"Is it illegal to eat mince pies on Christmas Day?" (2025)

FAQs

Is it illegal to eat a mince pie on Christmas Day? ›

Some speculation has it that mince pies were illegal to eat on the day of Christmas. However, the only Christmas Day where eating mince pies was illegal was 1644 due to December falling on a day of fasting. Eat all of the mince pies to your heart's desires!

There is a tradition of eating one mince pie each day over the 12 days of Christmas from Christmas Eve to 5 January.

Why do we eat mince pies at Christmas? Mince pies were originally made to celebrate Jesus. They were oblong in shape to represent the manger that Jesus slept in as a baby and have a 'pastry baby Jesus' carved into the pastry. Traditionally one mince pie is eaten for the Twelve days of Christmas.

This is one of those 'facts' that everyone knows – dour old Puritan Oliver Cromwell hated merriment and fun and laughing and dancing and so banned mince pies when he was Lord Protector because nothing is more guaranteed to bring pleasure and enrage a killjoy than a little pagan sweet pie dusted with icing sugar…

of Christmas it brings good luck for the year ahead. According to tradition, you must also make a wish. when eating your first mince pie of the season.

For Roman Catholics, sundown on Christmas Eve begins the Vigil of Christmas, which is a Holy Day of Obligation for Roman Catholics. Those who observe, abstain from meat between sundown on Christmas Eve and sundown on Christmas Day.

Christmas in numbers

Brits eat approximately 175 million mince pies over Christmas, using 175 tonnes of aluminium packaging. The UK uses 227,000 miles of wrapping paper each year.

They're very popular in the UK and some other countries like Australia and New Zealand. Like Christmas Puddings, were originally filled with ground up or 'minced' meat, such as lamb, as well as dried fruit and spices, which where they got their name from.

So all traditions come from somewhere, right? And the tradition of leaving mince pies and milk for Santa actually originated in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, December 6th is Festival of St. Nicholas, with children all over the country leaving food offerings for the Saint, in exchange for presents.

Many people enjoy mincemeat pie served warm, but it can also be served cold. The recipe below features both mini pies or you can make two nine-inch pies. You can pair mincemeat pie with ice cream, custard, or low-fat Greek yogurt for a sweet treat that's sure to impress!

Why is it called mince pie? ›

The reason mincemeat is called meat is because that's exactly what it used to be: most often mutton, but also beef, rabbit, pork or game. Mince pies were first served in the early middle ages, and the pies were quite sizeable, filled with a mixture of finely minced meat, chopped up fruit and a preserving liquid.

In the US, there are no laws regulating what foods fictional characters can consume, transport or distribute. Mince pies are not commonly consumed in the US outside of the New England region. Perhaps if more Americans were familiar with them they would be banned. Or perhaps not, who can know.

The tradition comes from the time of Oliver Cromwell in the 1650s, when mince pies were banned at Christmas, along with other tasty treats. Cromwell wanted to tackle gluttony in England. He also argued that Christmas contained too many superstitions of the Roman Catholic Church, which he hated.

Some Puritans objected to the celebrations as there was no mention of such things in the Bible, and therefore couldn't be justified as they were not rooted in scripture. Many also felt that the Christmas festivities had simply become too drunken and debauched. Presbyterians in Scotland had outlawed Christmas in 1640.

Mince pies, Christmas cake and fruit cakes (the alcohol evaporates in the oven) are all ideal for you to tuck into! Make sure to avoid the brandy butter though and keep an eye out for raw eggs in mousses and custard. You won't need to miss out on your smoked salmon and eggs for Christmas Day breakfast.

According to tradition, the Christmas Eve dinner must not contain meat. A popular Christmas Day dish in Naples and in Southern Italy is female eel or capitone. A traditional Christmas Day dish from Northern Italy is capon (gelded chicken). Abbacchio is more common in Central Italy.

While it's true that in 1917 the Codex Iuris Canonici had actually prescribed abstinence from meat and fasting on the eve of the Pentecost, the Assumption, All Saints' Day and Christmas, the Costituzione Apostolica Paenitemini signed in February 1966 by Paul VI overwrote these indications and established that fasting ...