What did Victorians do on Christmas Day?

The family was really important to the Victorians. They saw Christmas as a time to focus on family relationships, and most of the Victorian Christmas traditions (such as gift giving, eating a Christmas dinner, decorating the Christmas tree) were shared by all of the family members.

What did the Victorians drink at Christmas?

Mulled Wine Warm and spicy alcoholic drinks have always been a popular festive drink in winter. Mulled wine was a Victorian favourite and a non-alcoholic version, Negus, was even served to children.

How do you do a Victorian Christmas?

Gift giving was traditionally part of New Year celebrations, but the Victorians used Christmas as an occasion for giving fruit, nuts, sweets and small handmade trinkets to their loved ones. Handmade games, dolls, books and clockwork toys were popular, as were apples, oranges and nuts.

What did Victorians eat for Christmas dinner?

In northern England roast beef was the traditional fayre for Christmas dinner while in London and the south, goose was favourite. Many poor people made do with rabbit. On the other hand, the Christmas Day menu for Queen Victoria and family in 1840 included both beef and of course a royal roast swan or two.

What did Bob Cratchit have for Christmas dinner?

Charles Dickens popularised the traditional, English Christmas in 1843 in his novel A Christmas Carol, when Bob Cratchit and his family sit down on Christmas Day to eat a dinner of goose with mashed potatoes and apple sauce accompanied by sage and onion stuffing and followed by Christmas pudding.

What did the Victorians eat for Christmas dinner?

Why is Bob Cratchit so poor?

The Cratchit family is clearly living beyond their means. While Bob Cratchit fears poverty, he also resents wealth. He is caught in the consumerism of the rising Victorian social and professional class. It is this propensity to spend that is the true cause of the Cratchit family’s lack of means.

What is a typical Christmas meal?

A traditional Christmas Day meal often consists of roast turkey or goose with squash, turnips, potatoes and cranberry sauce as a main course and mince pies or plum pudding for dessert.

What is a Victorian dinner?

The Victorian dinner party was a grand, flamboyant and opulent affair. Picture if you will an endless procession of soups, fish, meats, salads, vegetables, puddings, ices, meringues and pastries served on exquisitely decorated china and serving dishes and a dining table heavily decorated with flowers, ferns and stands of fruit and decorated cakes.

What is a Christmas menu?

Christmas has a fairly set menu for most: slices of turkey, boiled sprouts and crispy roast potatoes, followed by Christmas pudding and cake. And Boxing Day is the turkey sandwich day, though quite a lot of people also cook up a big ham to see them through until New Year’s Eve and add some variety to the menu.