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Richard of York gave battle in vain
By Ben Oldham (bo286@cantab.ac.uk) Christmas is not usually a time for warfare, but in the Wars of the Roses, despite the sanctity of the festive season, the opportunity to cut the head off a rival branch was not one to be missed. In December 1460, Richard, duke of York kept Christmas at Sandal Castle: a…
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Christmas in the Victorian Workhouse
By Fabia Buescher (fb586@cam.ac.uk) In my previous two posts on Victorian Christmas traditions, I discussed Christmas puddings and Christmas trees, two integral customs of middle- and upper-class Christmas conviviality. Yet, while lavish Christmas dinners and beautiful Christmas decorations filled the middle- and upper-class homes, Christmas in the nineteenth-century workhouse looked very differently. In 1834, the…
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On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas
Gifts are about as Christmasy a tradition as one can have — to give and share is at the heart of the enterprise (be it Dickensian or Coca-Colanian). But what is the appropriate juncture at which said gifts and sharables are to be gifted and shared? For most of the Anglophone world, the answer might…
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Gold – Using Cake to Crown Family Members
by Tiéphaine Thomason (@teaphaine) This is the third post in a three-part series for the Doing History Advent Calendar on the history of the senses and the gifts of the Magi. Gold is the last of the gifts presented by the Magi. It is often associated with Melchior (and on occasion, Gaspard). The verse associated…
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Market Day
At the turn of the hour when the days start lengthening again, the Christmas Markets come! Of all German contributions to Winterval festivities this one is perhaps the most unusual. While Tannenbaums and advent wreathes and a host of Christmas curios have arguably rather ancient origins, the mid-winter market is a decidedly more recent affair.…
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