Christmas gets spooky at the Museum of the Home, with candlelit tours and Victorian traditions

From ghost stories and Pagan rituals to a festive market and a candlelit trip back to 18th-century Hackney, the Hoxton museum has plenty planned for Christmas 2026.

Christmas isn’t all mince pies and merriment at the Museum of the Home. Its winter programme takes in everything from Victorian festive traditions to the ghosts, witches and demons lurking in Christmas folklore, alongside its annual winter exhibition and the return of its independent makers’ market.

Running from 17 November to 10 January, Winter Past traces the history of winter celebrations, starting with a midwinter feast in 1630 and travelling through to the spectacular fairs once held on the frozen River Thames. It also looks ahead to how Christmas might be celebrated in 2049. Visitors can explore the origins of Boxing Day, try their hand at dreidel and listen to festive music on a radiogram. Entry is free.

For a different kind of trip back in time, Almshouse 14 by Candlelight opens up the museum’s restored 18th-century almshouse dwellings for atmospheric candlelit tours. The experience offers a glimpse of what everyday life in Hackney looked like 200 years ago. Tours run from 18 November to 10 January, with tickets priced at £8–£10.

The Winter Market is back on Saturday 28 November, with more than 50 independent makers, small businesses and vintage sellers setting up shop. Expect handmade homewares, seasonal gifts and vintage finds. Entry is pay what you can, with an £8 early-access option from 10am. The market runs from 11am to 4pm.

The talks programme has plenty of festive history to get stuck into. On 28 November, Nicholas Travers explores how many of the Christmas traditions we know today took shape in Victorian Britain at Christmas, from the arrival of the Christmas tree to the influence of Charles Dickens and the royal family.

On 5 December, Yuletide Traditions, Customs, and Rituals turns the clock back further. Lizzie Stoddart, editor at Wyrd Books, explores Celtic and Pagan midwinter celebrations, including the Sabbats of the Wheel of the Year.

Christmas folklore gets considerably darker on 12 December. In The Dead of Winter: The Demons, Witches and Ghosts of Christmas, author Sarah Clegg explores the monsters and supernatural visitors associated with the season, from Krampus to ghostly figures and the unsettling origins of trick-or-treating.

Also on 12 December, straw craftsman Daddystreetfox leads a Christmas Yule Goat workshop, where participants can make their own Nordic Julbock. Traditionally associated with Norse mythology, harvest rituals and rebirth, the straw figure can be decorated with plaited horns, wheat beards, ribbons and bells. Tickets cost £40.

The Museum of the Home’s winter programme runs from 17 November 2026 to 10 January 2027 in Hoxton. See the full programme and book tickets here.