A dish of porridge that once ended the fast on Christmas Eve evolved into a pudding with dried fruits and spices as a tribute to the Wise Men.
By the sixteenth century, the pudding had become a fruitcake, served during the parish priest’s home blessings on Twelfth Night.
In 1870, after the protestant Queen Victoria banned Twelfth Night celebrations because they were “unchristian,” clever confectioners began selling their fruitcakes as “Christmas cake.”
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