Hello Readers,
Once again we are celebrating the ‘Festive Season’, a time for giving and receiving gifts and spending time with loved ones.
For thousands of years, people across the world have enjoyed Mid Winter Festivals. With the arrival of Christianity pagan festivals became mixed with Christian celebrations. One of the left overs from those pagan days is the custom of bedecking houses and churches with evergreen plants such as holly, mistletoe and ivy. The belief is that the evergreens protected us from evil spirits and encouraged the return of Spring.
No other era in history has encouraged us to celebrate Christmas quite like the Victorians. Before Victoria’s reign started in 1837, nobody in Britain had ever heard of Santa Claus or even heard of Christmas Crackers. No Christmas cards were sent and most people did not have holidays from work. The wealth and technologies generated by the industrial revolution of the Victorian era changed the face of Christmas forever. Celebrated author Charles Dickens wrote books like ‘Christmas Carol’ in 1843 which actually encouraged wealthy Victorians to redistribute their wealth to the poor.
At the start of the Victorian era children痴 gifts tended to be handmade and very expensive, once again only affordable by the rich. With factories springing up everywhere came mass production which brought with it games, dolls, clockwork toys at an affordable price to the middle classes. Around 1870 the first Christmas Stocking was given to the poorer children which only had an apple, an orange and a few nuts in it.
The ‘Penny Post’ was first introduced in 1840 by Rowland Hill. The idea was simple. A penny stamp paid for the postage for a letter or card sent anywhere in Britain. This idea paved the way for the sending of the first Christmas cards. In 1843, Sir Henry Cole printed 1000 Christmas Cards in his art shop in London at a cost of one shilling each. Such was the popularity that in 1870 the half penny stamp was introduced as a result of the efficiencies brought about by those new fangled railways which made delivering post so much quicker and easier.
Queen Victoria’s German husband, Prince Albert helped to make the Christmas Tree as popular in Britain as in Germany when he brought one to Windsor Castle in the 1840’s.
And then we have our beloved, favourite Christmas Carols that never go out of fashion.
1843 – O Come all ye faithful
1848 Once in Royal David’s City
1851 See Amid The Winter’s Snow
1868 Oh Little Town of Bethlehem
1883 Away in a Manger
Of course, life now in the 21st Century has changed considerably because of computerisation and mass commercialism. However, for many of us, the true spirit of Christmas will always live on in our hearts.
Until Next Week,
Love and Light,
Linda and The Lulas xxx
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