Pagans burned a great log and a mammoth candle on the 21st of December, the shortest day in the year, because it was seen as the turning-point in the conflict between the contending forces of winter and spring.
From Harpers Bazaaar “The Yule-block, or Christmas-log, with its warm welcome, extending even to the poor and the stranger as they gathered around the hospitable board is being gradually supplanted by the Christmas-tree.”
Formerly the Yule-log, a huge section of the birch, was cut from a tree selected on Candlemas-day, which so late as the time of Queen Elizabeth was the last day of the Christmas holidays. On the following Christmas-eve it was dragged in and placed upon the hearth with great ceremony, the merry-makers pulling with a will, and singing the while the modernized Christmas carol commencing,
“Come, bring with a noise,
My merrie, merrie boys,
The Christmas-log to the firing.”
It was then kindled with a brand from last year’s Christmas fire, which, if it was not thus kept continually burning, still linked the merrymaking of one Christmas-time to that of another.
In Ramsgate, Kent, and the Isle of Thanet, the custom styled “hodening” is still in vogue. The “hoden,” which appears to be a cross between the “white horse” and the Klapperbock of the Germans, is accompanied by a number of youths in fantastic dress, who go round from door to door ringing bells and singing Christmas carols.
Christmas: 24th December Or Christmas Eve. The evening leading up to Christmas Day is filled with excitement, last-minute preparations, and religious services. In many cultures, especially European countries, gifts are exchanged on Christmas Eve, while in other places, this happens on Christmas morning. http://books2read.com/suziloveHOCP.
Santa Claus The origin of Santa Claus begins in the 4th century with Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, an area in present day Turkey. By all accounts St. Nicholas was a generous man, particularly devoted to children. In the Western world, where Christmas is characterized by the exchange of gifts among friends and family members, some of the gifts are attributed to a character called Santa Claus. He is also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, St. Nikolaus, Sinterklaas, Kris Kringle, Joulupukki, Weihnachtsmann, Saint Basil and Father Frost.
In the 4th century, Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, Turkey, was a kind and generous man who was particularly devoted to children. His kindness and reputation for generosity gave rise to claims he that he could perform miracles and devotion to him increased. Thousands of churches across Europe were dedicated to him and some time around the 12th century an official church holiday was created in his honor. The Feast of St. Nicholas was celebrated December 6 and the day was marked by gift-giving and charity.
Father Christmas, who predates Santa Claus, was first recorded in the 15th century and then associated with holiday merrymaking and drunkenness. In Victorian Britain, his image was remade to match that of Santa and France’s Père Noël (Papa Noël) evolved the same way and eventually began using the same Santa image.
Today’s version of Santa Claus was created by the German-American cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840-1902), who drew a new image of the character annually, beginning in 1863. By the 1880s, Nast’s Santa had become the one now know and in the 1920s, this image was used in most advertising. But it was the early to mid Coca Cola advertising that cemented the idea of Santa Claus as a jolly man with a white beard and wearing a red suit. He was portrayed as drinking a coke and smiling happily. Many famous artists started doing yearly illustrations of Santa Claus that were used for magazine covers and Christmas postcards.
How did they celebrate Christmas in Bridgerton and Jane Austen times? Historical information about the traditions of Christmas through the centuries, including the religious aspects, decorations, games, food and plays. History Of Christmases Past has lots of information and images about Christmas through the centuries, including religious aspects, decorations, games, food and plays. Historic images show how some traditions have changed while many have remained the same through the centuries. books2read.com/suziloveHOCP
Our modern Christmas tree tradition probably began in Germany in the 18th century, though some argue that Martin Luther began the tradition in the 16th century. An evergreen fir tree was used to celebrate winter festivals (pagan and Christian) for thousands of years. Nobody is really sure when Fir trees were first used as Christmas trees but it probably began 1000 years ago in Northern Europe. Many early Christmas Trees seem to have been hung upside down from the ceiling using chains.
The English phrase “Christmas tree”, first recorded in 1835, came from the German words Tannenbaum (fir tree) or Weinachtenbaum (Christmas tree). The Christmas tree is often explained as a Christianization of pagan tradition and ritual surrounding the Winter Solstice, which included the use of evergreen boughs, and an adaptation of pagan tree worship. At first, a figure of the Baby Jesus was put on the top of the tree. Over time it changed to an angel or fairy that told the shepherds about Jesus, or a star like the Wisemen saw.
Christian tradition associates the holly tree with the crown of thorns, and says that its leaves were white until stained red by the blood of Christ. Along with a Christmas tree, the interior of homes were decorated with plants, garlands, and evergreen foliage and in Victorian times, Christmas trees were decorated with candles to represent stars.
The early Germans conceived of the world as a great tree whose roots were hidden deep under the earth, but whose top, flourishing in the midst of Walhalla, the old German paradise, nourished the she-goat upon whose milk fallen heroes restored themselves. Yggdnafil was the name of this tree, and its memory was still green long after Christianity had been introduced into Germany, when much of its symbolic character was transferred to the Christmas-tree. At first fitted up during the Twelve Nights in honor of Berchta, the goddess of spring, it was subsequently transferred to the birthday of Christ, who, as the God-man, is become the “resurrection and the life.”
Queen Victoria saw a Christmas tree as a girl in 1832. The little princess wrote excitedly in her diary that her Aunt Sophia had set up two “trees hung with lights and sugar ornaments. All the presents being placed around the tree.” In 1841, Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s German husband, arranged for a fir tree to be brought from Germany and decorated. By 1850, Victoria and Albert had Christmas trees erected in the British Royal Palaces and their children started the tradition of gathering around the tree.
‘The Christmas-tree is doubtless of German origin. Though in its present form it is comparatively of recent date, yet its pagan prototype enjoyed a very high antiquity.’ From 1873 Harper’s Bazaar, America.
A print of the royal family gathered about the Christmas tree at Windsor Castle appeared in the Illustrated London News in 1848, then in Godey’s Lady’s Book in 1850, and was reprinted again ten years later. The six-foot fir sits on a table, each tier laden with a dozen or more lighted wax tapers. An angel with outstretched arms poses at the top. Gilt gingerbread ornaments and tiny baskets filled with sweets hang by ribbons from the branches. Clustered around the base of the tree are dolls and soldiers and toys.
Christmas trees did exist in America before Queen Victoria made them famous, but mainly only amongst migrant groups from Europe. The writer of an 1825 article in The Saturday Evening Post mentions seeing trees in the windows of many houses in Philadelphia, a city with a large German population. He wrote, Their “green boughs laden with fruit, richer than the golden apples of the Hesperides, or the sparkling diamonds that clustered on the branches in the wonderful cave of Aladdin.” Gilded apples and nuts hung from the branches as did marzipan ornaments, sugar cakes, miniature mince pies, spicy cookies cut from molds in the shape of stars, birds, fish, butterflies, and flowers. A woman visiting German friends in Boston in 1832 wrote about their unusual tree hung with gilded eggshell cups filled with candies.
Not until the mid-nineteenth century did Christmas trees start spreading to homes with no known German connection. But once Queen Victoria approved of the custom of a Christmas tree, the practice spread throughout England and America and, to a lesser extent, to other parts of the world, through magazine pictures and articles. Upper-class Victorian Englishmen loved to imitate the royal family, and other nations copied the custom. Late in the century, larger floor-to-ceiling trees replaced the tabletop size.
Light-Hearted look at an Older Lady’s Life In Jane Austen’s Times, or early 1800s. An easy to read overview of what an older lady did, wore, and how she lived in the early 19th Century. Information for history buffs and pictures for readers and writers of historical fiction. Older Lady’s Day, Regency Life Series, Book 5, by Suzi Love. books2read.com/suziloveOLD
The older lady’s day usually started with her toilette in her bedroom, where her maid helped her dress for the day and styled her hair. After that, she would join her family downstairs for breakfast unless she preferred a tray with either tea or hot chocolate in her bedroom as she prepared for her busy day. Her day would be made up of speaking with the housekeeper and the cook about the week’s menus, assuring that the servants were all available that day and no one was ill, and checking the list of foods needed. She would also enquire if the laundry was up to date and that they had enough good linen to make up all the beds before extended family members and guests arrived. If she was in the country and hosting a weekend house party, she would assign rooms to the guests on her lists and query that all was in readiness for their arrival.
1890-1920 ca. Sterling Silver Chatelaine, England. Center Medallion With Portraits, three drops of monogrammed mesh purse, globe-shaped watch and book-shaped case. Via Augusta Auctions – augusta-auction.com
Definition
The word Chatelaine is French and means the keeper of the keys
Chatelaine” derives from the Latin word for castle
In Medieval times, the chatelaine was in charge of the day-to-day running of the castle.
What did a chatelaine do?
Most important task was keeper of the keys.
Also ordered supplies, did bookkeeping, supervised servants, taught castle children, and organized guests.
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