Christmas Past Exhibition Photos

The Geffrye Museum in east London gives a wonderful insight into how Londoners have lived over the years. It's a museum of English domestic interiors and has room sets from 1600 right up to today.

Each year (from late November to early January), the Geffrye Museum's period rooms are decorated in authentic festive style, providing a magical glimpse into Christmases gone. Christmas Past explores the origins and meanings of some of our more common customs, from kissing under the mistletoe to decorating the tree and throwing cocktail parties. Each photo in the Christmas Past Exhibition Photo Gallery has an accompanying description of how Christmas was celebrated at the time, as well as explanations on popular customs.

The Geffrye Museum has produced a book to compliment the exhibition called Four Hundred Years of English Seasonal Customs 1600-2000 which is available in the museum shop, priced £6. It outlines the history of some of the customs associated with the festival since Elizabethan times and provides further information on the research behind this annual exhibition.

• Geffrye Museum's Christmas Past Exhibition Photos
• Geffrye Museum Information
• Top 10 Christmas Events in London
• _{Image: © Laura Porter (2007) licensed to About.com, Inc.}