Victorian Holidays

Victorian Halloween

Halloween has an ancient history which is over 3000 years old. It began in Ireland and the islands of modern day United Kingdom know as Samhain (pronounced Saa.wn). Samhain was the last day of October and was a sacred day devoted to the death of the sun, and celebration of the harvest. The druids believed that the death of the sun meant that the veil between the realms of living and the dead vanished for one night. The Celts feared the spirits of the dead and created many ways to confuse them. They made offerings of treats which they would leave outside their dwellings; they lit giant bonfires to detour the spirits from wandering into town.

By Victorian times the tradition of Halloween was celebrated in full force. The Victorians celebrated Halloween with parades, carnivals, and costume parties. The custom of wearing costumes and masks became popular in the 1890’s. By wearing a costume you were sure to scare away the evil spirits that roamed the earth on Halloween night. Victorian children wore homemade costumes made from crepe paper. The costumes took the form of scary creatures such as spiders, witches and ghosts.

Trick or treating did not become popular until the late 1920’s, so Victorian parents would hold parties to bring their children together. When decorating for the holiday more was always better—the house would become elaborate scenes of crepe paper witches, ghosts, and goblins. Jack o’lanterns, spider webs, moons and stars were also popular decorations. The children played many games at these parties such as bobbing for apples, Ouija boards, and telling ghost stories. The children also played many fortune-telling games such as Snap Dragon. Snap Dragon was a game in which raisins were placed in a large bowl and covered in alcohol and then lit on fire. The child who could “snap” the most raisins was sure to have their wish come true.

Food and treats were also a major part of the Halloween celebration. Children of the Victorian era enjoyed candied fruits, popcorn balls, nuts, licorice, tarts and cider. Another favorite was the Victorian ring cake. Small trinkets were baked inside the cake; each child’s fortune could be told by the trinket that their slice revealed. For example, a ring meant marriage, whereas a coin symbolized wealth.

Young and old still take part in the rituals and customs of Halloween. Here at the Molly Brown House Museum you will see some of the traditional ways the Victorians decorated for Halloween festivities.

An English Christmas card of the era

Victorian Christmases

On December 22, 1900, Mrs. Brown wrote a small article for the Denver Times in which she stated that "...this Christmas, perhaps, is the happiest, because it is the one most fresh in my memory, and we always think the joy of the moment greater than that of the past."

In the early 1800's, Christmas was a quiet holiday, quietly celebrated. By 1900, however, it had been declared a national holiday in all the states, including Colorado, and the city of Denver entered into the spirit. The poles on 16th Street were decked out with wreaths. City Park permitted ice-skating, and many of the local parks allowed sledding. The Lyceum Theatre presented a special Christmas operetta for children, called "The Brownies in Fairyland," and The Denver Post sponsored a Children's Carnival and Street Fair, where a brass band provided music, and each child was given a bag of candy, an orange, and an apple. The Brown children, who were then 11 and 13,

would undoubtedly have participated in many of these activities. Mrs. Brown was very involved in charitable functions, and helped sponsor a Christmas dinner and Toy Fair for local underprivileged children, held at the Brown Palace Hotel.

Homes during the holidays were dominated by the same colors we associate with Christmas today – red and green. Some people say that Margaret Brown went so far as to display only books with red or green binding at this time of year. Houses were festooned with natural greens; the poinsettia, "the Flaming Star of Bethlehem," was popular. Families hung "kissing balls" made of mistletoe. Crepe paper, bows, holly, and berries were used. Wreaths were made of fir, yew, and boxwood. Nature scenes and arrangements of oranges, apples, and cranberries were also popular. Candles were everywhere – particularly tall, white tapers. The tradition of hanging Christmas stockings was widespread. Stockings were generally filled with fruit and nuts. Many of us still get the ubiquitous orange in the toe of our stockings, a tradition that started in Victorian times when a fresh orange was a rare treat.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, many families gave small socials. Mrs. Brown herself hosted a Christmas luncheon which was described as "thoroughly charming" by the local newspaper. However, one of the most widespread holiday customs was a less formal sort of entertainment – the "call." Because many families had relatives visiting during the holidays, neighbors and mends would come calling in the afternoons to become better acquainted. Christmas cards didn't catch on until the post office started charging the sender, rather than the receiver of the cards, for postage. Once that changed, Christmas cards caught on very quickly and the Victorians loved to send cards.

Like many upper-middle class families, the Brown family had more than one tree—one in their library and one upstairs particularly for the children. Originally, Christmas trees were often little table top affairs in pots, but as Christmas became more elaborate, the trees got bigger. Some Victorians also made trees with feathers or twigs. One interesting custom was the "snow tree." The Christmas tree from the previous year was allowed to dry out, and the next year it was stripped of its needles and lined with cotton strips to look like a tree covered in snow. Christmas trees generally went up on Christmas Eve, and were taken down again on January 6 (twelfth night). Early on, most of the decorations on the Christmas tree were homemade. Paper chains were common, as were decorated cookies, nuts, candies, and popcorn and cranberry strings. The first electric Christmas tree lights became available in 1882. However, they were very expensive (a string in 1903 cost around twelve dollars). As a wealthy family, the Browns would have used electric lights, but ordinary families would not have been able to afford them, and would have lit their trees with candles, instead.

Once the tree was lit on Christmas Eve, the family would gather around it and celebrate. Singing Christmas carols, playing charades, and reading aloud were common pastimes. Sometimes the children in the family acted out Christmas plays. One rather curious tradition was the telling of scary stories (which does explain the rather terrifying parts of Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol). Among Catholic families like the Browns, Midnight Mass may have been a part of a traditional Christmas Eve.

Many families made a point of the Christmas Eve supper, with traditional foods like oyster stew or waffles. A greater feast followed on Christmas Day. Roasted turkey was a popular entree, accompanied by chestnut stuffing and plum pudding for dessert. On Stir-Up Sunday, five Sundays before Christmas, each member of the family took a turn stirring the pudding. If you made a wish while stirring, your wish would come true. Once the pudding was thoroughly stirred, it was spooned into a cloth bag and hung up until Christmas Day.

Around the turn of the century, gift-giving became more important at Christmas. For one thing, people had more disposable income, and factories made more goods, more cheaply, than ever before. For another, many newspapers and magazine ran stories about the virtues of giving presents and how to choose unique gifts for loved ones (much as they do today). Common gifts for children were wind-up toys, board games, dolls and dollhouses, rocking horses, sleds, and miniature zoos.

After gift-giving and Christmas dinner, families would dance, sing, and visit house to house in decorated sleighs or carriages. They also played games, and one author instructed that these games "should be just the jolliest and most rollicking sort one can possibly find." Blind Man's Bluff was fun, as was a game called "Bag and Stick" which was very similar to the piñata activity so many children now do at birthday parties. "Christmas Candle" involved one child holding a lighted candle while another, stationed a few feet away, tried to blow it out.

Images from D.E. Ireland and Victorian Embroidery & Crafts