In Hot Cockles each player in turn is blindfolded.

  • In Hot Cockles each player in turn is blindfolded. The English also enjoyed playing cards and gambling at Christmas time, especially with dice.Christmas party games make any holiday celebration fun. In past times Swedes used to play games with Christmas gifts, which they call Julklapp, on December 24. Most Christmas games, however, involve adults and younger people. A number of other English Christmas games have now disappeared so completely that only their picturesque names remain behind. Late medieval English law allowed servants and commoners to play games at Christmas that were forbidden the rest of the year. In many nations Advent calendars amuse children with a kind of counting game in the weeks before Christmas. 

    The person in the center of the circle had to guess who was in possession of the slipper at any given moment.  Party games get the party going and keep it going.  Like most Christmas traditions, Christmas games were enjoyed throughout the centuries as an important part of holiday celebrations. The players sat in a circle and yawned at one another. Stephen's Day both Swedes and Norwegians used to race horses (see Norway, Christmas in). In the sixteenth and 17th centuries the Puritans condemned those who celebrated Christmas by playing games and gambling. In Victorian England parlor games remained popular Christmas entertainments throughout the 19th century. One of the other players hits the hands of the blindfolded player. Some traditional Christmas games are for children. 

    If he does so correctly, he may penalize the player whom he "caught. Before a Christmas party broke up for the evening, the sleepy guests might play one last, quaintly named game called Yawning for a Cheshire Cheese. Ethiopians celebrate Christmas Day by playing ganna, a sport that resembles hockey (see Ethiopia, Christmas in). Whoever produced the longest, most open-mouthed, and loudest yawn won a Cheshire cheese. Victorians favored such games as Snapdragon, Forfeits, Hoop and Hide (Hide and Seek), charades, Blind Man's Bluff, Queen of Sheba (a variation on Blind Man's Bluff), and Hunt the Slipper. On St. During the reign of the Tudor kings, working people may have found greater pleasure in these games than the well-to-do, since they were prohibited by law from playing games except at Christmas time.

     These games included tennis, dice, cards, billiard and others. Children in Mexico often play games with pinitas at holiday season parties. In Snapdragon players gathered around a bowl of currants covered with spirits. Christmas Games are also played in other Countries. In the United States, many people enjoy watching football bowl games on New Year's Day. The blindfolded player must guess which of the other players has hit him. These forgotten games include Shoeing the Wild Mare, Steal the White Loaf, Post and Pair, Feed the Dove, Puss-in-the-Corner, and The Parson Has Lost His Cloak. In Lithuania people entertain themselves on Christmas Eve with fortune-telling games. . A lighted match was dropped into the bowl, setting fire to the alcohol. In Iran youngsters play egg-tapping games at Christmas time. 

     As early as the 16th century it was customary to play games at Christmas. The blindfolded player puts his hands behind his back, palms up. In Hunt the Slipper players formed a circle around one person. Players challenged one another to grab a flaming currant out of the bowl and pop it into their mouths, thus extinguishing the flames. Some popular Christmas games we enjoy today are Yankee Swap, Elephant Gift Exchange, cookie exchanges, caroling High Power LED Lights and others.   Christmas games enjoyed in the modern period were blindman's bluff, feed the dove and hot cockles. There's no doubt that Christmas party games still play a big part in making the season special and memorable. Folklorists cannot now say how they were played. 

    They held their hands behind their backs and passed a slipper around the outside of the circle." Those who preferred a greater mental test might retire to a game of chess, while the physically agile might challenge each other to tennis or skittles. A bit of light verse describes the fearful delights of this game: Here he comes with flaming bowl, Don't he mean to take his toll, Snip! Snap! Dragon! Take care you don't take too much, Be not greedy in your clutch, Snip! Snap! Dragon! With his blue and lapping tongue Many of you will be stung, Snip! Snap! Dragon! For he snaps at all that comes Snatching at his feast of plums, Snip! Snap! Dragon! But Old Christmas makes him come, Though he looks so fee! fa! fum! Snip! Snap! Dragon! Don't 'ee fear him, be but bold- Out he goes, his flames are cold, Snip! Snap! Dragon! Players heightened the effect of the glowing, blue flames by extinguishing all other lights in the room except that cast by the burning bowl. In a number of different countries sporting matches, games of chance, or fortune-telling games are associated with one or more days of the Christmas season.