BOAR'S HEAD

A staple of the medieval English Christmas banquet was the presentation of the boar's head, accompanied by no little spectacle. The killing of pigs was customary in northern Europe in November and December, when the beasts could not be fed over winter.

According to legend, a student of Queen's College, Oxford was reading a book of Aristotle when he was attacked by a boar in Shotover Forest. With a shout he thrust the book down the boar's throat and choked it to death. Lest he lose his copy of Aristotle, he cut off the head and brought it back to the college, where it was served for dinner.

To this day the college holds a procession including a decorated boar's head and students singering the "Boar's Head Carol".