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The
Christmas cracker is an integral part of British Christmas celebrations.
It
consists of a cardboard tube wrapped in a brightly decorated twist of paper
(making it resemble an oversized sweet-wrapper).
The
cracker is pulled by two people, and, much in the manner of a wishbone, the
cracker splits unevenly.
The
split is accompanied by a small bang (produced by the effect of friction on
a chemically impregnated card strip).
The
person with the larger portion of cracker empties the contents from the tube
and keeps them.
Typically these contents are a coloured paper hat, a small toy, and a motto,
joke or trivia on a scrap of paper.
Crackers are often pulled after Christmas dinner or at parties.
Assembled crackers are typically sold in boxes of three to twelve.
These
typically have different designs usually with red, green and gold colours.
Making
crackers from scratch using the tubes from used toilet rolls and tissue
paper is a common activity for children.
Crackers were invented by London confectioner Tom Smith, in 1847, as a
development of his bon bon sweets, which he sold in a twist of paper (the
origins of the traditional sweet-wrapper).
As
sales of bon bons slumped, Smith began to come up with new promotional
ideas.
His
first tactic was to insert mottos into the wrappers of the sweets (cf.
Fortune cookies), but this had only limited success.
He was
inspired to add the "crackle" element when he heard the crackle of a log
he'd just put on the fire.
The
size of the bon bon had to be increased to incorporate the banger mechanism,
and the sweet itself was eventually dropped, to be replaced by a small gift.
The new
product was initially marketed as the Cosaque, but the onomatopoeic
"cracker" soon became the commonly used name, as rival varieties were
introduced to the market.
It is a
standing joke that all the jokes and mottos in crackers are unfunny and
unmemorable.
Similarly in most standard commercial products, the gift is equally awful. |
