Christmas Traditions - Christmas Cracker

The Christmas Cracker was devised in 1847 by an English confectioner and stationery manufacturer. He was on holiday in Paris with his family at the time.  English sweets were sold loose from trays but his children discovered that in Paris bon-bons were sugar-coated lollies that were wrapped in coloured paper and the ends twisted.  He thought that this gave them a novelty appearance as well as being more hygienic to handle.  He liked the idea so much that on his return to England he wrapped his lollies and sweets in similar paper and, unwittingly, began the development of his own 'bon-bons'.

 

The original Christmas Crackers were called Bon-Bons and were quite small with fairly plain wrapping.  Later said confectioner changed the wrapping to be a little more colourful and then added the friction strip - two small strips of cardboard coated with a small amount of explosive powder joining them together.  When the strips were pulled apart, the friction of the strips rubbing one against the other caused the bang that we still know today.  The friction snap was also known as "Silver Fulminante" - a discovery in 1802 by Dottore Luigi Valentino Brugnatelli (1761-1818) Professor of chemistry at Pavia University, Italy.  It was also the custom in Italy to have a little trinket inside a chocolate Easter Egg and the English confectioner would have been aware of this.

Returning from the family holiday in Paris, he pooled these ideas together and so the Christmas Cracker was born, complete with a surprise novelty, paper hat, a piece of paper with a joke or motto suitable for the occasion and, of course, the all-important snap to make a bang when pulled apart.  Originally all the contents were handmade and assembled by hand.  The outer wrapping would then be artistically decorated with a bow. 

The custom of decorating the table with a cracker on every place setting was established and handed down over generations.  Now this is seen not just in England but in other countries also.  Other manufacturers soon began to imitate the idea and with international distribution becoming easier the whole industry went into mass production continuing until the present day.