Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA)

Christmas in Jane Austen's Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas in Jane Austen’s time was not as commercial as today’s Christmas.  To be sure there were boughs and wreaths to decorate the rooms, festive meals to be had, Yule logs to stoke, children who came home for the holidays from boarding school and even tokens to be exchanged.  But visiting and attending balls was more the focus of attention.  And in those two aspects our generations come closer together.

 

The novels describe large affairs to celebrate the season as in Mansfield Park and Sense and Sensibility, as well as smaller more intimate evenings and visitations as in Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, Emma and Persuasion. 

 

Our Regency forebears went through the same juggling of dates that we do in the 21st century.  In Mansfield Park it has to be held on the 22nd to accommodate William who has to be elsewhere by the 24th.  Edmund must go to Peterborough on the 23rd.  How many people to invite?  Once an invitation is received what’s to do but worry about what to wear? Then there’s the giddy anticipation while waiting for the carriage to arrive to transport them to the ball (although Mr. Woodhouse was as always reluctant particularly with snow swirling about the carriage) and the social politics of how many dances ‘he’ had with ‘her’ and the significance of this frequency in the scheme of who loves who.  And balls apparently lasted a long time.  In Mansfield Park they dance and partied until 3 in the morning.  In Sense and Sensibility the ball lasts from 8:00 until 4:00. 

 

One of the traditions at Christmas was the Yule log.  Homes were heated with fireplaces in every room so the fireplace was naturally a focus of attention.   The tradition was to save charcoal left over from the previous Christmas as a means of starting the current year’s log.  The Yule fire was expected to last through the 12 days of Christmas.  The mantelpiece would be decorated with rosemary, bay, holly and mistletoe.

 

Naturally there were games to be played.  One unusual and potentially dangerous game played on Christmas Eve was Snapdragon.  What you did was put brandy and raisins into a bowl.  The brandy was set alight, the lights turned out to creating an exciting atmosphere and the game was to try to get raisings out of the flaming bowl and then eat them without burning yourself.  Another Christmas game was Hot Cockles.  With this game the player placed his/her head in someone else’s lap (I supposed in the traditional spanking position) and then other party goers would take a whack at the poor soul who tried to guess who was doing the whacking.