Christmas is just around the corner and the prepared among you may even have your presents wrapped and nestled underneath your tree.

Once all of the gift-buying is all done, the focus shifts to preparing the delicious Christmas dinner.

After the turkey, stuffing and cranberries, Christmas crackers will no doubt find ther way on to your festive shopping list.

But how did the tradition of crackers begin, and where did it come from?

There is so many things to looking forward to such as the hilariously poor jokes, riddles, gifts and of course those paper king hats.

We may pull them every year to see who has the most arm strength, but where did Christmas crackers actually originate from?

Where did Christmas crackers come from?

They were first produced in 1845-1850 by a London sweet maker called Tom Smith.

Smith took inspiration from the French ‘Bon Bon’ sweets and wanted to do adopt something similar.

Smith came back to London and tried to sell similar types of sweets in England, including a small motto or riddle with the sweet.

This is the origin of the brain teaser or joke inside the kind of crackers you see today.

His idea was not initially well-receive, and as a result, he did not make a great deal of sales.

But Smith had a change of tact when he was sitting in front of his log fire one day.

Listening to the sounds of sparks and crackles, he became fascinated by the sounds.

He then drew inspiration from this and thought he could include sweets and toys in a wrapper that could be pulled apart with the sound of cracking.

What were Christmas crackers called originally?

Crackers were originally called cosaques, thought to be named after the Cossack soldiers who rode on their horses and fired guns into the air.

Source:
courtesy of METRO

by Avinash Bhunjun

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