A Victorian Christmas

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A Victorian Christmas


Attitudes to Christmas changed during the 19th centaury. The Germans had a massive influence on the modern British Christmas due to the British royal family descending from German roots and Queen Victoria being married to a German prince. The Germans introduced Christmas trees and the queen made putting presents under the tree popular and they also introduced Christmas card. As well as that Father Christmas/ Santa Claus/ Santa was introduced as a marketing advertisement. For most Victorians, Christmas was an enjoyable time to be spent with the family. However most employers would not allow holidays for the Christmas season. Therefore Scrooge not allowing Bob Pritchett and his fellow employees time off work to celebrate Christmas would not actually been an unusual circumstance.  A British confectioner called Tom Smith visited Paris in the Christmas period and saw sugared almonds wrapped up in paper. From that experience sprung the idea of Christmas crackers. Smith enclosed confectionary in paper and by the late Victorian era, these little sweets were replaced with small gifts and paper crowns. These crackers are still a popular way to celebrate Christmas in the 21st centaury, today! In 1881, a magazine published a strict guide for the lady of the house on how to decorate the house properly for Christmas, to allow the family and guests to enjoy the festival the best they possibly can. The old tradition, developed from the medieval age, of decorating the home with fur tree branches and yew branches and twigs was suddenly frowned upon.  Middle class industrious and factory workers began to be allowed two days holiday to celebrate Christmas. Surprisingly Charles Dickens’s book ‘a Christmas carol’ actually encouraged the wealthy to redistribute their money by giving gifts and food and money to the poor.  

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