In the spirit of Christmas, I decided to refresh my memory with regards to celebrations of the season in Jane Austen’s day. It did not take long to find a trove of information. To tell the truth, there are so many good sources that condensing it comes down to a struggle between what to include and which to leave for another article.

Christmas in the early part of the nineteenth century was similar to the season now. For estates such as Longbourn, plans would have begun shortly after Michaelmas was over at the end of September, with decisions regarding the Christmas decorations, the meals served, as well as any number of the myriad details about readying the estate and house for the holiday. That is not to say  the servants were busily decorating and planning with the same excitement as my mother and sisters attack the celebration, but preparations had to begin early enough to ensure the observance came of successfully.

Unlike today, arranging the food served for the Christmas meal, commonly either goose or roasted boar’s head, was more than a simple visit to the village Walmart.

The unlucky participant was arranged for more than a month in advance, which gave the merchant time to fatten it before its demise.

The season unofficially started with Stir it up Sunday, which took place on the Sunday before the beginning of Advent (the fourth Sunday before Christmas.) On this day, the family would gather to make Christmas puddings which needed to age before they were served, flaming, at Christmas dinner. The day became known as “Stir Up Sunday,” not because of the great deal of stirring done, but because the opening words of the main prayer in the Book of Common Prayer of 1549 for that day are: ‘Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people…’

December 6th, or St. Nicholas Day, was a tradition from Northern Europe. The day might be celebrated with the exchanging of small gifts particularly for children. Not everyone participated in this tradition. This was also the traditional day for Christmastide visiting to begin.

St Thomas’ Day, December 21, was a day for elderly women (often widows) to go ‘a’thomasing’ at the houses of their more fortunate neighbors hoping for gifts of food or money. Oftentimes, wheat was cooked and distributed to the ‘mumpers’ who came begging.

With the high price of wheat, the gifts was specially appreciated gift. This practice had become especially common during the early 1800’s. The Napoleonic wars may have contributed to the practice by dramatically increasing the number of widows.

Christmas trees were unknown in England before Queen Victoria’s husband, Albert, introduced the German tradition mid century. Instead, on Christmas Eve, the decorations and greenery were put up throughout the house. Traditional greenery included holly, ivy, rosemary, evergreen, hawthorn, bay leaf, laurel, and hellebore (Christmas rose). Some households fashioned kissing boughs from evergreens and mistletoe, adding apples and pretty ribbon bows for decoration. The greenery remained in place until Epiphany when they were removed and burned lest they bring bad luck to the house.

Christmas Day usually began with a trip to church. Though gifts were not typically exchanged on this day, small gifts might be given to children. Cottagers would sometimes gave generous landowners a symbolic gift for Christmas Day as well.

Christmas Dinner was a feast to be anticipated. It often opened with a toast that included the servants who received their Christmas gifts at this time.

Boar’s head, roasted or brawn—a kind of potted meat dish—often took center stage. Roast goose was another Christmas dinner favorite. The size of the bird often required it be cooked by a baker with a large oven and picked up on the way home from church. Many also considered mince meat pies, also known as Christmas or Twelfth Night pies, staples for a Christmas feast. The pies contained chopped meat, dried fruit, spices and sugar. Leftovers from the Christmas feast would be used to make pies for the twelve days until Epiphany. Eating minced pie every day of the twelve days of Christmas was said to bring twelve months of happiness in the new year. I’m one of the few in my family who enjoys these pies, although I cannot eat more than a slice. The treat is far too rich for my plebian taste buds.

At the end of the meal, the Christmas puddings made a month earlier would make their appearance. When the pudding was served, a sprig of holly was placed on the top of the pudding as a reminder of Jesus’ Crown of Thorns that he wore when he was killed. The pudding would be doused with brandy and set aflame, a key theatrical aspect of the holiday celebration.

Giving ‘Christmas Boxes’ to charity and servants was the custom on St. Stephen’s Day, now called Boxing Day. Old clothing and extra items were boxed up and handed out to servants and tradesmen who visited that day, and servants were often given the day off.  Boxing Day was also a traditional day for fox hunting or attending theaters, which opened their Christmas Pantomimes on Boxing Day.

New Year’s Day was considered a predictor of good fortune for the next year. One custom was to hook a flat cake on the horns of a cow. If the cake fell off in front of the cow, it foretold good luck; if behind, bad. That might be interesting to see, as long as I’m not the one that has to fasten the cake to the animal.

In some regions, young women raced to draw the first water from the well in a practice known as ‘creaming the well.’ Possession of this water meant marriage within the coming year, particularly if the object of the young woman’s affections drank it on New Year’s Day. Some believed the water had curative properties and even washed the udders of cows with it to insure productivity. In Hertfordshire, at sunrise on New Year’s Day, a hawthorn bush would be burned in the fields to ensure good luck and bountiful crops.

Epiphany or Twelfth Night was the exciting climax of the Christmastide season, a time for putting away social norms. It was a feast day to mark the coming of the Magi, and as such was the traditional day to exchange gifts. Decorations were to be taken down and burned by midnight on this day or face bad luck for the rest of the year. Some believed that for every branch that remained a goblin would appear.

Revels, masks and balls were the order of the day and night.  Elaborate and expensive Twelfth day cakes covered with colored sugar and pastillage figures were served amid the parlor games and dancing, sometimes with very rowdy celebrations.

Sadly, the celebrations became so riotous that in the 1870′s, Queen Victoria outlawed the celebration of Twelfth Night in fear the celebrations had become out of control. There’s nothing quite like a drunken party to finish off the celebration of the Savior’s birth!

To be honest, Christmas doesn’t seem to have changed all that much. The season begins with December’s arrival and continues until New Year’s. Food and festivities are an important part of the month, leading up to the fantastic Christmas meal. Friends and family are a vital and treasured part of the season and acts of kindness, large and small, take place with a frequency not seen through the rest of the year.

May your own celebration be filled with love and joy.

*Much of this information comes from randombitsoffascination.com, a treasure trove of little-known facts from the Regency and other periods. Reward yourself by visiting their site. You will be amazed at what you learn!