Christmas Caroling (wassailing): according to bellesandmotley.com - "This is the custom of going door-to-door singing carols, accompanied by a large wooden wassail bowl. Each region in England had its own traditional "wassailing songs." These songs all had the same theme: to bid good health to neighbors, friends, "kin and kinsfolk," and all the cows, horses, dogs, and apple trees within the village bounds.… In the spirit of sharing, all who put something into the communal bowl likewise will draw something marvelous out when they drink their draft of it. The toast: "WASSAIL!" comes from the old Anglo-Saxon salutation "Wes thu Hael," meaning "Be thou Hail, Be thou Healthy" for the new year. All the best for a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year!"
Christmas Cards: In 1843, the first Christmas Card was created by Sir Henry Cole in London; he printed 1000 of them. Queen Victoria is said to have loved Christmas Cards; by 1880 there were over 11 million printed. |
Christmas Crackers: a Christmas tradition in the UK, fist made in 1845-50 by a London sweet-maker named Tom Smith and later his three sons (one of whom added the now iconic hats inside). To this day, special, themed crackers are still made for special occasions like Coronations of the British Royal Family. Today, Christmas Crackers are short cardboard tubes wrapped in colorful paper and, when the crackers are pulled (with a cracking sound), a party hat, toy, or festive joke falls out. Christmas Pudding: A rich steamed pudding served at Christmas, originating from medieval England, containing suet and eggs, dried fruit, brandy, and many spices. Despite sometimes being called "plum pudding," this has no actual plums in it ("plum" in pre-Victorian English, referred to raisins). Typically, the pudding is aged from between one month to a year; due to the high alcohol content, it does not spoil during this time. Victorians would put the batter in a basin and then steam it, rather than hang it in a cloth in a cloth hung from a hook to dry out. Unlike some other holiday treats, pudding was all-accessible as it did not require an oven, an appliance most poor families did not have, to make. Nowadays, puddings can be bought at the supermarket pre-made, and reheated as desired. The tradition of pudding presentation is also important: Once turned out of its basin, decorated with holly, doused in brandy (or occasionally rum), and flamed (or "fired"), the pudding is brought to the table ceremoniously, and greeted with a round of applause. This is seen in Dickens' A Christmas Carol: "Mrs. Cratchit entered – flushed, but smiling proudly – with the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quarter of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top".
|
|
Christmas Trees: quite new in Victorian England, Christmas trees were first brought from German tradition into British fad by Albert in 1840. According to Michael Patrick Hearn, "there are no Christmas trees in A Christmas Carol [Dickens' original novella], perhaps because they were a German tradition and not an English one at the time."
Exchanging gifts: The tradition of exchanging gifts on Christmas was still relatively new in Victorian England, perpetuated in particular by Albert, the Prince Consort of Queen Victoria who said it was Christmas, and not the more traditional New Years, that was "a day for the exchange of presents, as marks of mutual affection and good-will". Father Christmas: according to most scholars, including Michael Patrick Hearn, Dickens' Ghost of Christmas Present is "no more than Father Christmas," the ancient patriarch of the English holiday, traditionally a pagan giant dressed in a fur-lined green robe and a crown of holly, bearing mistletoe, the yule log, and a bowl of Christmas punch [or wassail"]". Our modern "Santa Clause" comes from a combination of this figure with the gift-giving Saint Nicholas of Myra, the patron saint of children. According to Hearn, this "Father Christmas derives himself from the Roman Saturnalia [Roman festival of Saturn in December; a period of general merrymaking and the predecessor for Christmas], from Saturn himself". |
Kissing balls (mistletoe): According to Deborah Whipp, mistletoe is "a parasitic plant which grows amongst the branches of trees and shrubs. It is an evergreen featuring small, yellowish flowers and white berries. Druid priests held the plant sacred and used it in their winter celebrations 200 years before the birth of Christ. The plant was revered since it remained green year long – even through cold, harsh winters – despite the fact that it is not rooted in soil. It was seen as a symbol of fertility and used as a medicinal cure for various ills... Mistletoe was the magical ingredient in the kissing ball or kissing bough in Victorian England". Kissing balls had very specific rules, such as a gentleman may give only as many kisses as there are berries on the bough and after each kiss a berry must be removed. If a woman were to refuse a kiss under mistletoe, it was said she should not expect any marriage proposals within the next year! In general, due to its pagan origins and ties to fertility, mistletoe was not allowed in churches.
|
Parlor games: Nowadays, we have "Catchphrase" and "Apples to Apples" to entertain us at parties, but back in Dickens' time, they had their own form of amusement at parties (Christmas related and otherwise). Word games like "Similes" and "The Minister's Cat" were popular, for instance. The first game being one person would lead and go around the room starting with the first two words of a simile, such as "tight as", and the person they approached would have a limited amount of time to respond with the correct answer (here being "a drum"). For the latter game, everyone would sit in a circle and clap in time to the rhythm of the phrase, "The minister's cat is..." and each person in turn would name a new adjective in alphabetical order ("anxious cat", "bewitching cat", "careful cat", etc). If the clapping rhythm is disrupted by someone's delay in thinking of an adjective, they're eliminated from the game and it continues.
|
|