Victorian Christmas Traditions

The Victorian Roots of Our Modern Christmas

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Many yearn for an old fashioned Christmas enjoyed by our ancestors. the problem is the old fashioned Christmas was just a marketing ploy to appeal to a growing Victorian middle class

Christmas was generally a family feast in well to do households in the early 19th century household. if their Church affiliaton approved.

Source: Public Domain by Charles Green

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The Not So Deep Roots of Christmas Present

The modern holiday of Christmas the modern holiday of Christmas as celebrated in the Western world, has its roots in the Victorian era. Both the he British and American public; took traditions from other northern European cultures and created the modern Christmas. This is a look at some of the development of these new holiday traditions.

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The English embraced the German tradtion of Christmas trees in 1851.

Source: Public Domaint

Oh Christmas Tree!

The Germans were responsible for giving us the Christmas tree. Many pagan civilizations have used evergreens as a symbol of life during the dead months of winter. We have the Royal family of Queen Victoria to thank for making Christmas trees wildly popular in the US and Britain. Prince Albert in 1841 introduced the idea of a Christmas tree or Tannenbaum. In 1850 an etching of a Christmas tree at Windsor Castle was published. every well to do Victorian home decided that they too should have a Christmas tree. A tradition kept by German immigrants in the past, the Christmas tree soon was fashionable in America too. In America soon, it was popular to decorate your tree with handmade cornucopias filled with nuts, dried fruits, and candies.

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Source: Publcic Domain

Traditional Gift Giving taught by The Three Wise Men in the Macy's Window!

In 1870 in America and Britain Christmas trees were so popular; that commercial ornaments were first made. These included molded wax figures of angels, gold paper, and balls decorated with powdered glass Americans further commercialized the new holiday, by taking the tradition of homemade family gift exchange to a new level. Nn the 1880s Macy’s department store started to feature Christmas windows with toys from around the world.. They enticed shoppers into the store, with indows that featured whimsical mechanical decorations.

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Victorian protrayal of colonial carolers who just happen to have printed sheet music.

Source: Public Domaint

Now We Can All Sing and Play Jingle Bells

Caroling was originally a way for clever entrepreneurs to take advantage of the presence of pianos in well-to-do Victorian house households.Carolers performed in groups of three. A caroler might play violin, while another sang.A third would sell the sheet music to the popular holiday tune.. Carolers with less commercial goals might sing for neighbors in hopes of being invited in for hot cider and holiday sweets.

Source: Christmas Card 1885

The First Hallmark Moments

Christmas letters to friends and family, where the norm for holiday communication in most Victorian households. Soon the idea of sending Christmas greetings on printed cards are became popular. Early Christmas cards depicted acts of charitable giving, and family celebrations. Many cards tried to portray Christmas as a long held and old fashioned holiday

Market To Market!

This was all part of the marketing of a new holiday, that required consumers to purchase ornaments, store-bought gifts, and of course Christmas cards. It became increasingly popular, to focus on children . This was the reason the Victorians could really take to the holiday. The concept of a happy and somewhat carefree childhood was a growing reality for the middle class in many countries. This was a concept that was non exsistence a few generations before. Children were just adult capable of doing less productive work.

Taking the cue from many northern Europeans, ideas about elves bringing Christmas goodies to children, the tradition of Father Christmas and Santa Claus became wildly popular. Toy makers everywhere knew they would soon have an outlet, by which to guilt parents into purchasing factory produced toys, instead of the handmade standbys.

Santa was not always pictured in red and white until Coke Cola advertising made the red and white Santa clothing standard.

Source: Public Domain

Was Christ Ever The Reason for the Season!

Americans on the whole had had a historic love-hate relationship with Christmas. Many Protestant Americans considered the pagan roots of many of the trappings of Christmas, and rejected it as a proper Christian holiday.-Christmas in the New England colonies was actually being banned. Christmas in the Cavalier colonies was associated with body drunkenness and a work stoppage. Churches struggled to keep the religious and moral significance of the holiday. Charles Dickens, story the Christmas Carol helped reestablish the myth of Christmas being a time of family emphasis and helping. Soon Christmas was being this started nostalgically remembered as a time for family gathering and community concern for the hungry. While, there was not an established tradition of this, churches could encourage the celebration of Christmas with of some moral underpinning.

Attempts to put the Christ back in our modern Christians Christmas are based on the false notion that there was a time when all the trappings of the holidays, had more spiritual meaning. Since most of the popular traditions of Christmas developed from pagan roots, this isan impossibility. Victorian myths of magical Christmas charity overcoming the Scrooges of the world is not a bad idea . It allows all people to enjoy and give during this fairly new holiday season. A true old-fashioned Christmas, it might just have included a day of work followed by a Sunday sermon, on the starkness of Christ birth in a manger. We can all be glad that the Victorians claimed Christmas as a fun children’s holiday that reminds adults of the joy of childhood.

Make Your Own Victorian Ornaments

By the early 20th century children and toys were the main focus of the holiday.

A couple could only kiss if there was berries on the mistletoe,

Source: Public Domain

The Greening of Christmas: Making Our Pagen Ancestors Proud!

Ivy greenery, mistletoe, and holly all have their roots in pagan practices honoring the winter solstice. The Victorians wanting Christmas, to be a special time even for young adults, made up the concept of kissing under the mistletoe. If a supposedly, unlucky couple found themselves under the mistletoe, powers that be insisted they kiss. The number of couples who could kiss under the mistletoe was determined by the number of berries on the mistletoe. One kiss and one berryremoved. No more berries, then there were no more kissing games. I am sure most households, tried to have mistletoe with many berries.

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Being Laid To Rest In the Victorian Era

English: Funeral procession 

The funeral cortege of Edward the Confessor, from the Bayeux Tapestry (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The funeral procession has been around for centuries in Westren Culture

Trauerschmuck, Brosche, Glas, 19. Jahrh. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Example of Victorian Mourning Jewelry

English: Advertisement for Victorian mourning garb. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Victorian Funerals

Victorians were fond of the gothic and melodramatic .Death was common place and unlike most weddings of the time, they were conducted with great pomp and circumstance. If a man was wretchedly poor in life his grandest moment of social participation may have been so in death.

It was common for many lower class families to have put aside funds and for the burial of their offspring as childhood mortality was high during the Victorian era (1837-1901). The quality of life for living children suffered so that a fine funeral could be provided the dead.

The mark of any proper Victorian funeral was the funeral procession. In England the processions were much more of a spectacle than they were in the United States. It was grand procession in both countries with pall bears that sometimes had batons, pages, and men dressed in gowns that carried wands. These professions many times became drunken parades as the men waited long periods of time in the cold and drank gin to stay warm. A wealthy family might suffer great social embarrassment if the procession ended up looking like a circus parade; because their hired mourners drank too much.

The first vehicle in the funeral procession was the hearse drawn by six black horses. In the United Kingdom it was customary for the horses to sport dark colored feathered plumes on their heads. The hearse was gilded with gold and silver, and the coffin could be seen in a glass car. Some hearses sported a canopy of black ostrich feathers. Coffins were highly polished and sported silver handles and plates. If cloth covering were used on the coffin; they were attached with brass nails. Colors that were acceptable for funeral cloths were rich purples or greens. Gone were the simple sheer cotton shrouds that had graced the body of the deceased in earlier times.

The other carriages the followed contained the mourners and celery in order of their relation to the deceased. Men wore dark suits and women wore black gowns made of black crape and full black veils. Fashion dictated female family members of the departed use black gloves and black fans. Only mourners outside of the family wore fine black silk as less ostentatious black dress was expected of family members.

Only black jet jewelry was worn by mourners and by female family members for up to two years while the family was officially in the state of mourning. Society dictated that Victorian widow wear full and deep veils for up to two years and only black kid gloves for up to six months. All black dress was worn by the relations of the deceased for at least three months. Crepe was the fabric of choice for most women in morning. Younger women could get away with wearing half morning clothes of purple after a few months as long as they were not a widow.

Most widows avoided social events for 18 months after the death of their husband. Children generally were in muted colors, but not full morning garb three to six months after the death of a sibling or parent. Widowers only avoided polite society for a year after the death of their wife. It is unlikely rural farm families had the time or money to follow these strict Victorian customs too closely.

Victorian wakes were held at the home of the debased and might include friends and family not present at the funeral. Invitations might invite visitors to view the corpse with the family sitting in mourning in the next room. Notes of condolence were sent to the family within ten days after the funeral. Calling cards of a common social nature were left but not expected to be acknowledged by the grieving family for at least three months.

The wake tended to be a large meal provided by the relatives but not the immediate family of the departed. In poor homes food would be brought in by relatives and neighbors to spare the mourning family the chore of preparing food for the wake. In wealthier homes footman and servants were expected to wear simple mourning garb until their master's family stopped official deep mourning. Those who attended the wake may have been given elaborate cards commemorating the death.

Those invited specifically to a 'private "funeral were given even more elaborate cards they would keep in books or in special holders in their pillars. Death announcements on printed cards of black edged paper were sent to distant friends and relatives or out to the community in general if their paper did not print death notices.

Many times Victorian women made wreaths of the hair of the departed that might be displayed at the wake or funeral. Some were wreaths that were keep as funeral mementos and had the braided hair of several family members that passed. Some locks were worn as a sort of morning jewelry in the form of woven chokers or bracelets.

When photography became less expensive, many times photos were taken of the deceased in the casket or posed as if they were sleeping. Pictures of children and infants were especially cherished and might be even printed on funeral cards if the the family could bear the expense. Poetic verse and scripture appeared with at least drawings of angels and other religious symbols on most furneral cards.

When the casket was laid to rest in the cemetery it was thought to be too of a traumatic event to be witnessed by the if witnessed by the female members of the family or children  of the newly departed. Only older male members of the family stayed to watch the casket are laid to rest in the ground. 

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Victorian Couples and Courtship

In Victorian times courtship was a very different affair for each young person based on social class. Upper middle class and wealthier men sought to increase their personal worth by marrying into a family with a least equivalent wealth. This was because upon marriage in the United Kingdom and in America 

In Victorian times courtship was a very different affair for each young person based on social class. Upper middle class and wealthier men sought to increase their personal worth by marrying into a family with a least equivalent wealth.

 This was because upon marriage in the United Kingdom and in America all of the wealth that women obtained became her husband's property. Any wealth that she would inherit at the time of her parent's death would also be his assets all of the wealth that women obtained became her husband's property. Any wealth that she would inherit at the time of her parent's death would also be his assets.

Young women in the upper strata also wanted to maintain the lifestyle they had grown up in and for which they had been groomed to live.

Women from wealthier homes were groomed during childhood to grow up to be social assets to their husbands. She was expected to be competent in the social graces, dance, sing, and speak French. She was to be refined in conversation about matters of what we would consider 'pop culture 'today. She was expected to be a polite listener, but not outspoken on any matter of any substance.

Learning to work in and out of the elaborate levels of etiquette expected of the dutiful wife was almost a full time job. Girls early on had to learn what was expected of them in social circles in order to make a good marriage. Women in the lower classes were spared this ordeal.

When a girl was seventeen or eighteen she was given a coming out party. This social debut meant that she was ready to start the formalized act of courting. The social season ran from April till early fall. A girl's family would sponsor a party or if she was wealthy enough a ball. The young girl would get a whole new wardrobe for the season and spend it at various parties under the watchful eye of her mother or other married female chaperone. Young girls could only be introduced to certain gentlemen by a mutual friend. The goal was for a girl to fill her dance card with a number of potential suitors and not to narrow her interest too soon to just one.

Gentlemen were expected not to dance with more than one girl three times. They were also considered gentlemanly if the gave charity dances to the less attractive girls. It is doubtful that most girls found a suitable potential husband over the course of one social season so it was really her opportunity to shop around and enjoy the company of her female friends.

As time passed girls could start talking with and taking walks with suitors of interest to them. Most girls moved on to this next level of courtship after careful consultations with their family, because leading someone on were considered social suicide.

In daytime and less formal outings a girl left her calling card. In the case of a younger girl she would leave a card with her mother's name listed first. This would indicate that while starting to court, she was still going to be on the social scene looking over several different suitors.

As a girl's age advanced she could take strolls and attend the theatre and opera with a serious suitor. These encounters were a little less strict as the chaperones were usually another young married couple or a slightly older married cousin or sibling.

When a suitor was serious, both his parents and the potential bride's parent's started negotiations. If a girl was looking to marry up into higher social strata, then a large dowry was an enticement. If boy was looking to marry up he had to accept the fact that the girl's family would protect some of her personal wealth by setting up a trust administer by someone looking out for her affairs solely. Couples of the same financial background did not spend so much time concerned with these affairs.

Still, sometimes suitors were rejected on the basis of having fudged about bank account

or not been truthful about their family's reputation. Most local families would know each other, but a young man trying to make mark in the world by marrying up might for it more suitable to move into social circles in a far away town. It was a women's family duty to make sure that her bow was acceptable on all levels.

Suitors were considered cads if they broke off a potential engagement. Women were not free agents in these affairs and there was little chance that men could be deceived by young girls who had little knowledge or control over their financial affairs. Dowries were pretty much straight forward and they would be acceptable to a suitor or not.

The engagement officially took place when the man asked the girls father for permission to marry his daughter. This was always obtained after the girl had accepted the offer. It was more of a left over in earlier times when all marriages were arranged. Still there were a few couples who married against their parents wishes, losing the financial gains from the bride to the groom.

When an engagement was arranged, the girls' mother would host a dinner party, to officially meet the groom's family. It was after this event took place that the engaged couple could announce their engagement officially to friends and mort distant family. Engagements generally lasted d between six months and two years, depending on the finances that needed to be gathered for a wedding and to set up housekeeping.

The girl was given a ring, sometimes a family heirloom. Grooms could receive engagement rings as well, but it was not required. The type of ring used as an engagement ring varied from simple bands with no stones to rings with multiple colored stones. Many times the rings were engraved. Diamonds became a popular choice for engagement rings at the end of the Victorian era.

Engaged couples enjoyed much more freedom than other couples. They could walk together an acceptable distance apart, attend social gatherings without chaperones, and sit together alone and talk in the parlor. Still at the end of the evening they went their separate ways and did not cause talk by being overtly affectionate.

The working class and lower classes tried to mimic some of the courtship practices of the other classes. Getting enough money to afford to take a wife was a huge burden to many young men. Working class families did not have dowries to offer and many times their daughters worked in factories to give money to their families. Having their daughters married off was not necessarily a financial advantage.

Still churches and young people organizations held dances and the working class youth filled their dance card. With rules much less strict young people were encouraged to visit each other at home and play parlor games or take evening strolls. Group picnics and other social outing were encouraged.

Men were many times older than the bride's they chose because they had to make enough money to support a wife. Still most really lower class men were not expected to support a stay at home wife. They had to have enough money to provide lodgings suitable for a married couple.

Several family members living in one room was a circumstance that many young working girls in cities had to face. The chance to live somewhere less crowded was an enticement to many a working girls to marry.

Romantic love was idealized by the Victorians, and a look at letters and diaries from the time show that despite all the social and economic matters involved in courtship and marriage, most people married for love.

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