WINTERTHUR, DE.- From the boar’s head and peacock pie of the colonial era to the roast pheasant enjoyed on Christmas Day by the du Pont family in the early 20th century, this year’s Yuletide at Winterthur focuses on unusual food and beverages of the past, as well as the holiday celebrations that surrounded them.

One display will feature a traditional feast at an English country house that includes a boar’s head, a tradition that can be traced to the 14th century. The feast will also feature peacock pie, served en croute, or in a pastry shell, and adorned with tail feathers.

Only slightly less exotic is the turtle or terrapin soup that Winterthur founder Henry Francis du Pont served at holiday meals while he still lived in the mansion. A display in the Du Pont Dining Room will recreate the family’s 20th-century Christmas luncheon. The meal itself was several courses, and du Pont took great care in selecting the linens, china, silverware, and centerpieces, which featured white feather trees, greenery, and bowls of fruit.

All of the food is faux, created using conservation-safe materials by Winterthur staff members who work throughout the year to make the treats and decorations that enhance the Yuletide vignettes while preserving the collection of antiques.

A suite of rooms will show the array of activities that might have been offered to guests at an 18th-century dinner party. In addition to an elaborate meal, settings will include a room arranged for a formal dance, and a spot set with game tables for after-dinner cards and camaraderie.

Another vignette recreates a children’s Christmas tea party of the Victorian era and includes a Christmas pie, a custom that fused the traditional holiday emphasis on food with the emerging focus on gift-giving and delighting children. A Christmas pie was a deep dish filled with bran or sawdust, in which small gifts and trinkets were buried. Children would use spoons to dig around in the pie and find their gifts. An elaborate Victorian-era tree will also add period atmosphere to this display.

The Yuletide tour also includes other winter holidays that were celebrated in early America. January 6—or the Feast of the Epiphany—commemorates the arrival in Bethlehem of the three Magi bearing gifts for the Christ Child and traditionally marks the end of the twelve-day Christmas season. In the 18th century, Twelfth Night parties were popular in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. The party always included a traditional Twelfth Night cake.

The tour also includes a display that recreates an outdoor market of the 18th century, including stands for a butcher, pie man, and greens seller. Also on view is a 12-foot high Christmas tree covered in dried flowers, a Winterthur tradition for nearly two decades.

Holiday Tastes and Traditions runs through January 2, 2005. This year, Winterthur will remain open for tours on New Year’s Day. Admission is $20, adults; $18, seniors and students; and $10, ages two to 11. Reservations are required.