Why do English people wear paper hats at Christmas

On Christmas Day, all British families will wear a paper hat made of colored paper on their heads, regardless of age, in addition to sitting around the table and eating a traditional Christmas roast turkey dinner. Even Queen Elizabeth of Britain will also wear a paper hat on Christmas Day!

Wearing paper hats at Christmas is considered strange by many people, so why do British people who are always very gentle and strict have this strange tradition? Where does the tradition of wearing paper hats come from? The answer lies in another traditional Christmas activity - Christmas cracker!

Christmas cracker is a paper tube made of cardboard, wrapped with colorful colored paper, and tightened at both ends. There will be a firecracker in the cracker. When two people pull the two ends of the cracker, two strips of impregnated paper in the cracker will rub and make a "bang" sound. There will be paper crowns, famous sayings or jokes written on paper, and some small gifts in the cracker.

The history of the Christmas cracker as a British tradition can be traced back to the Victorian era. About in the early 1950s, Tom Smith, a candy merchant in London, put a piece of paper with famous words in the candy package he sold. The packaging method is to tighten the two ends of the candy with paper outside. At the beginning of the 20th century, paper hats were also put into the Christmas cracker, which soon became a traditional British custom for Christmas. Now, all British families will at least prepare a box of crackers for Christmas.

It is precisely because of the custom of playing firecrackers at Christmas that the tradition of wearing paper hats at Christmas has emerged. So now, when Christmas comes, the British always have a Christmas paper hat on their head.