the beauty of the stars shining amongst the
evergreens one night while he was outside working on a
sermon.

However, without royal intervention the Christmas tree would
likely have remained an oddity in the Western world. In 1846
a sketch appeared in the London News depicting Queen
Victoria, her German husband Prince Albert, and all their
children standing around a Christmas tree. The popular
Queen was quickly imitated at all levels of society and the
Christmas tree was on its way to being a worldwide tradition. 

Christmas Pudding

Christmas Pudding started off as being partly made of meat
(in much the same way as mincemeat pies did) and was more
of a soup than a pudding. This concoction was called
'frumenty'. It was traditionally eaten before Christmas to get
ready for the season.

By the late 1500s the addition of eggs, breadcrumbs, and fruit
had led to a proper pudding. This is where the story gets a tad
fuzzy. It has been said that the Puritans banned Christmas
during the English Interregnum. What is less clear is whether
or not they tried to stamp out the humble Christmas
pudding. The story continues that after the restoration of the
monarchy the pudding was legalized but didn't regain its full
popularity until the reign of King George I in 1714.

Is any part of this dastardly pudding ban story true? Who
knows! But the linkage of Christmas pudding with royalty has
endured.

Christmas Address

In 1932 King George V was persuaded to give a Christmas
address over the radio by the BBC. It would become an
annual tradition (with a few notable lapses) for the Royal
Family. In the years since the tradition has spread to other
monarchies in Europe. Several republics have also taken up
the tradition with the president typically giving an address at
Christmas or on New Years Eve. 

Turkey Dinner

Maybe I should have had more to eat before starting this
article, I keep coming back to food! It is widely reported
that King Henry VIII was the first english king to dine on
turkey but that it was Edward VII who made it fashionable to
eat the bird at Christmas time. Regardless, turkey remained
​a food for the mainly well-to-do until at least the 1950s. 

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As this will be my last post before the 25th I would like to
wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

For many people the fact that Brazil
was once an empire can come as a
surprise. Whats more, a growing
number of people want their monarchy
back. So what is the current state of
​monarchism in Brazil today?

After a military coup d'ètat toppled the monarchy in 1889
various attempts were made to restore the monarchy. In 1993
support for the monarchy was strong enough to have a
referendum on what form of government Brazil should have.
The monarchist cause gained 10.2% support. If republicans
thought this would be the end of the monarchist question they
​were sadly mistaken. In 2013, 20 years after the referendum,
the Portal Terra newspaper asked its readers if they would
support the monarchy's restoration. 82% indicated they
would support such a move. At roughly the same time the
​republic was in the process of greatly undermining itself. 

A major scandal rocked the republic
in 2015 and implicated politicians
from across the political spectrum in a
criminal money-laundering scheme.
In the ensuing anti-government
protests monarchist organizations
played an ​increasingly important, and visible, role. The
claimant to the throne also began taking on more public
appearances and giving media interviews.

In 2016 a known monarchist, Paulo Eduardo Martins, was
elected to the Chamber of Deputies (the National Congress'
lower house). With a supporter able to shepard legislation
through the National Congress monarchists are well placed
for their biggest push thus far: a new referendum.

In 2017 an online petition to the Federal Senate asking for a
new referendum on becoming a monarchy collected 32,000
signatures and easily surpassed the 20,000 needed to have
the petition officially debated. Support on the Federal
Senate's website was stated at being over 90%. The process
received a boost with the state assemblies of Minas Gerais and
Rondônia both sending their official support for the
referendum proposal. The proposal is currently before
the Commission of Human Rights of the Brazilian Federal
Senate for debate, awaiting the appointment of a
rapporteur.

The Brazilian monarchists are doing well and I applaud their
tenacious efforts. One thing that concerns me it is that there
does not seem to have been a definitive nation-wide poll on
the subject. So while the high levels of support shown in more
limited polls are nice I don't think anyone should be resting.
The battle for hearts and minds cannot be considered won yet.

A second concern is that the Federal Senate might sit on the
proposed referendum until it can be killed in some way. Every
effort should be made to ensure the proposal actually results
​in a referendum.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour