Enjoy a Victorian Christmas – Make your Christmas the most beautiful yet with Victoriana!
Ever since Charles Dickens made the world of Ebenezer Scrooge memorable in his most famous novel: A Christmas Carol , we have been enchanted with how magical a Victorian Christmas can be. The reign of Queen Victoria – the Victorian Era -was the time in British history of from 1837 to 1901. Although it was a time that called out for social reform – which Dickens wrote about so eloquently, it was also a time of peace, and a time when a culture of family, arts and crafts and tradition developed. It was a time of restraint, and yet in many ways one of the most creative times. Many of our favorite Christmas traditions came up then!
The Christmas tree originated in Germany, but so the story goes Queen Victoria married a German man who brought the tree into their home. Many of the beautiful Victorian Christmas decorations that we are familiar with came about during this time. Trees were full of Christmas fairies, candles, stars, paper chains. There were charming villages of little people and animals that were underneath the tree of Christmas of England in the 1800′s.
And the Victorian Christmas dinner! Plum puddings, oysters, rice croquettes, Nesselrode pudding and macaroons decorated the Victorian Christmas table.
Christmas carols and Christmas caroling came about of the time of Victoriana. Even if you do not have a staff of servants and wealth like Scrooge, you can learn to learn how to decorate your home in the style of Queen Victoria, and celebrate your Christmas in a way that even Dickens would be proud of.
( photocredit: By Charles Green (1840-1898) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)
A Family Celebrates A Lovely Victorian Dinner
other useful sites
Here are some sources that will help you on your journey to a positively merry Christendom:
http://www.christmastraditions.com/
http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/yuletraditions/Yule_Traditions_and_Customs.htm
http://www.santas.net/aroundtheworld.htm
Ho, Ho, Ho!!!
Victorian Christmas Faires – Celebrate Like Dickens
Where can you go to be sure that you are celebrating Christmas like Dickens? At A Dickens Faire! They are held in many different towns across the country – but the one in San Francisco, California is considered to be one of the best.
Have A Positively Scrumptious Victorian Christmas Dinner
Victorian Christmas dinners are an excellent alternative to the traditional l Christmas dinners, that as great as they might be can get a bit boring when you have them again, and again, and again, and again. So why not try something new? Why not try the neglected yet incredibly rewarding experience of a Christmas dinner set in the style of 19th Century Victorian England?
There are so many amazing aspects of such an option. And they are quite different from anything you might be used to. What first strikes the person who takes this up is the absolute attention to detail these Victorians put into their dinners. Think about it – who nowadays would spend so much energy adorning their dining room with linens and china, evergreens, flowers, and all the rest of it? We make excuses for our “busy” lives, and we don’t give time for quality in these events nowadays. Yet they did then quite regularly.
And the food at the Victorian dinner! This was of such high quality that it is almost a crime that Americans today don’t eat it! There were all kind of creative options to choose from go beyond the standard option of turkey, as good as that is. We’re talking about anything from boars head to a rib of beef to Yorkshire pudding to clear turtle soup. As far as the meat was concerned, the most exciting feature was the goose. People in southern England, during Queen Victoria’s reign, were more likely to feast upon this specialty. It would be prepared in a similar way to turkey, but with a dressing featuring sage and onions, in order to complement the goose’s unique flavor.
But by far the most important feature of the Victorian Christmas dinner was the pudding. It had the distinction, odd for a pudding nowadays, of including suet (beef fat), but it also included raisins, currants, bread crumbs, all kinds of citrus, spices, and sherry and brandy. This would be a major investment, involving the whole family.
And while it was not the predominant feature of the meal, mincemeat was still a famous feature of these dinners.
And last but not least – sugarplums! These scrumptious desserts are sure to bring joy to even the grouchiest scrooge.
I think you will agree that the Victorian Christmas dinner is your most memorable.
Wassail
Wassail is a dish almost unheard of today. Yet in Victorian times, it was still ever prevalent.
Historically, Wassail would refer to a festival meant to ensure an abundant harvest of cider apples in the following Autumn. Yet, as it was associated with Yule, many would incorporate it into their Christmas festivities.
For the following recipe, I feel obligated to credit the website paganwiccan.about.com:
So – to start, we will need the proper ingredients. These are as follows:
- 1 Gallon apple cider
- 2 C. cranberry juice
- 1/2 C honey
- 1/2 C sugar
- 2 oranges
- Whole cloves
- 1 apple, peeled and diced
- Allspice
- Ginger
- Nutmeg
- 3 cinnamon sticks (or 3 Tbs. ground cinnamon)
- 1/2 C – 1 C brandy (optional)
So, we have all of these wonderful ingredients, but how do we make this concoction? Well, to make it, we have to have a crockpot. We will want to set this crockpot to it’s low setting, and pour all the apple cider, cranberry juice, honey and sugar in, mixing carefully. We will want to stir this up as the crockpot heats, and watch the materials dissolve. After this, we will add the diced appl, and a couple of tablespoons of allspice, ginger and nutmeg to taste. Finally, snap the cinnamon sticks in half and add those as well.
Following this, you will want to cover your pot and allow it to simmer 2 – 4 hours on low heat. About half an hour prior to serving, if you like, add the brandy.
Yule
While it may have been considered too “pagan” for “respectable” sensibilities in Victorian England, many aspects of Yule nevertheless permeated Victorian Christmas culture.
Like Christmas, Yule was around December 25, and therefore good for the Christians to absorb in an attempt to expand their influence. It was Germanic in origin, and spread among associated groups like the Anglo-Saxons (among whom it went by the name geola). It was a very important Winter Solstice celebration.
wicca.com summarizes one of the most important features of the festival:
“The ceremonial Yule log was the highlight of the Solstice festival. In accordance to tradition, the log must either have been harvested from the householder’s land, or given as a gift… it must never have been bought. Once dragged into the house and placed in the fireplace it was decorated in seasonal greenery, doused with cider or ale, and dusted with flour before set ablaze by a piece of last years log, (held onto for just this purpose). The log would burn throughout the night, then smolder for 12 days after before being ceremonially put out. Ash is the traditional wood of the Yule log. It is the sacred world tree of the Teutons, known as Yggdrasil. An herb of the Sun, Ash brings light into the hearth at the Solstice.“
The Victorian “Christians”, ever spiteful of “pagan idolatry”, nevertheless were content to plagiarize many features of the Yule festivities – along with the date of the celebration,the wassail drank at Yule became the modern apple cider.