31 December – New year’s Eve
New Year’s Eve, the seventh day of Christmas, was traditionally a day for playing games and sports. Rich people hunted and played cards and dice at all times of the year, but Christmas games were livelier than ever! Some ‘parlour games’ that we still play today were also enjoyed by the Tudors, including Blind Man’s Buff and Hide-and-Seek.
For poor people who worked very hard during the rest of the year, Christmas was a chance to relax and have some free time. In fact, Henry VIII even made a law that working men could only play certain games (including football, tennis, dice and cards) at Christmas – so they had to make the most of their opportunity! He also decided that to make sure England’s army always had good archers, the only sport people could do on Christmas Day was archery. Because of this, it became very popular.
During this time the weather was much colder than it is today. This lasted for about 200 years and was known as the ‘Little Ice Age’. In winter, it became so cold that the River Thames regularly froze, and people held fairs and markets, called ‘Frost Fairs’ on the ice. In 1564, courtiers practised their archery, shooting at targets on the ice, and people even played football on the frozen Thames!
Text from English Heritage