Christmas at Carlton House
Celebrating the Season In Regency Style
“...everywhere...and at all times, [Christmas]
has been the season of miracle and surprise, the time
closest to the hearts of the people who keep it.”
Much has been made, said, written about and portrayed
regarding an English Victorian Christmas, with hardly any good
references to Regency Yuletides—and little wonder! Thanks to the
Industrial Revolution and advances in the power of the press (i.e.,
photography, color printing, and both as applied to advertisements)
the Victorian era was portrayed abundantly as no time before it ever
had been. After a picture of Prince Albert's Christmas tree appeared
in the London paper in 1848, England saw an immediate adoption of
the practice of putting up trees, including a resurgence of the whole
idea of “keeping” Christmas in a big way. In short, the holiday
became fashionable! The abundance of colored holiday prints from
that era which survive to this day is proof for the pudding, so to
speak.
The Regency era, however, suffers from a lack of pictorial
records regarding the Holiday Season. This is not, (in my opinion) due to a
lack of spiritual observance, as has been often assumed. The reason
there are so many happy depictions of Victorian Christmas life, is
because there are so many depictions of Victorian life, period. The
process of printing in color became easier, thereby becoming
cheaper, and thus spawning a great deal of inexpensive prints and
artwork with much surviving to this day. The middle class came into
its own in the Victorian era, and with it, came its spending power.
Merchandising, while not near the level of what it is today,
nevertheless “discovered” that it could cater to the tastes of this
large segment of society, and make a tidy profit while doing so.
The Christmas card, (the first of which was not printed until
1843—and even then, was not in color) became affordable with the
introduction of the penny post—cheap mail. This catapulted the
onslaught of a huge mass of printed Christmas scenes. In other
ways, the growing prosperity of a large middle class made
Christmas, in the more modern sense, affordable to more people, and
this played into how it appeared in printed literature, magazines, newspapers, and the like.
As for the oft-cited example of Victoria and Albert being
responsible for the surge of interest in Christmas, this is less due
to their domesticity than to the “advertisement” of it. England had
enjoyed a blissfully domestic royal family who were the picture of
happy tranquility in King George III and his Germanic wife, Charlotte.
It was Charlotte, in fact (and not Prince Albert) who had the first
Christmas tree set up in 1800. However, when the Queen had her tree erected it was not advertised to the population
at large the way it was
later in the century when Albert put up his tree, and it lacked the
opportunity of capturing wide-spread attention.
Even if it had caught the imagination, most people lacked the
means of making such a tree, replete with presents, a reality in their
own homes, especially in urban areas. Under Victoria and Albert,
conditions were more supportive for a larger segment of society to
celebrate with all the trappings. Combined with the other factors
previously noted, it made sense for the custom of having a tree to take
root only when it was affordable and important to do so.
During the Regency, the rug of stability had been
pulled from beneath the population. Their King, symbol of power for
the nation, was believed to have gone mad. In his
place, a pleasure-loving, hedonistic, but immensely dignified prince
became regent. Despite a great deal of criticism leveled against him,
he was, nonetheless, the figurehead of society; he set the tone for the
ton, who in turn, influenced their tenants and
servants. In some degree, there was a general feeling of the nation
collectively holding its breath—the King was fit for bedlam and the
country was at war--and waiting. And when the Regent lived as if
nothing else mattered but the elegance of his rooms, the quality
of his food, and the pleasure of the moment—the country followed
suit.
This all plays into the absence of attention to
Christmas during the era. We can say, in fact, that it was
commercially neglected, though not, as we shall see, socially
forgotten. Looking back, it is easy to assume the holiday had no
significance, but our hindsight is informed by what has happened
since, regarding the holiday. The Regency never knew the
Christmases of our youth, or of the Victorian ideal. England had still
not fully recovered from the former ban on all things Christmas,
made in the 16th century, as a response to subversion. The fact that
they celebrated as they did is, in fact, evidence of a great
desire to keep the holiday.
Why, then, does the idea of a Regency Christmas strike some
as an oxymoron? For one, the aforementioned dearth of printed Christmas
portrayals, especially when contrasted to the period directly
following it. Also, the atmosphere of irreverence that began in
the upper classes and trickled down to most of the population. There
is an important distinction to be made here, however, that, while Christmas
had once been celebrated with more abandon in England than
during Regency times, and likewise during the Victorian era, it is
nevertheless true that there were earnest observers of the holiday
during the Regency.
The fact that we have less evidence of it being observed,
simply reflects the popular obsession with all things “fashionable.”
The nation's imagination was preoccupied, if you will, and therefore
the sacred holiday of Christmas received a great deal less “press”.
This applied both privately and commercially. We have accounts
from early 19th Century journals of Christmas days where the writer
mentions the holiday but makes absolutely no fuss about it.
Likewise, there are records of newspapers, published on December
25th that do not even contain the word, Christmas.
This is to say that the Church had already lost a
great deal of its influence, so that when people did observe the
holiday, it was on a much quieter scale. The Regency is
famous for the behaviour of its less religious observers, who were
loud, in the public eye, unapologetic, and tenaciously hedonistic.
England was at war, no one knew how it would all turn out, and the
old sentiment of “eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die,”
seemed to be the reigning philosophy. Obviously, that sort of
philosophy doesn't sit well with the Christian values that Christmas
reminds us of.
Yet, even during those turbulent years of Napoleonic
domination (or, the threat of it) and an overbearing upper class
attitude of “anything goes”--England was still “merry old England,”
home to large populations of Protestants and Catholics who
delighted to observe Christmas. It may not have been the “thing,” or
the “mode” to make much of the holiday, but it was observed,
nevertheless. It is my intention to take a good long look at how it was
celebrated, to take a fanciful look at how the Regent may have done
so, and to fill in the blanks for those of us who wonder. We want to
know, once and for all, what a Regency Christmas was like!
The Season of Christmas during the Regency
was not portrayed to the degree that it later was; nor was it fashionable to
be overtly religious or overly sentimental in one's celebrations; people did not feel the sense of obligation about
gift giving that they later
developed. Likewise, one did not see the vast commercial
exploitation of the holiday that was later evident and seen today. What we did have in a Regency Christmas
was an observation of the Season based more on tradition and less
on obligation; more on spiritual observance (for those who observed
it) than on social expectations or pretensions.
We also see in a Regency Christmas all the goodness of the
old-fashioned ways of life, the quaintness of holly and candles and
good, roaring fires in the hearth; the smell of wassail steaming in a
large bowl over the grate, or the pungent aroma of the Christmas
pudding and roast goose watering the mouth and filling the
imagination. We see an emphasis on social interaction that is
woefully absent today, in our world of home entertainment and
personal computers.
In short, despite the shroud placed on the holiday by earlier
bans, and current agnosticism, Regency England did not neglect to
celebrate Christmas. For the masses, it was a tempered form
of celebrating, sobered by the repression of past excesses; and for
many in the upper classes, it may have been just an excuse to keep
up the good times. But as today there are those who observe
Christmas on spiritual grounds and those who don't, so it was then.
The absence of spiritual fervor in some, however, did not, and cannot
erase the joy of a spiritual celebration for others.
Additionally, just as ancient winter solstice celebrations
appealed to anyone during the dark and coldest months of the year,
so Christmas lends itself to the observance of all people, of any faith
or persuasion, regardless of its Christian significance and meaning.
May you deeply enjoy your Christmas this year, and may this
book help you do so, beginning by taking you back to the early
nineteenth century.
Picture it: Bright candles and a blazing fire, friends and loved
ones, neighbors and clergy, surrounding you while you sip your glass
of wassail and listen while someone sings a traditional carol aloud
from across the room.... the smell of holly and the spices in your drink
mingle pleasantly in the air about you, as comfortable together as you
are with these people you have likely known your whole life......
Welcome to an early nineteenth century
Christmas Season. It is evening, now, and I can hardly wait for
tomorrow!
As stated earlier, if you read about English Christmases,
what you get is a history of ancient rituals, medieval traditions, and
then a jump to the sumptuous Victorian ideal. From there it is short
work to reach the present-day Father-Christmas centered affair . But
what is the poor Regency writer to do when she wants to portray
Christmas? We can't rely on Dickens, because his portrayals of the
Season either foretell, or come after, the Regency.
Therefore, we will start our journey into “Christmas Past” at the
Regency! What would a Regency Christmas look like? What sort of
decorations would there have been? Were there lights in the
windows? Were there wreaths on the door? What about a tree? Or
the smells of evergreen and holly? In short, would we recognize
Christmas at all? I think we would.
The Regency in England was actually quite a short period,
lasting only nine years from 1811 to 1820. Due to what we now know
was a condition called porphyria, the King was considered
to have gone mad. In 1811, Parliament declared George,
Prince of Wales, Regent in place of his father, George III.
To understand the Christmas customs of the Regency, one
must really begin back in the 17th century, nearly two hundred years
earlier, when the holidays were celebrated so boisterously that it led
to drunkenness, riotous revelries that often lasted through whole
nights, and many kinds of social disorder. People who were not truly
celebrating the religious holiday of Christmas were going all out to
make it the pagan winter festival of ancient times—or so it seemed.
So by the time of Cromwell the holiday was frowned upon, then
discouraged, and finally outright banned! Anyone found celebrating
Christmas could be seized from his own home and thrown into
prison, heavily fined, or even, at times, put to death! The end result
was that Christmas in England was dealt a hard blow. Even when it
was legalized again in 1660, the repercussions of it having been
banned took time to stamp out. Slowly, slowly, however, the old
traditions came back, the festive atmosphere returned, and
Christmas was once again respectable.
By the time of the Regency people were most assuredly
celebrating Christmas, but not with the same expectations of the
holiday as is usual today. Instead of, for instance, the intense
excitement centered upon December 25th, the Regency Christmas
celebration was really spread out over what was considered to be the
Christmas Season.
From the beginning of Advent until Epiphany on January 6th,
people planned, and held, many different sorts of festivities, balls,
parties, card-parties, dinners, small gatherings, skating parties, and
other visits and social events. Christmas Day itself was an
acceptable time for gift-exchanges, but the emphasis on giving
presents was not what it is today. People have always welcomed gifts
at Christmas, and giving to charity and the servant class was
expected (especially on Boxing Day, December 26th), but December 25th was
primarily a day for religious observance and a special Christmas
dinner.
Let us now begin our journey in earnest. We are somewhere
in the years between 1811 and 1820. Like Jane Austen, we are genteel
but not wealthy. It is nearing the end of November and Stir-up
Sunday has arrived, and with it, the unofficial start to the Christmas
Season. (The official beginning of the Season will be next Sunday,
with the start of Advent.) We have just returned from church, and
now we are back home helping prepare the Plum Pudding which will
be central to our Christmas Day feast!
Fun Fact:
Christmas puddings and cakes traditionally had to be prepared by the
Sunday before Advent in order to be considered ready for Christmas. They were
thought to improve upon keeping. Oddly enough, the day became
known as “Stir Up Sunday,” not because of the great deal of stirring
done to prepare the victuals, but because of the collect for the church
service that day: “Stir up we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy
faithful people...”
You could always start your pudding later, closer to Christmas,
but it is essential to have a pudding if you would have an English
Christmas. Interestingly, the flaming “Plum Pudding” we know today
actually contains no plums! The name dates back to the 1670’s, but by the time of the
Regency the plums were replaced with raisins and currants. Also known as Christmas Pudding or “Figgy” Pudding, the
recipe does not contain figs, either.
If you were from a poorer home your family might have joined a
“Pudding Club.” In the months or weeks preceding Christmas, you
would leave small amounts of money at the grocers, thereby
ensuring enough cash for the all-important Christmas pudding
when it came time to purchase the ingredients.
Excerpted from Linore Rose Burkard's upcoming book, Christmas at Carlton House: Celebrating
the Season In Regency Style. To purchase the rest of this book, visit Ladyregency.net. The finished book will include recipes, games, decorating tips, illustrations and
more.
Jane Austen Centre Readers: Receive 50% off the list price. You must let us know you heard about the book
through the JAC at ordering in order to qualify for the half-price purchase.
Ms. Burkard is the author of the acclaimed Regency Novel, Before the Season Ends. Visit her website to read selections from this and other books in the
series.
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