Taking the ordinary out of Tradition
This year, Miller Harris include a paper hat designed by Julie Verhoeven in each of their Christmas boxes, taking the ordinary out of tradition with a twist of the unexpected. Every Miller Harris Christmas product comes with two Christmas hats for yourself and your best friend.
A traditional Christmas in Britain would not be the same without certain things; turkey, a Christmas pudding set alight in the shadows of evening and multi-coloured paper crowns, tightly folded and hidden inside the pop and wreckage of crackers.
Have you ever wondered why we wear paper crowns with our Christmas dinner? We may owe this typically British tradition to the Roman feast of Saturnalia, an annual period of revelry honouring Saturn the God of Wealth, Agriculture and Liberty. This Festival of Light lead into the Winter Solstice.
Saturnalia was marked by public banquets, private gifting, parties and the relaxation of rules on gambling. Masters served servants; streets and feasts saw nights and days of masked role-playing. Over all this spirited upheaval and carnival Kings of Saturnalia were appointed by lot or the throw of dice. Masters of ceremony to oversee and reign over the debauched twists and turns of the Saturnalia days and nights. The bright paper crowns we wear each year may well be an echo of the Kings’ crowns and on Christmas day, we are all Kings and Queens for the day, whoever we are.