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Linda's Victorian Christmas
Hi, if you have visited our family page, you already know I love Victorian things. I decided to share some Victorian traditions with you this Christmas. Did you ever wonder about the origin of Christmas trees in the United States, or the tradition of sending Christmas cards? Well, I have a little lesson in history that explains both. How about some Victorian decorating ideas. Or maybe you are interested in some Victorian holiday recipes.
A little lesson in history
The Christmas tree first became popular in England in 1841, when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert first put one up. In 1851, a Lutheran pastor, Henry Schwan, wanted to put one up in Cleveland, Ohio. His congregation was in an uproar. The scandal nearly cost him his pulpit. He and some of his parishioners were accused of idolatry, and the tree was declared a pagan idol. There were even threats to the pastors life. Eventually, the pastor did convince the congregation that Christmas trees were acceptable. The following year, the parish decorated and enjoyed their tree without incident. But not all Victorians viewed the Christmas tree with as much suspicion as the congregation in Ohio. In 1832, German political refugee Charles Follen decorated a tree in Boston to please his young son. That year, and many years later, Follen's tree became something of an event in the neighborhood. He would invite guests to see the tree. He adorned it with eggshells and cornucopias filled with sweets, little dolls, and other toys. Almost every twig had something dangling from it. The Christmas tree, was thought to be one of the most flourishing exotics of New England.
Once Christmas trees were accepted into Victorian homes, their popularity grew immensely. The kind of trees Victorians chose may surprise you, they were much different from the fat, full ones we choose now. Early trees were placed on tabletops with plenty of room between the branches. They were often decorated with items we would consider to be stocking stuffers. Small toys, miniature drums, candy-filled baskets, Most ornaments on early Victorian trees were homemade. Gingerbread, popcorn strings, gilded nuts, paper ornaments and bright ribbons. By the 1890s, technology and consumerism contributed to the way families decorated their tree. Although the homemade ornaments were still used, you could also buy machine-made ornaments. Colorful chromolighographs and tinsel made with real leaded silver became available. In 1903, the first strings of electric lights were invented. These festoons, as they were called, were a great improvement over the highly dangerous lighted candles that were used on Christmas trees. The Victorians continued to decorate with things they made themselves, the just added the new ornaments to the homemade ones, making an eclectic jumble on their trees.
The first known Christmas card 1843
Another tradition begun by our Victorian ancestors
The exchange of Christmas cards began in 1843, which is the same year as Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol. Caught in the middle of the holiday rush, London business man, Henry Cole, was unable to send the traditional written Christmas message to his friends and associates so he sent them illustrated holiday greetings. The card, which was designed by an artist friend, John Calcott Horsley, was divided into three panels. The main illustration showed the three elders at a family -party raising wine glasses in a toast; the side panels showed two Yuletide traditions- feeding the hungry and clothing the needy. The message inside is still almost 150 years later, the most popular greeting of all: " A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You." Cole's cards created quite a stir. At that time you could send letters for just a penny each. In 10 years, Christmas cards were all the rage in England. Cole printed a thousand of the original Christmas cards; only 12 are known to still exist, and are extremely valuable. By the 1860s, greeting card companies began appearing all over England. Some of the best-known artists in the country, including Kate Greenaway were contributing their talents to the new custom. Popular Christmas card designs on the 1860s and '70s were landscapes, children, flowers, portraits, birds, animals and fish. There were few cards with a religious motif at that time. Another big development that aided the spread of Christmas card popularity was the lithographic process of multicolor printing, perfected by Louis Prang of Boston in the 1870s. Using as many as 20 colors, Prang produced reproductions of oil paintings as accurate that sometimes only experts could tell print from painting. By 1881, Prang was printing 5 million cards a year. Most of the major greeting card publishers date from around 1910.
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