A Sip Of A Holiday Cocktail
My family has never played a Christmas Party game that didn’t get physical. Nowadays, we swim into the current. This means handing out oven mitts and then letting us grown adult children battle it out while trying to unwrap a series of lottery tickets and nips that are buried beneath saran wrap.
But fire? We never messed with fire. Except for that one time; we don’t talk about that one time. And this game? Strictly reserved for 16th Century British folk who have too much brandy on their hands and too little common sense.
You Can Just Tell By The Name
…that Snapdragon is going to result in injuries.
Exquisitely titled, The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities spilled the beans on this Holiday pastime. It described Snapdragon like so:
“A quantity of raisins are deposited in a large dish or bowl (the broader and shallower it is, the better), and brandy or some other spirit is poured over the fruit and ignited. The bystanders now endeavor, by turns, to grasp a raisin, by plunging their hands through the flames; and as this is somewhat of an arduous feat, requiring both courage and rapidity of action, a considerable amount of laughter and merriment is evoked at the expense of the unsuccessful competitors.”
Who doesn’t enjoy charring their hands to grab grape-jerky from a scalding bowl of liquor? Personally, I can’t drop raw chicken into a pan of hot oil without saying a Hail Mary, but I’d absolutely destroy my fingies just to play this game. Let’s actually earn the pagan debauchery we engage in while we’re supposed to be worshipping a literal messianic godsend.
But What About The Kids?
Don’t worry, they can play too. If anything, it’ll serve as an impactful PSA about the dangers of alcohol. Plus raisins are technically fruit, so they’re checking off one of the major food groups, too. Interestingly, it’s rumored that raisins do not retain heat all that well, so snatching them up might not be as harmful as once imagined.
This was more than a children’s game, however. As legend has it, prince Charles - who would become King Charles I of England - once snatched “the lucky raisin” and was subsequently awarded a single request. He then wished for the freedom of Sir Walter Raleigh, who was being held in the Tower of London for a treasonous plot to oust James I from his royal seat.
Nevertheless…
Christmas is a time for shenaniganism. It’s what Jesus would have wanted. So fire up that saucepan and dust off whatever spirits that have been taking up space in your liquor cabinet. Let the kids have some fun.