oday it is somewhat of a cliché to say that Christmas as we know it in Britain was either invented or largely created by the Victorians. In fact, historians never seem to tire of debating the role of the Victorians in forming our modern concept of the Christmas celebration. Was it invention or re-invention? Was it an act of myth-making or simply a case of repackaging older traditions in a form that suited their modern age and appealed to the general mood?
There is ample evidence, as well as many good scholarly arguments and critical studies, to convince us that the latter is probably closer to the truth. Christmas, as we know it today, is essentially a nineteenth-century mixture of all that was best and most popular from English Christmases past, continually tempered by new sensibilities, ideas and prevailing concerns. What is surprising is that much of this repackaging and revivification was vigorously undertaken early in Victoria’s reign, during the 1840s – in the first full decade of her monarchy and her marriage. Why was this period historically significant in the story of Christmas? And what were the foundations upon which this ‘new’ Christmas was constructed?
The answer lies, in part, in the reaction to the social changes that threatened the middle classes. Increasing urbanisation in England had brought about high concentrations of poverty, overcrowding, insanitary conditions and disease. The middle classes were perhaps more vulnerable to the threats posed by urbanisation and the poor owing to proximity in the city and the insecurity arising from often similar social backgrounds, than the upper classes who were at some remove. To protect themselves, the early Victorian middle classes built a world of strict moral codes and strong religious beliefs, with an emphasis on hard work and achievement. This was underpinned by the idea of the family as the most acceptable social unit and so the type of Christmas the Victorians fashioned reinforced all their social and moral beliefs. The middle classes almost used it as an exercise in social engineering, to encourage others to be equally moral and upright, even though they might be less fortunate. Christmas also provided a cultural anchor, a life raft of familiarity in changing times.
Christmas as the celebration of the birth of Christ was integrated with an already established festival over which the Church itself had remarkably little influence. As a cultural festival, its influences were many and although in the 1840s the Christian faith was an important part of the season, Christmas, then as now, seems to have been a festival of family and kinship in which charity toward others was perhaps the strongest element.
There was undoubtedly a growing interest in the history and traditions of Christmas during this period. This can be seen as part of a larger trend of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries to examine and understand English history in a new way. The nation’s history became of interest not just to antiquarians but to a wider public. The preceding centuries were useful not only as a mirror in which those in the nineteenth century could see and understand themselves but also provided a fertile picking ground for historical role models. A ‘magpie’ approach was employed as selected elements of Christmas across the ages were considered suitable for adaptation. The Christmas-makers of the early-nineteenth century were attempting to create a festival – to reflect a society – that was better, morally and socially, than the immediate past. For this reason they were highly selective about which ‘past’ suited their purpose, and the result was an eclectic mix of the traditional and modern.
In this constructed idea of festivity, the immediate past seemed not to appeal. A common perception was that the Regency period had lacked substance, was cold-hearted and characterised by unbalanced excess and overspending. Christmas during this period was viewed as having become a soulless shadow of what it had once been. Something more robust, both morally and in terms of sheer celebration, was required. The medieval and, in particular, the Elizabethan periods provided the most suitable models. ‘Olde Christmas’ was perceived as a vigorous, heartfelt festival, which struck the right balance between hedonistic pleasures and an awareness of communal relationships and responsibilities. The celebrations of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries were considered to have been both morally sound and