Regency Christmas
For a recent job interview, I had to research into how Christmas was celebrated during the Regency period. The Christmas we know today was largely developed by the Victorians and it was interesting to see whether or not Christmas was celebrated differently before then. So, with exactly 100 days to go until Christmas Day, I thought it would be a good time to look into how Christmas was spent during the early nineteenth century.
The Christmas period was celebrated for a lot longer than it is today. Society was still predominately reliant on agriculture, the Christmas period lasted for a month, from December 6th till January 6th, as it was too cold to be working out in the fields. This meant that it was seen as a season of charity and giving as it was a hard time for the poor who wouldn’t be working during this time. The Christmas season was also one where begging was informally accepted and casual money giving increased due to the understanding that the poor were unable to fend for themselves during this time of seasonal unemployment.
December 6th was a day of gift giving to mark the beginning of the Christmas season, but other notable days of the season included Christmas Day, St Stephen’s Day, which later became known as Boxing Day and most important of all was January 6th, known as Twelfth Night.
Twelfth Night was celebrated in much the same way as Christmas Day is celebrated today. It was a day full of feasting, games, partying and drinking. It was seen as the big blowout to mark the end of the Christmas season. The main tradition of Twelfth Night cake. It is seen as the traditional precursor to the present-day Christmas cake. It was made from the leftovers of all the puddings eaten over the Christmas period and was elaborately decorated with icing and figurines. As Twelfth Night was celebrated by whole households the cake was shared by everyone. Both a dried pea and dried bean were placed into the cake and whoever found them would be the King and Queen for the day, no matter what social standing they had normally.
Wassail was the traditional drink that was consumed over the period and was a form of mulled punch. It was traditionally consumed in a large bowl called the wassail bowl which was drunk from by all (as seen in the above image). It was this specific Christmas tradition that was blamed on creating disorder and revelry at a time when merry making should not be allowed to turn into promiscuity. It was often passed around by Christmas carollers in exchange for food or small amounts of money. I recently first tasted this at a Maritime festival where tasters of it were being passed around. It has a rather strong taste and it’s no wonder why people associated it with drunkenness!
Decorations were always put up on Christmas Eve as it was deemed as unlucky to put them up before then. A yule log was chosen that would be big enough to burn for the whole season. A part of it was always kept to help light next year’s one too. The main theme of decoration was always evergreen and holly, but kissing balls were made from different materials, including mistletoe, ivy, spices, candles and ribbons. All of these had to be down and burned after Twelfth Night to avoid bad luck for the rest of the year.
The thing I find the most intriguing about how Christmas was celebrated during the early nineteenth century is how contemporary issues influenced it. Between 1780 and 1815, Christmas was thought to have been in a downward spiral due to the horrors of the French Revolution and the subsequent wars with the French meant that people couldn’t afford to celebrate the season as well as they had done previously. Fears rose of Christmas traditions fading with the increase of industrialisation, despite it being was seen as a symbol of English identity. And yet, Christmas also had its critics, for the drunkenness and revelry associated was seen as a threat to order. Yet, the Regency period was the last time Christmas was celebrated for an extended period because industrialisation would soon end the rural way of life.
Ratcliffe, J., ‘An 18th-Century Christmas’, http://www.julieratcliffe.co.uk/an-eighteenth-century-christmas/
Hitchcock, T., ‘Begging on the Streets of Eighteenth-Century London’, Journal of British Studies, 44.3 (2005), p. 485.
Johnson, B., ‘A Georgian Christmas’, https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/A-Georgian-Christmas/
Johnson, B., ‘A Georgian Christmas’, https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/A-Georgian-Christmas/
Early Modern England, December 22nd 2013 http://www.earlymodernengland.com/2013/12/georgian-christmas-an-eighteenth-century-celebration/; Leach, H. M. and Inglis, R., ‘The Archaeology of Christmas Cakes’, Food and Foodways, 11.2-3 (2003), p. 146; Shaughnessy, J., ‘Leftover Cake and the First Christmas Tree: A Georgian Christmas’, https://blog.findmypast.co.uk/a-georgian-christmas-dinner-1503656888.html
Early Modern England, December 22nd 2013 http://www.earlymodernengland.com/2013/12/georgian-christmas-an-eighteenth-century-celebration/
Ratcliffe, J., ‘An 18th-Century Christmas’, http://www.julieratcliffe.co.uk/an-eighteenth-century-christmas/
Johnson, B., ‘A Georgian Christmas’, https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/A-Georgian-Christmas/
Shaughnessy, J., ‘Leftover Cake and the First Christmas Tree: A Georgian Christmas’, https://blog.findmypast.co.uk/a-georgian-christmas-dinner-1503656888.html
Connelly, M., Christmas: A History (London: I.B. Tauris & CO LTD, 2012), p. xii.
Johnson, B., ‘A Georgian Christmas’, https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/A-Georgian-Christmas/
Connelly, M., Christmas: A History, p. 6.
Connelly, M., Christmas: A History, pp. 9-10 and 15.
Mattern, J., Celebrate Christmas (New York: Enslow Publishing Inc, 2012), p. 24.
Johnson, B., ‘A Georgian Christmas’, https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/A-Georgian-Christmas/
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