At the start of Victoria’s reign, Christmas was barely celebrated outside of church services. This changed after the Queen’s marriage to German-born Prince Albert. Albert brought to England many of the holiday traditions of his native land. A fashion for decorated Christmas trees was launched by the publication of an illustration in 1848 of the royal family with their tree. Christmas cards became a ritual that abides to this day.  Across the Commonwealth, people still enjoy the minor explosion of pulling a Victorian invented Christmas cracker.

The commercialization of Christmas had an impact on how the English celebrated their New Year. Traditionally, small gifts had been exchanged between family members on New Year’s Day. These gifts usually consisted of food items such as sweets and nuts. For the more affluent, the gifts included fruit such as the exotic tangerine. Over time, small trinkets were included in the gift-giving event.

As the gifts grew more elaborate, they began to be wrapped and placed under the Christmas tree. The gift boxes were exchanged on December 26th which became known as Boxing Day.

This left New Years without an exchange of gifts. However, a new type of exchange started – that of eligible young bachelors. For wealthy Victorians, New Year’s Day became the day for a formal open house. Bachelors would receive engraved invitations to various houses. Some open houses were indeed open to all, in that society newspapers printed lists of homes with young ladies available for meeting gentlemen callers.

There were strict rules attached to the event. Gentlemen wore their finest new clothes and were only allowed to stay for up to fifteen minutes. The bachelors left their calling cards at each house, which allowed for young ladies to brag about the number of callers they received. Some men tried to visit as many as fifty homes in one day!  By the 1890’s, this tradition of open houses began to die out, to be replaced with a family-centered meal.

Happy New Year everyone!