HOW DICKENS HELPED SAVE CHRISTMAS

"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year." -Ebenezer Scrooge

Illustration by Lisbeth Zwerger, source

Following intense scrutiny by Oliver Cromwell and his largely Puritan Parliament, Christmas celebrations in Great Britain were in decline. At the same time, the Industrial Revolution allowed British workers little time for the holy days. 

But Christmas celebrations began to make a comeback in the mid 1800's, in great part due to Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and... Charles Dickens! 

Happy Birthday to A Christmas Carol, published 169 years ago today, on December 19, 1843! I love this beautiful edition, illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger.

According to Laura Grande, who writes in History Magazine: Christmas still was not observed by the majority of the population, as workhouses and mill owners refused to recognize it as a holiday, forcing their employees to work their usual shifts, which often ran longer than 10 hours a day. With the majority of England at work, it’s no small wonder that Christmas still went largely unrecognized.

Dickens began writing "A Christmas Carol" in October of 1843 and the novella was completed within six weeks.

By Christmas Eve, all 6,000 copies had sold out and it continued to sell out with each new edition well into the following year.

The observance of Christmas had experienced a mid-Victorian revival, with a heavy emphasis on family-oriented festivities. 

Dickens was hailed as a hero and he did public readings of "A Christmas Carol" every holiday season from 1853-70. In total, Dickens had read his book aloud to massive crowds 127 times.
{source: Laura Grande, from December 2010/January 2011 issue of History Magazine. I found the article in its entirety, here.}

Another nice edition of Dicken's A Christmas Carol is this one, illustrated by P.J. Lynch.  You can see many of his illustrations for the book here, on his website.

Read more about the life of Charles Dickens, HERE, in my past post commemorating his 200th Birthday this year.

CANTAUR & the Prince of Wales Attends (Anglican) Charles Dickens's Bicentenary at Westminster Abbey

Charles Dickens
7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870

A bicentenary service at Westminster Abbey was held on 7 Feb 2012, commemorating the birth of Charles Dickens, an Anglican and Victorian writer.

(1) The Prince of Wales Attends Charles Dickens Bicentenary 


The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall attended a ceremony at Westminster Abbey to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of

GREAT EXPECTATIONS FOR A 200th BIRTHDAY

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
at his writing desk [source]

Happy Birthday, Mr. Dickens! Tomorrow, February 7, marks the bicentenary of the birth of one of Britain's most beloved authors. There is a lot going on this month in London to celebrate (go to Dickens2012) and I'd give my eyeteeth to be there, wouldn't you?  Since that can't happen, I thought I'd take a virtual tour of some of the important places from Dickens' lifetime and works. Want to come along?

Let's start with his birthplace in Portsmouth, England. It's been a museum since 1904...

Dickens' birthplace [photo source]

According to the city's website, "the Dickens family stayed in Portsmouth until 1815 when John Dickens' job forced the family to move to London. Although Charles Dickens' time spent in Portsmouth was short, he did return on three separate occasions; on one occasion he carried out research for his book Nicholas Nickleby."

Number 48 Doughty Street, London

The Charles Dickens Museum: Number 48 Doughty Street in the heart of London's Bloomsbury, was Charles Dickens' family home, where he lived from 1837 until 1839. He described it as "my house in town".  Some of his best-loved classics were written here, including The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby.

The museum (which opened in 1925) holds over 100,000 items including manuscripts, rare editions, personal items, paintings and other visual sources. CLICK HERE for a video that gives you a peek of the museum's public archives.

Stained glass window from Dickens Museum, London [source]

Little Dorrit meets St. George... The Church of St. George the Martyr has strong connections with Charles Dickens. The surviving wall of Marshalsea Prison in the Southwark section of London, where Dickens' father was imprisoned for debt, adjoins the north side of the churchyard.

Original gate arches of Marshalsea Prison wall. [source]

[source]

Dickens himself lived nearby, in Lant Street, in a house that belonged to the Vestry Clerk of St. George’s. This was during the darkest period of Dickens' life when, as a teen, while his father was in debtor's prison, he had to work in the blacking (shoe polish) factory.


Later, he was to set several scenes of the novel Little Dorrit in and around the Church of St. George the Martyr. St. George's has come to be known as "Little Dorrit's Church," because it was where Dickens' young heroine was baptized and later married. Today, her likeness is represented in a corner of the stained-glass window found on the east side of the church.





Where is Dickens buried?  Poet's Corner, in Westminster Abbey.

[source]

David Copperfield has long been at the top of my list of favorite books. Which is your favorite book by Charles Dickens?

Click HERE for Library School Journal's excellent LIST
of books for all ages, written by or about Charles Dickens.

NEED A GOOD READ FOR A WINTERY NIGHT?

I hope you'll consider the exciting children's novel The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, (published 1962) by Joan Aiken, for your next read aloud this winter.

Most of the action of this Gothic-era story takes place inside a grand English manor house, "Willoughby Chase" (oddly enough, the wolves are mainly in the background of the story); add a wicked governess, two cousins (a plucky rich girl and a penniless orphaned girl) and a kind country gooseboy, and you've got characters and drama that would rival any Frances Hodgsdon Burnett story (with some abusive Roald Dahl-style authority figures, Agatha Christie twists and turns, and a Charles Dickens prison-like-school thrown in)...can you resist that for a cold winter's night?

Young Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia are threatened not only by wolves, but by a new governess - their distant relative "Miss Slighcarp" - who is sent for when Bonnie's doting parents leave Willoughby Chase for a healthful sea voyage.  Simon the gooseboy tries to help the girls escape the trials and misfortunes as things go from bad to unbearable, thanks to their grim governess.  But it's not all darkness and drear.  The cruel adults in the story are balanced by kind and caring ones and, in the end, good overcomes evil.

My niece and nephew recommended this book to me - I wish I'd read it as a child!  Your child will like it, especially if he or she enjoyed The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, Little Lord Fauntleroy,  James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, or Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.  If you are the designated adult reader, you will like it if you enjoyed Jane Eyre, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, or any of the Agatha Christie mysteries.

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase is the first in a series of books by Aiken. Click HERE to read more about Joan Aiken's 12 fantasy books that make up the Wolves of Willoughby Chase Chronicles. (Disclosure: I have not personally read the whole set.  The first book stands alone just fine). Ages 10 and up.

CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD: GREAT BRITAIN

Greeting: Merry Christmas
St. Nicholas Tradition: "Father Christmas"
Highlighted Custom: Christmas cards & Christmas "crackers" (not the kind you eat!)

Following the intense scrutiny by the Puritans under Oliver Cromwell, Christmas celebrations in Great Britain were in decline. At the same time, the Industrial Revolution allowed workers little time for the holy days.  But Christmas celebrations began to make a comeback in the mid 1800's, in great part due to Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and... Charles Dickens!

Many of the Victorian-age Christmas traditions are still practiced today.  In 1841, Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, made popular the custom of decorating Christmas trees after he brought the idea to the British Isles from his native country of Germany.  Victorian trees were candle-lit and decorated with fruit, nuts, candy, and roses.

from "Godey's Ladys Book", December 1860

The first Christmas card made its appearance in the 1840's, designed by English artist John Calcott Horsely. If you love vintage Christmas postcards and heartwarming  stories, have I got the book for you...  

It's Aunt Olga's Christmas Postcards, by Kevin Major and it's truly one of my favorite Christmas treasures. Anna’s Great-Aunt Olga has collected Christmas postcards all her life (she’s ninety-five years young). Aunt Olga takes advantage of a holiday visit from her favorite niece to share her memories and collection of antique postcards - she received her first from her brother when he was a soldier during World War I - and we, as readers, get to delight in her collection too! Decked out in red, Aunt Olga is ready for fun as she teaches Anna how to write her very own Christmas rhymes. Written with warmth and slightly quirky humor, this unique story shows how sweet a loving relationship can be between a youngster and an oldster.


Finally, it was in large part due to the works of Charles Dickens, specifically his masterpiece A Christmas Carol, published in 1843, that the joys of Christmas were rekindled in Great Britain. Below is Dicken's self described "Carol Philosophy":

"a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of other people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys."

English poet Christina Rossetti was the author of many Advent and Christmastide poems.  Her most famous, A Christmas Carol became a favorite Christmas hymn entitled In the Bleak Midwinter after it appeared (posthumously) in The English Hymnal in 1906, with a setting by Gustav Holst (and later by Harold Darke).  It has been performed by choirs and soloists ever since, including the Robert Shaw Chorale, Chanticleer, Julie Andrews, Sarah Mclachlan, and most recently, James Taylor (who sings my favorite modern rendition). Click HERE to read my post about Christina Rossetti and listen to two beautiful settings of this hymn.

The tradition possibly most enjoyed by English children - Christmas "crackers" - was developed in 1844 by Thomas Smith, an English candy maker who visited France and saw cosaques ("crackers") there.  The French versions were sugar-coated almonds wrapped in squares of colored paper with each end tightly twisted.  Upon his return to England, Smith began making crackers that contained candy, jokes, mottoes, and riddles.  Still popular today, a cracker is placed beside each plate at the Christmas Dinner, ready for its tabs to be pulled as the anticipated "pop'' sound is followed by the emptying of its contents (trinkets, a paper crown, and riddles) by an eager child.

Illustration of children pulling a cracker
from ‘The Graphic Christmas’ 1878. [Image Source]

What's for dinner?  Turkey (first sent over by colonists from North America in the 1600's), cranberry sauce (which must still be imported from the U.S.), mashed potatoes, brussell sprouts, and a baked plum pudding. The pudding is traditionally prepared with 13 ingredients to represent Christ and His Disciples. Every member of the family takes turns to stir the pudding with a wooden spoon from east to west, in honour of the Three Kings.  A foil-wrapped coin is baked inside, for good luck.

Children send letters to "Father Christmas", which are tossed in the fireplace.  Legend has it that the smoke from them burning letters gets carried up the chimney directly to the jolly man in the red suit!  J.R.R. Tolkien wrote a book about Letters from Father Christmas, that I posted HERE last year.

"Boxing Day", celebrated the day after Christmas, marks the beginning of the Christmas pantomimes (plays, such as "Cinderella" or "Peter Pan", which are performed for children).  Boxing Day was originally a public holiday on which church alms boxes, filled with donations for the poor, were opened and the money inside was distributed. Today, people still give gifts of money to servants or other people such as postal workers, police, and newspaper vendors, who serve the public during the year.