Christmas Food Traditions in Wales

People from all over Wales have shared their memories of Christmas food with the Museum. Here are some of their stories and recipes from our archive.

The Goose

For centuries, the goose was the festive bird associated with Christmas in Wales. Since late medieval times, the yeoman farmer would have had a goose on the Christmas table. Geese were easy to breed and cheap to feed, especially in early autumn, when they were let loose to glean the fields after the corn harvest. Many farmers would give a goose to their tenants and workers to celebrate Michaelmas Day, but plenty more were kept back and fattened up for the Christmas market.

Group with geese at a farm on Stalling Down, near Cowbridge

Turkeys

Although turkeys reached Britain in the 1500s, they were very expensive and only the wealthy could afford them. In rural Wales, the goose stayed firmly on the Christmas table, and turkey wasn’t widely accepted until the second half of the 1900s.

Goose Blood Tart

Gooseblood tart, a Christmas delicacy in parts of Montgomeryshire

In parts of mid-Wales, goose blood tart was a very special Christmas treat. It was made each year when farmers were killing their geese for the festive table and Christmas market.

Oral history recordings in our archive tell us that this tart was made in Trefeglwys, Staylittle, Llanbrynmair and Llangurig in Montgomeryshire. So far, we haven’t found any evidence of it being made anywhere else in Wales.

To make the tart, the blood of about three geese was put in a greased basin and boiled in a saucepan half full of water. Once it had cooled and set solid, it was rubbed between the fingers into fine crumbs. Then it was mixed with currants, flour, suet, salt, spice and golden syrup, and baked between two layers of pastry on a plate in the oven.

A strange mixture of ingredients, you may think, but not so different from the mincemeat in mince pies, which originally included real meat!

Watch a film from our archive showing how the tart was made: 

Plum Pudding

Christmas card from the collection

The traditional way to cook it was in one big lump. The mixture was placed in a linen pudding cloth, then the edges were gathered up and tied with a strong cord to form a bag. This was hung from a stick laid across the top of the boiler or cauldron filled with boiling water. That’s how it got its Welsh names: pwdin lwmp (lump pudding), pwdin clwt (rag pudding) or pwdin cŵd (bag pudding). On Christmas Day, it was served with menyn melys, a sweet butter sauce.

Mixing the pudding involved the whole family. Everyone, from the youngest to the oldest, took a turn to stir the pudding and make a secret wish. Small coins, such as the old silver threepenny or sixpenny pieces, were often stirred in too, and whoever found one on Christmas Day could look forward to good luck.

Why not try these recipes from the archive:

Noson Gyflaith (Toffee Evening)

Noson Gyflaith was a traditional part of Christmas or New Year celebrations in some areas of north Wales in the early 1900s. Families took turns to invite friends round for supper, usually a Christmas dinner, followed by an evening of games, stories and toffee-making.

Once the ingredients had boiled to just the right point, the toffee was poured onto a well-greased slate or stone slab. In some houses, the hearthstone itself was used. Then everyone buttered their hands and tried to "pull" the toffee while it was still warm. Pulling and twisting it until it turned golden yellow was a real skill. Some were good at it, and some weren’t, but everyone joined in the fun.

Watch a film of Gretta Jones and her brother Herbert, who grew up at Tŷ Du, Y Parc, near Bala, where a Noson Gyflaith was held every Christmas.

Toffee was also popular in south Wales, especially in the coal-mining areas. As far as we know, it wasn't linked to any celebration, but local women often made it to sell from their homes or on market stalls. It was known by various names, such as taffi or dant, and was sometimes named after whoever made it, like losin Magws or losin Ansin bach. Children could buy a six-inch strip, or two ounces, for a penny. Here’s a recipe from Gwaelod-y-garth

Loaf Cake

In the industrial valleys of south Wales, the cake commonly eaten at Christmas was loaf cake. Families made the dough at home and carried the loaves to the local bakehouse, where the baker would bake them for a penny or two per loaf.

Neighbours were invited to taste each other's cakes, and in the Margam area, near Port Talbot, tradition had it that if a young woman tasted 13 different cakes in one season, she would be married by the following Christmas. Here’s a recipe for loaf cake from Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil.

Loaf cake, the rich yeast fruit cake baked for Christmas in the counties of south Wales