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January 2014
Trentside Bygones
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ith all the presents unwrapped and the decorations safely back in the loft we can now breathe a sigh of relief that, although enjoyable, that busy time of year is at an end and we can look forward to the new year ahead. We follow the traditions of Christmas, some of us with joy and others with trepidation, but maybe now after everything has calmed down it is nice to reflect on the origin of these trappings of Christmas. The following article was sent in to us by Sharron Banham of the Sturton by Stow Historical Society following a talk given by Mavis Wilkinson at the group’s last meeting.
Christmas Traditions and Their Origins
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avis began by thanking one Tom Smith, a London confectioner who in 1847 is said to have introduced England to the joy of the French bonbon, a sugar almond wrapped in paper with a twist at both ends. Smith built on this by adding a 'love motto', then made the packaging larger and replaced the bonbon with a small gift. Then in 1860 he added the 'crack' which obviously led to the name we know today. His son Walter, later added the paper hat that we all wear on Christmas day - don't we? I know many of you will have been busy writing your cards and Mavis was able to tell us that it was Sir Henry Cole, the founder of the V&A Museum, who commissioned the first Christmas cards in 1843 which sold in Bond Street for 1s each and 1000 were sold in that first year.
as we know, and in 1526 the Turkey was introduced from America. When Queen Victoria came to the throne she decided she much preferred turkey than swan so this enhanced the tradition of eating this particular bird. Turkeys were walked from Norfolk to London ready to be sold and this took four weeks and the turkeys actually wore leather boots to protect their feet! Christmas or Xmas? It was with interest that Mavis pointed out that the shortened word Xmas has in fact been around for 600 years. Some people think this may have been because December used to be counted as the tenth month. However the Greek letter for Kris is an X and that equals cross. Generally we have a huge mix of traditions from the Midwinter Solstice and the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia in honour of the god Saturn which was held on December 17th. The Romans were also responsible for the wreath. When they visited friends they would take a bunch of evergreen as an offering. As these bunches grew the householder on the receiving end would make a wreath and it would tell people who saw it how popular that particular householder was. Today there are many forms of wreaths to be seen on front doors - all of a similar size thank goodness!
Mistletoe - the all-healing foliage and said to be good for fertility if taken from an oak tree. The Druids used mistletoe a lot in their rituals and even today you will not find mistletoe in a church. If you do kiss anyone or you are kissed under the mistletoe at Christmas be sure to take a berry off each time. Shoot through to 1647 and Oliver Cromwell banned everything to do with Christmas, but it was the huge influence of Prince Albert who brought with him from Germany many of the traditions we hold on to today. Christmas tree - Our early ancestors thought that when the leaves fell from the trees the spirits had taken them away so they then proceeded to decorate the trees with fruit, seeds and flowers. Then early in the 16th Century Martin Luther brought a tree indoors and decorated with candles. However, it was Prince Albert and Queen Victoria who got the majority of people following in their footsteps when it became apparent that the Royal Family had a decorated fir tree in their palace. Now we have trees of all sizes, colour
In 2001 an old Christmas card came up for auction in Devizes, Wiltshire and the bidding began at £4,000, moved swiftly on to £12,000 but with two further telephone bids coming in, the end sale was £22,500. Let's hope whoever bought it hasn't sent it on to a friend by mistake! Of course we all say we won't overindulge but we do - so hard to turn down that mince pie or piece of cake. To make us feel bad Mavis went on to tell us that the poor celebrated by eating 'humble' pie - offal! The rich people were better off
The world's first commercially produced Christmas card, designed by John Callcott Horsley for Henry Cole in 1843
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