A popular Victorian custom was to place a silver coin or small gift inside a mince pie for good luck—a practice known as a "Christmas pie charm." Additionally, it was considered bad luck to refuse a mince pie offered to you during Christmas.
Some old customs included the belief that eating mince pies on each of the Twelve Days of Christmas would bring happiness for the coming year. People also sang carols and recited blessings while baking and eating the pies.
Controversies and Superstitions
Interestingly, mince pies were once banned by Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans during the mid-17th century. They viewed mince pies, along with other Christmas festivities, as pagan or excessive. Cromwell’s government imposed restrictions on Christmas celebrations, seeing them as frivolous or immoral. This ban was lifted with the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 under Charles II.
There were also superstitions surrounding mince pies. For example, some believed that mince pies should be made with an odd number of ingredients to bring good luck, and that they should not be eaten before Christmas Day. Others thought that eating mince pies made on Christmas Eve guaranteed a safe journey in the year ahead. shutdown123