CHRISTMAS GAME

Christmas time would bring celebration to all the castle population. Tenants on the manors owed special rents, but also received certain privileges, one of which was that the Lord would provide a Christmas dinner. This was provided at very little cost to the Lord, as most of the food would have come from what the tenants had paid in the way of special rents. Tenants often provided their own dishes, fuel, and napkins. A villein who held less land would have Christmas dinner, but had to bring with him his own cloth, cup and trencher, and take away all that is left on the cloth. He would have for himself and his neighbors one wastel (loaf) cut in three for the ancient Christmas game to be played with the wastel. A bean was hidden in a cake or loaf, and the person who found it became "King of the Bean" or "King of the Feast"