The holidays are all about long-held traditions. I recently delved into Victorian Christmas history, how Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and the Victorian’s practice of telling ghost stories at Christmas helped shape the way we celebrate Christmas today.
Christmas wasn’t always as celebrated as it is now. In the early 19th century, many people and businesses didn’t consider it a holiday. According to an article by BBC, Queen Victoria’s marriage to Prince Albert is primarily attributed to changing that. Prince Albert brought his German traditions, like putting up a Christmas tree, that forever changed the way we now celebrate Christmas.
The tradition of putting up a Christmas tree, for example, spread into British culture. In 1848, the Illustrated London News published a drawing of the royal family around their decorated tree. During Victorian times, trees were decorated with candies, small gifts, candles, and other homemade ornaments.
Another new tradition that emerged during the Victorian times was the holiday greeting card. In 1843, Henry Cole commissioned the art for a holiday card. The cards weren’t affordable to the general public, but this inspired children to begin making their own cards for their loved ones. Over the next few decades, though, industrialization made printing more assessable, and by the 1880s, it had become a massive industry, producing 11.5 million cards per year.
The art of decorating was encouraged by popular magazines at the time. People began spending lots of time and care to create elaborate, elegant decorations for every public space in the home and the outside.
Before the Victorian Era, gift-giving was generally practiced during New Year. This quickly shifted after the Victorians began to embrace Christmas in huge celebratory form. Early on, the gifts were homemade treats and trinkets, but as the years passed, the gifts became bigger and store-bought and moved under the tree.
But Queen Victoria and Prince Albert aren’t the only figures responsible for the Christmas traditions we know and love today. In 1843, Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol. An instant bestseller, A Christmas Carol, began as an appeal from Dickens to help the needy. John Broich wrote in an article from Time Magazine:
“Dickens set out to write his pamphlet-turned-book in spring 1843, having just read government report on child labor in the United Kingdom… Dickens read the testimony of girls who sewed dresses for the expanding market of middle-class consumers; they regularly worked 16 hours a day, six days a week, rooming — like Martha Cratchit — above the factory floor. He read of 8-year-old children who dragged coal carts through tiny subterranean passages over a standard 11-hour workday. These were not exceptional stories, but ordinary. Dickens wrote to one of the government investigators that the descriptions left him ‘stricken.’”
The needs of the impoverished struck Dickens so much that he managed to write A Christmas Carol in only two months.
There were mixed opinions about how to help the impoverished during those days. Some believed that temporarily helping would hinder their ability to remedy the state they found themselves in, while others called for a revolution. And still others, like Thomas Paine, encouraged systems to be in place to help those who needed it. But Dickens proposed something else entirely in A Christmas Carol. His tale suggests that it is the business owner who should look after their employees.
An even more important takeaway is that those on top are not there because they are more worthy than those with other positions. In fact, none of us ever chose what family, what economic circumstance, or to what place we’re born into. Nor are we promised that the circumstances of our lives should remain the same always. We’re all merely a few decisions, a few lost paychecks, the death of a family member, or some other event that could shake the very foundations of our entire lives. So, as Scrooge learns, we must be generous and kind when we can because we never know when it will be us who needs that generosity returned.
Dickens and A Christmas Carol helped cement the traditions Victorians were beginning to build around the season, as well as inspiring new ones. Family gatherings, generosity, and the foods served during the holiday were a part of A Christmas Carol’s influence on the Victorians and are still a part of our traditions today.
Love Victorian ghost stories?
Check out these from Columbus, GA.
VICTORIAN TRADITION OF CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES
Dickens, and others, played on the 19th century’s fascination with ghosts and spirits. The tradition of exchanging ghost stories in front of a fire during the long, dark, cold winter months goes back for centuries. Even Shakespeare and Marlowe paid homage to it in their works. Ghost stories were frowned upon by Puritans, so the tradition never caught in America until Washington Irving began writing them. But it was Dicken’s tale that truly inspired the tradition of telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve.
But the tradition of telling ghost stories on Christmas has faded, primarily due to the celebration of Halloween and the proximity of the two. Scottish and Irish immigrants brought the tradition of Halloween with them. Even though it began as a celebration of their culture, Americans clung to the paranormal aspects, and the rest is history. We now associate ghosts with October and decorations, food, and giving to December.
So, in an effort to revive the tradition of ghost stories told on Christmas, I have three to share with you.
THE MISTLETOE BRIDE
According to legend, a beautiful young bride was set to be married on Christmas Day in the early 17th century. After the ceremonial feast, she suggested they all play a game of hide-and-seek. The guests searched and searched for hours… but Anne was nowhere to be found. Her husband, the Lord of the manor, was devastated. Guests began to whisper that Anne had planned this and had escaped from an unwanted marriage.
Months turned into years, and Anne was never found. Her husband never stopped looking. One day, over 50 years later, he was in the attic and discovered a secret door that he never knew was there. Behind the door, he found an ornate chest. When he pried it open, he found Anne’s remains, still wearing her wedding dress and holding her mistletoe bouquet. Scratch marks scarred the inside lid of the chest.
The Mistletoe Bride or Bough is a story of utter horror that has been associated with several manors in England, many of them still showcasing the chest. Bramshill House seems to be the most likely source of the tale, though. Bramshill is considered one of the most haunted houses in England. One of the many ghosts reported to roam the halls is Anne, the Christmas bride who didn’t survive her game of hide-and-seek.
THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN OF ROOS HALL
Roos Hall in Suffolk is home to another Christmas haunt. Outside of Roos Hall is a “hanging tree.” The oak was witness to the execution of many local criminals. Roos Hall is also known for having a “Devil’s footprint” or hoofprint on one of the walls. And a small girl’s apparition has been seen in the top window peering at the people below.
But perhaps the most terrifying spook of Roos Hall is that of a headless horseman who rides down the drive with four black horses pulling a phantom coach on Christmas Eve.
ANNE BOLEYN’S GHOST AT HEVER CASTLE
Speaking of headless, let’s add another lady named Anne to our menagerie of holiday ghosts — Anne Boleyn, the legendary second wife to King Henry VIII. After a long and difficult time ending his first marriage with Catherine of Aragon and ultimately breaking England’s ties with the Catholic Church, King Henry married Anne Boleyn. But he was soon bored with his new wife, choosing to believe rumors that Anne had been unfaithful, and had her beheaded in 1536. Anne seems to be an active ghost, haunting more than one location. Hever Castle, her childhood home, is perhaps where she comes for the holidays. It’s been said that her ghost can be seen gliding across the bridge over Eden river toward Hever Castle. Proving there truly is no place like for the holidays.
The holidays are a time of storytelling, always have been. We still enjoy holiday movies and books. Cold, winter nights are best spent cuddled up with something warm to drink, completely absorbed in a story.
Music:
– It Came Upon a Midnight Clear by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3931-it-came-upon-a-midnight-clear
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
– Private Reflection by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4241-private-reflectionLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
– Ghostpocalypse – 6 Crossing the Threshold Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
