Episode 36: Emily Ireson Shares Shakespeare's Christmas Traditions

With the holidays upon us, this Christmas Eve we wanted to celebrate with our favorite Elizabethan: William Shakespeare.

Christmas was a popular celebration even 400 years ago and from the time young William was born growing up in Stratford Upon Avon, England, there were several important traditions that he used to mark the holiday with his family and friends. Here to help us explore the Christmas traditions surrounding the kinds of foods and festivities the bard would have eaten or participated in for his Christmas time is the Town House Steward and Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Emily Ireson.

Every Christmas Emily is in charge of dressing Shakespeare's childhood home to reflect a traditional Elizabethan Christmas, including Twelfth Night and seasonal festivities. With a Masters in Museum studies from the University of Glasgow, specifically studying Fashion and Culture of the 17-19th centuries, Emily joins us today to share with us the details of Christmas in the 17th century, and what it takes to celebrate a Shakespearean Christmas.