Whanganui Museum Notebook: Why we go crackers over Christmas

Christmas postcard dating from 1893-1901, with kittens pulling a cracker. Photo / Whanganui Regional Museum Collection Ref: 1802.8740

1. Kitten cracker card.jpg Christmas postcard dating from 1893-1901, with kittens pulling a cracker. Photo / Whanganui Regional Museum Collection Ref: 1802.8740
2. Mt Felix Hospital WWI card.jpg Photographic postcard from the Mount Felix Hospital during World War I with a soldier and a nurse pulling a cracker. Photo / Whanganui Regional Museum Collection Ref: 1802.3773.15 3. Tom Smith cracker advert.jpg Advertisement for Tom Smith's Christmas Novelties from 1911. Photo / Image: Creative Commons By Sandi Black

It's the festive season once again and many households are preparing for a celebratory feast, decking their halls and tables with all the trimmings of the occasion. But what is a Christmas table without a cracker, and when did they become a Christmas staple?

Christmas crackers generally consist of a short cardboard tube containing a small toy, a paper hat and a terrible joke, all wrapped up in festive paper and twisted or tied at the ends. Two people pull on the ends and a silver fulminate snap "cracks" as the tube is pulled apart. The owner of the cracker then claims the prize, wears the hat, and makes companions groan at the joke.

Tom Smith is credited with inventing the Christmas cracker. A sweet maker in London, Smith visited Paris and saw bonbons in the sweet shops - sugared almonds wrapped in twists of brightly coloured paper. Seeing an opportunity in the market, he brought the idea back to London in 1847 and tried to sell them, but without much success.

He began adding a riddle or joke to each wrapper. He then made the twists bigger and swapped the sweet for a small gift, but the market was still slow.

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Legend has it that he was sitting by his fire one night, watching as the wood popped and cracked in the heat, when he thought how fun it would be to have his bonbons pop when they were opened.

Silver fulminate snaps had been around for decades, but it is thought that Smith bought the recipe from Brock's Fireworks Company. In 1861 he finally began selling his treats, named Bangs of Expectation.

They were nicknamed "cosaques" as the small pops were reminiscent of Cossack soldiers cracking their whips in the air as they rode their horses.

Advertisement for Tom Smith's Christmas Novelties from 1911. Photo / Image: Creative Commons

After Tom died, his business was taken over by his sons Tom, Walter and Henry. By now several businesses had begun to sell the novelties, but Walter had the ingenious idea of putting a small paper hat in the Smith crackers to differentiate them from the competition.

The hats are shaped like crowns, thought to symbolise the crowns worn by the Three Wise Men, although some believe they hark back to the headdresses worn at Saturnalia festivals in Ancient Rome.

Crackers grew in popularity and by the early 1900s were being sold year-round, with themed crackers sold for special occasions.

Crackers were produced for royal occasions, war heroes and military anniversaries, the introduction of the wireless radio and Suffragettes. Charlie Chaplin even had his own themed crackers.

The gifts inside could be aimed at a specific audience. Speciality crackers for bachelors and spinsters included false teeth and wedding rings while "Millionaire's Crackers" were commissioned to include jewellery contained within a gold or silver box.

The British Royal Family still have their own Christmas crackers made especially for them.

Over time the themed crackers have dropped from the market but they still remain a popular feature on many Christmas tables, despite the quality of the riddles they hold.

Photographic postcard from the Mount Felix Hospital during World War I with a soldier and a nurse pulling a cracker. Photo / Whanganui Regional Museum Collection Ref: 1802.3773.15

But have they always been so bad? In 1906 the Westminster Gazette reviewed a very badly written play as "not up to the standard of cracker poetry", so they've been the baseline for groan-worthy writing for well over 100 years.

Here's hoping you have a cracker holiday!

• Sandi Black is the archivist at Whanganui Regional Museum.