How The Victorians Reinvented Christmas
Christmas celebrations did occur before time of the Victorians (1837–1901), despite a period of festive prohibition between 1647 and 1660. These earlier celebrations were extended affairs, lasting anywhere from 12 to 30 days, and were centered around adults. They featured raucous gatherings with lavish suppers, open houses, drinking, games, and extravagant balls, all enjoyed by the wealthy and serviced by the poor.
However, between 1647 and 1660, a Puritan government banned Christmas, deeming it too pagan and disorderly. Though the ban was relatively short, it disrupted long-standing traditions, and by the early 19th century, Christmas celebrations were in decline. While rural communities maintained many of the old customs, the festive spirit was waning in towns and cities.
Christmas Evolves For The Industrial Revolution
Christmas was fading, and it needed to either evolve or disappear. As Britain underwent the Industrial Revolution, the country could no longer afford to shut down for an entire month to celebrate the season. As a result, under the reign of Queen Victoria, a new, more pragmatic and commercial version of Christmas began to take shape, driven in part by herself and incorporating some traditions from Germany, the homeland of her husband, Prince Albert.
One of the most enduring symbols of this reinvented Christmas is the Christmas tree. While Queen Victoria and Prince Albert didn’t introduce the Christmas tree to Britain, they certainly popularised it. In 1848, the Illustrated London News published an etching of the royal family decorating their tree at Windsor Castle, sparking a nationwide trend.
Christmas Cards Emerge
As a new middle class with disposable income rose on the back of industrialisation, the commercialisation of Christmas began to take root. The founder of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Sir Henry Cole produced the first illustrated Christmas card in 1843, selling 1,000 copies. As with the Christmas tree, this caught on rapidly. By the 1870s, 11.5 million cards were being sold in Britain every year.
The Industrial Revolution also created a burgeoning nouveau riche middle class with money to spend. Shops and magazines began positioning gift-giving as an essential part of the Christmas season, giving birth to Christmas consumerism. In 1847, London sweet maker Tom Smith invented the first Christmas cracker, yet another long-lasting Christmas creation of the Victorians.
Literature Popularised A New Image Of Christmas
Charles Dickens’ best-selling novella, A Christmas Carol was hugely influential, popularising the image of Christmas as a family-centered festival of goodwill, redemption, and generosity.
Many of our modern Christmas food traditions also date back to the Victorians. Once the centrepiece of the Christmas dinner table, beef and goose were replaced by turkey, which became the preferred meat of the time and remains so today. Even our modern image of Santa Claus as a jolly, bearded man in a red suit is a legacy of the Victorian era, thanks to widespread poems, illustrations, and advertising throughout the 19th century.
The Victorians Popularised Christmas, But Barriers Remained
It is important to remember that this reinvented Christmas was largely enjoyed by the aristocracy and the middle classes. Such lavish celebrations were beyond the reach of most Victorian families.
I am a practising HR consultant working with several start-ups on an ongoing and ad-hoc basis in the London and M4 area, and am a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or CIPD. I am the Director of thecareercafe.co.uk; thecareercafe.co.uk is a resource for start-ups and small business. It includes a blog containing career advice, small business advice articles, HR software reviews, and contains great resources such as HR Productivity Apps.
