It's been awhile since I did a deep-dive into Victorian Christmas practices, so let's look at references to and resources for Christmas Decorations in the first decades of Victoria's reign. [Previously in this series: Christmas Menus, Christmas Trees, Christmas Craft Projects, and Christmas Games]
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| The Ghost Christmas Present, with Victorian decorations and food. |
Evergreens & Botanical Decorations
" When the winter has fairly folded our homes in its snows, and abroad we mark no trace of the beauty we have loved, very pleasant is it to see, as the season comes, the green Christmas wreaths, bright with crimson berries, glancing out from the windows as we pass..." --The Ladies' Wreath, 1852
The overwhelming majority of references I've found to Christmas decorations in the early Victorian period are to greenery in various forms. The Family Friend (volume for Christmas 1862) writes that "green boughs are indispensable for Christmas decoration" and that "no room could be properly decorated without them." It lavished attention on holly as "the best thing that can be used for the purpose [of decorating rooms for Christmas]," but also names laurel, aucuba, sweet bay, euonymous, laurestinus, box, yew, and fir as suitable evergreens for decorating with. Mistletoe and Christmas trees ("and for the Christmas tree, a young spruce or silver fir tree") are also discussed among the seasonal flora. Several years earlier, in 1856, the same publication ran a short article on mistletoe, tracing its Christmas associations to the 17th century, and commenting on its current usage: a good luck charm and the ideal place to kiss one's sweetheart.
The London Review (1865), concurs with the importance of greenery, observing that "wreaths and sprays and masses of evergreen" are to be found in privates homes, in shops, and in churches, from late December through Candlemas (Feb 2). This article names many of the same plants as before, with holly, rosemary, mistletoe, laurel, fir, pine, and box-tree names as contemporary favorites; historical reference to bay and ivy in 'ancient' carols; and praise for the newly introduced Christmas tree. It also mentions that wreaths of cypress may be seen on the doors of households that are in mourning during the holiday season.
A weirdly didactic 1863 dialogue between a mother and children, which seeks to contrast Elizabethan Christmas decorations with those of the present day, also focuses on greenery, once again emphasizing holly, bays, laurels, "evergreens of all descriptions" and mistletoe. The Intellectual Repository (1864) mentions holly, ivy, and mistletoe as customary Christmas decorations.
Common Wayside Flowers (1860) names holly, ivy, and mistletoe as the famous plants of Christmas, but observes that ivy is no longer commonly used for decorating. I have noticed in assembling these references that ivy is still frequently named, though it does not appear in all of the sources.
In Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol (1843), the arrival of the Spirit of Christmas Present is heralded by greenery (along with food):
"The walls and ceiling were so hung with living green, that it looked a perfect grove; from every part of which bright gleaming berries glistened. The crisp leaves of holly, mistletoe, and ivy reflected back the light, as if so many little mirrors had been scattered there; and such a mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney as that dull petrifaction of a hearth had never known in Scrooge's time, or Marley's, or for many and many a winter season gone."
So important is holly to the Christmas decoration that English Botany (1864)'s entry on the plant states that "its bright green shining leaves and brilliant scarlet berries are associated in the minds of most Englishmen with Christmas rejoicings and merrymakings." For those without access to this iconic plant, substitutes can be found or made. The Canadian Settler's Guide (1860) describes cranberries being used instead of holly berries to add some red accents to the local evergreens; it also describes a coral necklace being used to the same effect, wrapped around a wreath of cedar boughs. The Illustrated Queen Almanac (1871) has instructions for making imitation holly berries by dipping peas in sealing wax. A farce set in Australia bemoans the lack of holly, bay, and laurel for Christmas decoration, but allows that ivy can be substituted.
Mottos & Methods
All this greenery can be arranged in multiple ways, including general 'boughs' and the familiar wreath. There are also mentions of garlands, tucking greenery behind picture frames, and even elaborate devices with leaves and flowers sewn onto paper/fabric wall-hangings to make pictures or spell out messages. There are also mentions of similar "devices" and "mottos" in fabric, but I'm including them here because they keep appearing in discussions of how to arrange greenery (specifically for churches).
The Wild Flowers, Birds, and Insects of the Months (1865) mentions houses and churches being decorated in "wreaths and branches of evergreens," and again names holly, ivy, and mistletoe.
The Bromley Record and Monthly Advertiser (November 1861) mentions "the usual practice" of putting pieces of greenery behind picture frames or mantle ornaments, and gives--admittedly terse-- instructions for making festoons, bouquets, and an unnamed article in which leaves and branches are mounted on fabric in different designs. Once again, the plants of choice are ivy, laurel leaves, different colors of holly, arbor vitae, fruit, berries, mistletoe, and general 'evergreens.' Interestingly to me, this article also invokes the old heraldic rules of tincture to decorate in high color contrast (putting dark greens behind gilt frames and saving the white/silver 'frosted' ones for display against dark surfaces).
The Illustrated Queen Almanac (1875, but included here for the usefully clear instructions and because it came up mislabeled as 1855 during my initial reading) gives advice for decorating churches, including helpful instructions for how to make wreaths, artificial holly berries, and glazed leaves. Mottos, paper stars, and various arrangements of ferns are also discussed (mostly for Christmas, though the article is a little vague about which decorations are also appropriate for other church festivals). In a secular context, the 1871 Illustrated Queen Almanac describes making Christmas mottos with rice pasted over cardboard.
Another pamphlet, Practical Hints on Church Floral Decorations (1858), describes making wreaths, devices (cut-outs of zinc, pasteboard, or buckram in meaningful shapes, to which flowers are attached), floral mosaics with seasonal messages, as well as "mottos" for the walls (phrases spelled out in ribbons, calico, or layered leaves). In addition to the familiar plants and symbols for Christmas (seen in all the above sources), this book also discusses the plants to used in churches at other times of the year. Dried flowers are also mentioned as sometimes being used for church decorations at Christmas, in preference to "tawdry artificial ones."
The Building News and Engineering Journal (Jan 14, 1859 issue) has an article describing the Christmas decorations in London churches, very much in line with the aforementioned instructions. This article includes descriptions of festoons, mottos, and bands of evergreens wrapped around pillars. Both natural holly and artificial red holly berries are mentioned.
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| The Yule Log from The Book of Days (1864). |
Fire and Candlelight
While these things are obviously useful comforts in a dark, cold season prior to the advent of electricity and central heating, and thus not exclusive to Christmas, they are also not irrelevant. The above excerpt from A Christmas Carol, for instance, describes and unusually large fire as one of The Ghost of Christmas Present's accompaniments--the only one besides than food and greenery.
A "yule clog" [yule log] burnt in an unusually large fire is likewise described in The Book of Christmas (1852); primarily discussed as a historic tradition, the author allows that burning the yule clog is still practiced in parts of England. After it, the author also mentions unusually large "Christmas Candles":
"Another feature of this evening, in the houses of the more wealthy, was the tall Christmas candles, with their wreaths of evergreens, which were lighted up, along with the Yule log, and placed on the upper table, or dais, of ancient days. Those of our readers who desire to light the Christmas candles, this year, may place them on the sideboard, or in any conspicuous situation."
The yule log or yule clog, lit from the last bit of last year's log, and accompanied by one or more large Christmas candles are also referenced in Brand's Observations on Popular Antiquities (1853) and in Chambers' The Book of Days (1864) which appears to be using Brand as a source. Thayer's Merry Christmas: A Christmas Collection for the Youth (1853) mentions Christmas candles, albeit in a discussion of symbols, emblems, and superstitions.
One source which treats the yule log (no "c" this time) and Christmas candle as contemporary is the short article "Christmas Belowstairs" in The London Journal (1858), which treats them as a customary part of celebrating Christmas in the servant's hall (where mistletoe also makes its appearance). The Wild Flowers, Birds, and Insects of the Months (1865) also mentions the yule log in contemporary terms.
Outliers
One outlier is a description of schoolboys decorating their desks with colored tapers (and drawings and paper-and-cardboard buildings) at Christmas time; though this story appeared in The Kentucky Garland (1854), it is supposed to be reminiscences of a school in the Rhineland. I've not been able to find similar corroborating stories in the English-speaking literature.
While not explicitly given as a Christmas craft, Godey's series on knitted flowers gives instructions for holly and mistletoe in the same issue. Admittedly, this is in April 1852, so it might be that the knitted plants are merely paired out of the their long, shared association with Christmas.
One of the few references I've found to paper chains (a personal favorite) at Christmas is in the February 1854 issue of Willis's Current Notes, as part of a description of artificial German Christmas trees. These are "pyramids" made of wood pieces, covered in green paper and decorated with paper chains. Another reference, in the 1861 Leisure Hour Monthly Library, isn't fully available, by appears to allude to gilt paper chains decorating a Christmas tree.
Conclusion
Greenery, in whatever forms it may be available, are far and away the most easily documented Christmas decorations in the first quarter-century of Victoria's reign. Traditional holly and mistletoe have the most name recognition, but a wide variety of green plants can and have been used. Wreaths and boughs are most commonly named, but the greenery can be hung up in a variety of ways, and (particularly in churches) may be incorporated into elaborate displays.
Special large candles and yule logs are also often mentioned, though they may be slipping into obsolescence. Stockings and Christmas trees are popular activities and means of giving gifts, though they have not fully moved into the realm of being "decorations" in their own right. Most of the small craft projects I found before are associated more closely with Christmas trees than with decorating a room or house (except for the paper roses), and those sorts of projects have no where near the prominence of evergreen boughs in depictions of Christmas decorations.
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