Mary Beards reflects on what really lies behind our attachment to Christmas ritual and tradition.

In a special edition of A Point of View, recorded in Mary's kitchen as she prepares her Christmas puddings, she ponders 'why those of us who aren't particularly wedded to the idea of tradition for the rest of the year, fall hook, line and sinker for it at this time.'

'My hunch,' Mary says, 'is that our fixed traditions are about constructing a family identity for ourselves, about displaying to ourselves as a family - changing, expanding and contracting as families always are - what makes us 'us.''

Producer: Adele Armstrong Sound design: Peregrine Andrews Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith

Reading of Dickens/Herodotus: Simon Slater Reading of Mrs Beeton: Ruth Everett

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1. Extracts of Keith Floyd from A Farewell to Floyd, produced by Cactus TV. 2. The ancient recipe for Herodotus pudding is from Herodotus, Histories 2. 40.