Christmas Husbandry Fare is a poem by Thomas Tusser (1515 – 1580) showing how important it was to English Lords of the time to include hospitality as part of their Christmas festivities…
Christmas Husbandry Fare
Good husband and housewife, now chiefly be glad
Things handsome to have, as they ought to be had,
They both do provide against Christmas do come,
To welcome their neighbour, good cheer to have some;
Good bread and good drink, a good fire in the hall,
Brawn pudding and souse, and good mustard withal.
Beef, mutton, and pork, shred pies of the best,
Pig, veal, goose, and capon, and turkey well dressed;
Cheese, apples, and nuts, jolly carols to hear,
As then in the country is counted good cheer.
What cost to good husband is any of this?
Good household provision only it is;
Of other the like I do leave out a many,
That costeth the husbandman never a penny.
Merry Christmas!
Mama Lisa
This article was posted on Saturday, December 24th, 2011 at 2:40 pm and is filed under Mama Lisa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
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