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| Picture by Jana Ruzena, from her brilliant blog. |
Famously, Prince Albert popularised the idea of Christmas trees in Britain, having put one up in Windsor Castle in 1841 and thereby introducing this German tradition to a new audience - but that's not the only thing we have to thank the Victorians for at Christmas.
The first Christmas card, for example, was commissioned by Henry Cole in 1843. Cole was an amazing man, who "wrote excellent and popular children's books, published the first Christmas card, was [...] the Assistant Keeper of the Public Records, [...] helped to launch the Penny Post, campaigned - again successfully - for the standard guage railway track, was to be in charge of the South Kensington Museum for twenty years, and was eventually to be responsible for the Royal College of Music and the Albert Hall" *.
He was also good friends with Prince Albert, was responsible for the Great Exhibition, and designed a prize-winning teapot. As you do.
Father Christmas was 'standardised' by the Victorians. He had previously been dressed in red (with white crosses) during his time as St Nicholas, and had started wearing green when he began to move around Europe. But it was the Victorians who decided that he should wear red, with a white fur trim, as we see him today.
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| Another photo from Jana Ruzena's blog. |
I was reading this article from QI yesterday, and was intrigued to discover the humble cracker is also a Victorian invention...
"crackers were originally called ‘Cosaques’. It’s because when they were invented in the mid-19th century, the sound they made reminded people of the cracking whips of the Cossacks as they rode through Paris during the Franco-Prussian war [...] crackers went on to be named ‘Bangs of Expectation’."
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| Bangs of Expectation |
I think we should start a campaign to re-instate the name "Bangs of Expectation". Who's with me?
Merry Christmas!
The Secret Victorian
*according to Rhodes James' biography of Prince Albert.
