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A–Z of Christmas
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N
O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Browse our fun Christmas A to Z, spotting festive place names as you go…
Advent
Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends on Christmas Day. These four weeks represent time set aside to get ready for Christ and is celebrated with Church (Lancashire) services and Advent calendars.
Breakfast
A traditional Christmas morning breakfast consists of such treats as Buck's (Lancashire) Fizz, Scrambled Eggs (Tump, Gloucestershire) and Smoked Salmon (Pool, Gloucestershire), unless you’ve already cracked open your Christmas variety Box (Box Bridge, Wiltshire) and eaten some Chocolate (Farm, Carmarthenshire).
Christmas Market
Christmas markets are a great way of picking up a seasonal bargain as well as getting in the party spirit. The tradition died after Cromwell banned Christmas in the 17th century, but it has been reinstated in recent times, with Lincoln Market the first to revive them in the 1980s. Check out a festive fayre near you by finding your local council website at www.direct.gov.uk.
Decorations
Decorating your office, house and garden is a great way of getting into the festive spirit. Spruce (Ride, Gloucestershire) up your surroundings with a Christmas Tree (Devon) and sprigs of Mistletoe (Oak, Herefordshire) and Hollybush (East Ayrshire).
Care should be taken when putting up your Christmas decorations – click here for some helpful advice on how to reduce the risks of starting a fire, and make sure your Christmas isn't spoiled by criminals with these crime prevention tips.
Entertainment
Christmas comes with tons of on-stage entertainment for you to enjoy. Check out the websites of the Arts Council England, Arts Council for Wales, or the Scottish Arts Council for details of arts opportunities in your local area, and our TV guide to plan your Yuletide viewing.
Follow the star
The three wise men followed the Star (Fife) to Bethlehem (Carmarthenshire), where they found baby Jesus (Well, Cornwall) in a manger (The Manger, Oxfordshire). Track down other festive place names in the UK using the Ordnance Survey web gazetteer www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/freefun
You don't have to rely on a star to navigate to your destination, Ordnance Survey maps show the way!
Gift ideas
Shopping for a Christmas Gift (Hall, Lancashire) can be hard work if you’ve got a difficult-to-buy-for friend.
Ordnance Survey has made it even easier to buy your loved one a rather different kind of gift this Christmas. Two gift packs are available that enable your friend or family member to create a special map with their favourite spot in the centre. They can even personalise the title of the map and choose from a selection of images to go on the cover. OS Select gift packs make discovering what’s surrounding your home or favourite holiday spot easy. A voucher in the pack enables you to order your unique map on-line. The 1:25,000 scale OS Select – Explorer pack – ideal for local walks and cycle rides – comes complete with a handy pedometer, and the 1:50,000 OS Select – Landranger pack – great for days out – includes a pair of quality binoculars. Both packs are priced at £24.99.
Check out our list of walking-themed Christmas present ideas, and visit our online map shop for gifts such as a personalised OS SelectTM map or a historical map of your area.
Other mapping-related gifts are available from our partners; here are some of the more unusual ones:
Framed Maps centred on a location of your choice,
Simon Carter® capsule collection of designer suits with Ordnance Survey mapping,
Boots National Trust Ramblers Rescue, includes an enamelled mini hip flask with a mapping design.
Jarrold Publishing Short Walks selection pack available from high street retailers,
Memory-Map Selections – where you can choose a CD of mapping anywhere in Great Britain up to 2500 sqkm with or without aerial photography, Memory-Map Navigation Workshop interactive DVD , GPS Navigation Kit, and Toughprint paper – waterproof paper – ideal for the outdoor enthusiast.
Tracklogs Christmas special offer on Ordnance Survey maps on CD.
Give a gift subscription to Walkingworld, Britain's largest online walking guide
Personal Navigation devices from Tom Tom or Navman use mapping data from Tele Atlas and Ordnance Survey.
Discover the mapped history of an individual house or property over time using Ordnance Survey mapping with a My house history Portfolio.
The famous London A-Z maps are now available on a mobile phone. This is a revolutionary map application for Symbian™ based mobile phones, such as Nokia Communicator devices .
Holly
This festive evergreen bush, with its thorny foliage and blood-red berries steeped in Christian symbolism, grows wild across the country. Explore your local countryside using an OS Explorer Map to see seasonal sprigs in the sunshine or showers. Many gardens offer special Christmas events.
Ice skating
This traditional winter sport is increasingly popular, with portable rinks shipped into many towns and villages especially for the festive season. Check with your council to see if there’s an ice place to Skate (Dumfries and Galloway) near you this Christmas or browse the SportEngland Active Places website. ActivePlaces aims to encourage more people into all sorts of sports – an online sports facilities database giving you the most comprehensive breakdown of places to play sport and get active ever produced. It lists more than 10 000 sports halls, swimming pools, synthetic pitches, health and fitness centres, ski slopes and ice rinks. In Wales browse the Sports Council for Wales website and in Scotland view the sportscotland website.
Jesus born in Bethlehem
Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Carmarthenshire). Mary (Cross, Devon) and Joseph (‘s Cairn) actually lived in Nazareth (House, Midlothian), but had travelled through Galilee (Orkney Islands) to register for a census.
Read about the origins of Christmas on the teachernet web page.
King’s College carols
The prestigious Cambridge University King's college first hosted its Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve 1918 and it’s been a tradition ever since. The service was first broadcast in 1928 and was even shown during the Second World War, although the name of the church and its distinctive glass windows were removed for security reasons.
Lights
The switch-on of Christmas lights up and down the country is a sure sign Santa’s on his way. Your local council will be in charge of the festivities. See www.direct.gov.uk for information.
Merry Christmas – e-card and screensaver
Why not spread some winter goodwill by sending your friends a dedicated e-card? And while you’re busy at your computer, give your desktop its very own festive decoration by downloading our seasonal screensaver.
National Trust
The National Trust® looks after some staggering British landmarks. Take advantage of your holiday break by exploring some of the country’s finest buildings, protected landscapes and coastlines. Although some of the Trust's properties will be closed for restoration over the winter, a number will be open for special Christmas and New Year events and for Christmas shopping.
New Year celebrations
New Year's Eve is celebrated all over Britain. In Scotland one of Europe's finest Christmas festivals occurs in Edinburgh, where hogmanay is celebrated in style. In Wales, Cardiff's Calennig festival welcomes the new year, and plygain church services carry on a very old tradition of unaccompanied carols celebrating Christmas and the new year. In England the traditional meeting place is Trafalgar Square in London and the chimes of the Palace of Westminster's Big Ben mark the beginning of a new year.
Norwegian tree
The Norwegian Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square is the city of Oslo's traditional Christmas gift to the City of Westminster. The first tree was brought over in 1947 as a token of Norwegian appreciation of British friendship during the Second World War.
Ordnance Survey
To find out more about Ordnance Survey go to our home page. Ordnance Survey are the main sponsors of The Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show at the Birmingham NEC.
Plan your journey
If you're taking a trip to the theatre to watch a musical, play or pantomime, visiting friends or family, or going Christmas shopping use our handy links for route planning this winter.
Queen’s speech
Every year the Queen broadcasts special messages on Christmas Day and Commonwealth Day. The Christmas broadcast dates back to 1932, when King George V spoke on the wireless to the Empire from a small office at Sandringham. The time chosen was 3 pm – the best time for reaching most of the countries in the Empire by short waves from the transmitters in Britain. The Queen made her first Christmas speech in 1952. From 1999 it has been possible to watch and listen to the broadcast on the World Wide Web.
Read about the history of the Queen's speech or read last year's speech on the official website.
Religious festivals
The Christian festival of Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. Other faiths have festivals in the winter period. These include the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, the Hindu festival of Diwali, the festivals of Ramadan and Eid-ul-Adha, and the birthday of Guru Nanak of Sikhism.
Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe to be the son of God. The Gregorian calendar, widely used in the West, is based on his birth date. The years denoted BC are those before the birth of Christ and the years AD are those after Christ's birth, from the Latin 'Anno Domini' meaning 'in the year of our Lord'. Advent is the season that leads up to Christmas Day on 25 December, starting on the Sunday closest to 30 November. Some churches have an advent wreath with five candles, one for each of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas Day and one for the day itself.
Hanukkah or Chanukah is the Jewish festival of lights.The festival begins on the 25th day of Kislev (this year, 20 December) and is celebrated for eight days. In the western calendar Hanukkah is celebrated in November or December.
Diwali is perhaps the most well known of the Indian festivals. It is a five-day celebration that occurs on the fifteenth day of the Hindu month of Kartika (during October/November in the Gregorian calendar).
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and a time when Muslims across the world will fast during the hours of daylight. Eid-ul-Adha (Celebration of Sacrifice), also known as the Greater Eid, is the second most important festival in the Muslim calendar. It marks the end of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Makkah (Mecca).
The birthday of Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism, is celebrated in November.
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/religion/
Routes for cycling
There’s no excuse for letting your festive feast get the better of you this Yule. Explore your local area on your bicycle using the nation’s network of cycle routes. Use OS Landranger Maps to discover the highways and byways of your area, and OS Explorer Maps to use your mountain bike to get off the beaten track.
www.nationalcyclenetwork.co.uk
Restaurants and food.
Christmas is a great time for socialising. Let someone else do the cooking and book a restaurant. Discover a taste of Wales, Scotland or England or find out about Britain's real food and drink. Alternatively, cook at home using some interesting food and drink from all over Britain. The Food from Britain website is both a guide to regional food and drink producers and a shopping market where you can purchase direct from the producers.
Shopping
Visit one of the Ordnance Survey OptionsTM outlets for a range of Christmas gifts, including prints of large-scale maps of your house or business premises. For a final flash of festive shopping, a trip to the local shopping centre should wrap up those last-minute stocking stuffers – use our route planning ideas to find a shopping centre in a town near you. Alternatively, stay at home and visit our online map shop for some great gift ideas.
Stockings
Children all over the world continue the tradition of hanging Christmas stockings. In France children place their shoes by the fireplace, and in Holland children fill their shoes with hay and a carrot for the horse of Sintirklass. In Hungary children shine their shoes before putting them near the door or a window sill. Italian children leave their shoes out the night before Epiphany for the good witch, La Befana, and in Puerto Rico children put greens and flowers in small boxes and place them under their beds for the camels of the Three Kings.
Maps make ideal stocking fillers. Visit our map shop .
Schools
Schools throughout Britain will celebrate Christmas this December. Teachers can find ideas for seasonal activities on teachernet. Ordnance Survey has made available a free OS Explorer Map for every 11-year-old in Britain in an unique educational initiative. Children can use these maps in the classroom or at home with their familes to discover their local area. They can even use the maps to walk off their Christmas dinner.
Santa
Send a letter to Santa, and include a grid reference so he can find your house in the dead of night.
TV guide
We all moan about Christmas television, but wind up watching films and festive specials nonetheless. Plan your Yuletide viewing with this comprehensive online TV guide.
Umbrella
Will there be a white Christmas this year? Will it rain? Will you be building snowmen in your back garden, or more likely will you be asking for a brolly for Christmas? The wintry weather makes driving conditions very treacherous, and it's important to check on conditions before you set off on a seasonal journey. Take a look at the forecast to be prepared.
Vegetables
There’s nothing better than a delicious traditional Christmas dinner. Turkey, vegetables, gravy, stuffing, sausage wrapped in bacon, all followed by Christmas pudding. Take a trip around Britain and visit Turkey Island (Hampshire) with a side helping of Cranberry (Staffordshire) and Sproutes (West Sussex), followed by Pudding Hill (Windsor). Walking, of course, is a great way to burn off those excess calories; read our Walk off your Christmas dinner feature.
For seasonal food ideas visit www.bbc.co.uk/food, www.foodfrombritain.com or visitbritain.com. Learn about seasonal vegetables and healthy Christmas eating on www.eatwell.gov.uk.
Walks
If you’re loathe to stray off the beaten track, yet would like to explore somewhere new over the Christmas break, a plotted route will prove just the ticket.
Walk off your Christmas dinner…discover our list of calorie maps and walking ideas.
Xmas Explorer
There’s no better time than the Christmas break to explore your local area. Get a free map extract of your area using Get-a-mapTM, or purchase an OS Explorer Map of your area from our online map shop. Browse our extremely useful walking guide.
Yule
The original Yule log ceremony was a festival celebrating the sun during the winter solstice, which occurs close to the time we celebrate Christmas today. Originally, the Yule log was burned in honour of the gods and to bring good luck in the coming year. The custom was moved to Christmas Eve, when an enormous log of freshly cut wood called the Yule log would be fetched and carried to the house with great ceremony. The master of the house would place it on the hearth, sprinkle the trunk with oil, salt and mulled wine and say suitable prayers. As great hearths were replaced by stoves, the great log was thus replaced by a smaller one, often embellished with candles and greenery, placed in the centre of the table as a Christmas decoration. Today the Yule log has become a delicious cake roll, smothered in coffee or chocolate-flavoured icing and decorated with sugared holly leaves and roses.
Don’t forget Yule be home for Christmas if you use our ideas for route planning!
Zoo
If you’re looking for ideas for places to visit over the Christmas holidays, then why not visit a zoo? Many are open as usual during the winter (except Christmas day itself), and if you’re looking for an unusual gift many offer an animal adoption scheme. You could even spot some of Rudolph's reindeer cousins at some parks. Most zoos and wildlife parks are listed on OS Travel Map – Tour publications, which are ideal for planning family days out.
Find out about zoos, wildlife parks and other attractions – search the VisitBritain website, or if museums and galleries are more your thing have a browse of the 24 hour Museum.
Ordnance Survey is not responsible for the content of external websites.
Gift ideas
Shopping for original Christmas presents can be a real headache. Here’s a list of gift ideas to get your family and friends exploring the local area this holiday season.
1. Pedometer
2. Mobile phone with mapping functionality
3. An OS Select - Explorer map
4. Walking clothing
5. Whistle
6. Torch
7. Compass
8. Flask
9. Penknife
10. GPS unit
11. Rucksack
12. Walking boots