Steampunk Saturday, holiday edition

'Tis the season for holiday cheer, and what better way to celebrate than with a look at a traditional Victorian Christmas.

Oh Tannenbaum!
The evergreen tree has long been a symbol of life during the long winter months and celebrated long before the Victorian Era, but it was Prince Albert who brought the first Christmas tree to the royal family. A tintype of the royal family's tree set a trend and afterward, to be fashionable, every Victorian home had one.
Christmas trees in the Victorian Era were decorated with simple hand-cut decorations, tinsel and tin cut ornaments like stars and snowflakes. The trees were lighted with tiny tapes - which would sometimes prove extremely hazardous.
Paper cornicopias filled with nuts, candies and fruit were also hung on the tree. Sometimes small gifts were hung on the branches.

A Caroling We Will Go
The tradition of carolling began in England before taking hold in America. Carolers would travel from home to home in hopes of being invited inside for something warm to drink. Carols that were most popular were : God Rest ye merry Gentlemen (mentioned in Dicken's A Christmas Carol), Silent Night, The First Noel, Wassail Song, and The Holly and the Ivy.

Christmas Feast
In Victorian times, life was centered around the family, especially at Christmas time. Not just immediate family gathered to celebrate but aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents. On Christmas morning, the family gathered for Mass and then for the Christmas dinner. Goose was especially popular in England while Turkey was most popular in America. Christmas Pudding was a special treat that even had a day set aside, the Sunday before Advent, for stirring and preparing. It is a combination of raisins, beef, prunes, sugar all packed in a cloth and put into a pot to cook.

Steampunk Saturday, vol. 4

 

The best part of writing historical fiction is the research. So early in my current WIP I have ballroom scene where the hero and heroine dance. This required research on late Nineteenth ballroom dancing. A quick Google search came up with the amazing website that talked about primers published during the Victorian Era on everything from the correct dancing formations to dinner party etiquette.

 THE WALTZ is most likely one of the most enduring ballroom dance to have carried from the Nineteenth Century to the modern era. I won't even begin to explain the steps - there are hundreds of Youtube vidoes for that. From looking at the vidoes, it was a sweeping and turning dance that became popular during the height of the Victoian Era. The Quadrille and Cotillian, the prior dances that dominated ballrooms, was more prevalent in the early part of the Nineteenth Century. Think Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy.





THE DANCE CARD in simple terms was a way for ladies to keep track of who they were promised a dance throughout the ball. Generally, on the left side was pre-printed list of the dances for the evening and on the left were lines where men could "pencil in" for selected dances. The dance card was used in the United States starting in the middle of the Nineteenth Century as Americans strove to mimic Victorian social etiquette set by London society and held balls more frequently as a way to forget for the moment the horrors of the Civil War. By the beginning of the Twentieth Century, dance cards fell into disuse as gender boundaries and strict etiquette rules changed.


THE BAND was vitally important to a successful ball. Just looking at website for Kalamazoo listed several dozen quartets for hire for any type of social gathering, whether it was a wedding or a ball.



White and Sherwood's Band (White’s Quadrille Band), ca. 1880. (W. S White: far right)

History Room Photograph File P-572

As promised, next time we'll discuss the Victorian ladies garments and baubles.