Anyone for an old-fashioned Victorian Christmas? From Kilvert's Diary, Christmas Day 1870, at the Clyro vicarage near Hereford.
I sat down in my bath upon a sheet of thick ice which broke in the middle into large pieces whilst sharp points and jagged edges stuck all round the sides of the tub like chevaux de frise, not particularly comforting to the naked thighs and loins, for the keen ice cut like broken glass....I had to collect the floating pieces of ice and pile them on a chair before I could use the sponge, and then I had to thaw the sponge in my hands for it was a mass of ice.
Probably more like one of these Victorian Christmases:
1883:
One of the traditional characteristics of Christmas Day, without which to some people it appears to lose much of its charm, is a coating on the ground of virgin snow, a bright, clear, crisp atmosphere, the thermometer below freezing point, giving rise to visions of curling and skating and other seasonable outdoor recreations. This Christmas was the direct antithesis of such a conception, for the sun shone out in cloudless splendour and the air was genial and warm. Overcoats and wraps of all kinds were dispensed with and the only thing to remind people that the “festive season” was upon them was the magnificent displays in the shop windows which seem to excel all previous efforts of decorative skill. The high temperature that prevailed outside was indeed abnormal and the balmy atmosphere was more like the first warm breath of spring than that which is associated with mid-winter. While the weather, however, belied its traditional character there is no doubt that the bright sunshine and clear sky served greatly to enhance the enjoyment of the gaily dressed crowds who perambulated the streets in the best of humour, giving the friendly greetings of a Christmas Day.
1890:
To holiday-makers the festival was to a certain extent spoilt by disagreeable weather. The hard frost which prevailed overnight gave place early in the day to a heavy rain, which continued to fall almost without intermission throughout the forenoon, and as the streets were thereby rendered very wet and muddy, extremely few people ventured out.
1893:
Anything more unlike the traditional way in which Christmas is ushered in upon us could not have been conceived than the clouded heavens and the pitiless pelting rain which were experienced in the period separating Christmas eve and Christmas morning. With this joyous season are associated clear, bright, star-spangled evening skies, a “nipping and an eager air” of frost, the crisp sound made by the foot on the hardened scattering of snow which hides the dark earth or the cold stones below. As the morning advanced, however, and early worshippers wended their way to the Episcopal Churches the condition of the weather improved; the sun rose amid disappearing clouds, and gradually the air cleared and brightened, the sun shone forth and the misery of the gloomy night was forgotten.
1894:
Associated with the traditional Christmas is the crisp, clear, eager air, nipping with keen frost, snow-clad landscapes, and the large falling flakes of the frozen crystals. Scarcely any of these were present on the Christmas of 1894, except that it might be a slight touch of a colder atmosphere than that to which we have become accustomed during an exceptionally mild December. The early morning was clear and starry, and the bespangled heavens were in keeping with the season. In the forenoon a dull haze hung over the city which had rather a depressing effect; but after the violent storm of Saturday one was glad at least that the elements were at peace.
Accounts taken from the local paper, The Aberdeen Journal. Very few White Christmas during the late Victorian period at least.
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