ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 150, 22 December 1938, Page 22 (Supplement)

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO

WHILE the essential spirit of the British ' Christmas has changed little throughout the centuries, the mode of celebration and the attendant circumstances have altered vastly in many respects. As an illustration of tins, one can take the Christmas of 1837—exactly a century ago—the first of the sixty-four Christmases of Queen Victoria's reign.

The- young Queen herself spent Christmas Day in. Buckingham, Palace; then only a six-month-old Royal residence. and then went on to Windsor Castie. " '

During the Yuletide of 1837 the weather was damp and mild,, but the great festival was' celebrated in the traditional manner both in town and country. Some of the Christmas customs and celebrations in vogue.in,lß37 would rather astonish tn;e blase moderns of 1937. In one very popular'game, for instance, the players, with their arms securely tied behind their backs, had to jump up and catch in their mouths treacle or jam cakes suspended by string from the ceiling! Even Lord Melbourne, the reigning Prime Minister in 1837, enjoyed this pastime.

A century ago, the ceremonial burning of the Yule log was widely practised in many parts of Britain. Placed on the hearth in the chief room or hall of a house, its arrival was welcomed with mucx and song, and master, servants, tenants, and frienas gathered around its blaze for one great evening of feasting and merry-making.,

Cn Christmas Eve,' 1837, a German visitor, who at tervards recounted the proceedings, saw a gay procession of Norfolk villagers dressed in their best, throwing cakes and sprinkling ale on meadows and fields, meanwhile chanting a song which ended:

Eat and drink good cake and hot ale Give earth to drink and she'll not fail.

In Cheshire and some other parts all domestic servants and farm workers used to cease work on Christmas Eve and not resume until New Year's Day While their masters and mistresses were attending to themselvs, the employees, both men anc: women, indulged in an orgy of drinking and spending, as they were generally paid only once a year, at Christmas time.

npHF larmers of 1837 apparently had more ot the real Christmas spirit than their successors oi todsy, for we read that hundreds of them in various parts of the country carried out the ancient practice of giving two sumptuous feasts.

the first to their married relatives, friends, and servants; the second to the, single members. The eating end drinking at these gatherings was so great that several of the" guests used to be ill for weeks afterwards, and one or two were sometimes found dead on the roadside on their way home! Huge bowls of punch, eider, rum, and wine on the sideboards were free to old and young at Christmas a. century ago; even children of tender years were allowed to Sit up at midnight and have their potions;

Mince pies, turkeys, geese, pickled oysters, rich cheeses, and plum puddings were the staple fare of the Christmas revellers of 1837, and enormous quantities were consumed. Judging from the records, cur forefathers had an eating and drinking capacity fully four times bigger than that of their abstemious descendants of 1937

Without films, broadcasting, or motor-cars, Christmas to millions of people today would be almost a blank, but in 1837 pur ancestors apparently did quite happily without them. Pantonume a century ago was in its heyday and drew immense crowds of adults and children. The pantomime at Covent Garden during the 1837 Christmas was "Peeping Tom of Coventry." It was magnificently and elaborately staged and was voted the "best in London," yet the price of the best box in the house was 5s and the gallery was Is!

Other London attractions at the Christmas of 1837 were a performance of the "Messiah" at ths Exeter Hall, and a New Zealand panorama and exhibition at Leicester Square, in which were shown "some of the curious customs of this interesting people."

Christmas shopping today is not exactly a leisurely business, but what would modern shopping crowds say if they were suddenly transported back to 1837? The shops then were small and poky piaces, lit by smelly oil or gas lamps, and the heavily-grilled windows were devoid of artistic "dressing." There was no traffic control in the streets and the confusion at Christmas was always a matter of complaint.

'THE 1837 shopper's worries were not lessened by

the large number of thieves and pickpockets wno lay in wait in the badly-lit streets to rob laden pedestrians. Christmas was their harvest time, and as there were no regular police, their opportunities were almost limitless. Christmas gifts were mainly of money or foodstuffs.