"Deck the halls with boughs of holly"
This room shows a New Year's Day feast in the hall of a middling London home. The table is set with the second course, a mixture of savory and sweet dishes. These would have been particularly special because sugar was an expensive luxury. The sweets are made in shapes playfully imitating other foods or items, such as bacon and eggs, walnuts and a checkerboard of gilded and white leach, a dish similar to Turkish Delight made of boiled milk jelly.
The room has been festively decorated with evergreens on Christmas Eve, as tradition demanded. The use of evergreens was a pagan custom, but early Christians adopted them as a symbol of everlasting life. The kissing bough, hanging from the ceiling, was the precursor of the bunch of mistletoe still used today.
The Christmas season lasted for twelve days, starting on Christmas Day. It was a time for hospitality and charity and an occasion for feasting, drinking, dancing, playing cards and generally having fun. The New Year and Twelfth Night were high points in the celebrations. Gifts were given throughout the season, but particularly for the New Year.