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The charitable lyrics of
"Christmas is coming" poem!
The lyrics of the poem
"Christmas is coming"
associate the Christmas
feast with geese which are
eaten in traditional English
Christmas feasts. The
meaning that is conveyed to
a child in "Christmas is
coming" is that the festive
period is where each should
give to charity, according
to their means... even if
all they could give was
their blessing (If you
haven't got a penny...)
The History of the
Penny!
The history of the
English penny is not
commonly known but is a
vital part of our
history and heritage!
The first documented
reference to the penny
is dated 790 AD when the
first British penny was
minted in silver. The
design of the penny
frequently changed
depicting the images of
various rulers. The
first Anglo-Saxon
pennies depicted a cross
on the reverse of the
coin as a symbol of
Christianity.
These crosses were
used as guidelines
to cut the penny
into halves and
quarters - "cut
coinage". The
halfpenny (worth
half the value of a
penny) and farthing
(worth a quarter, or
a fourth, of the
value of a penny)
were then minted.
The word farthing
was derived from 'fourthing'.
The penny changed
from silver to
copper in 1797 (hence the
colloquialism
'coppers') then
changed to bronze in
1860 and copper
plated steel in
1992. The Nursery
Rhyme "Christmas is
coming" can claim to
be instrumental in
maintaining our
heritage in relation
to the coinage of
both the UK and the
USA which also used
the humble penny. |
