Before Christmas, my husband, daughter and I were discussing various Christmas traditions and how they got started. With a little research on the Internet, it became clear that many of our current traditions had their roots in the Victorian Age in England - 1837 to 1901 - which is basically the time of Queen Victoria's reign. The Christmas tree, ropes of cranberries and popcorn, Christmas cards, caroling, giving presents, and Santa Claus are just a few of the things that the Victorians initiated.
I wondered if any documentaries had been done on the Victorian Christmas and went to one of my favorite websites: Top Documentary Films and did a search. What do you know? The BBC actually did have one - The Victorian Farm Christmas - done in 2009 which is a part of a longer series entitled The Victorian Farm. Here's a synopsis of the series:
Historical observational documentary series following a team who live the life of Victorian farmers for a year. Wearing period clothes and using only the materials that would have been available in 1885, historian Ruth Goodman and archaeologists Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn are going back in time to relive the day-to-day life of the Victorian farmer.
The project is based on the Acton Scott estate in Shropshire – a world frozen in time, lost in Victorian rural England. Its buildings and grounds are cluttered with antique tools and machinery collected by the Acton family, who have lived on the estate since the 12th century.
Working for a full calendar year, Ruth, Alex and Peter are rediscovering a lost world of skills, crafts and knowledge, assisted by an ever-dwindling band of experts who keep Victorian rural practices alive.
After watching the first one, I was hooked and continued with the entire series. Not only that, but I am currently watching the next series - The Edwardian Farm - and plan to continue with The Victorian Pharmacy!
Documentaries like this would be so helpful if placed alongside learning history in school. One could begin to see the difficulties of making a living by farming, mining, or fishing. Their lives seemed a never-ending chore of growing, making or buying raw materials and then turning them into something to sell or for their own consumption. If you wanted livestock - pigs, sheep, cows, chickens, etc. - then you had to plow the ground and sow the seed, harvest the result and store it through the winter months. If you wanted to increase your herd, flock or gaggle of geese, then you had to borrow or buy a bull, ram, or gander. You had to plan 3, 4 or 9 months ahead of time. And even then, things could go wrong - too much rain, a fox in the hen house, a lame horse. If you had to repair a chimney, you either had to make your own bricks and fire them or buy them (money which the farmers usually didn't have).
But it wasn't all doom and gloom. They found ways to have fun and celebrate, albeit in small ways. Sometimes they mixed work and fun together to get a big job done. And, although we look at their lives and think it was so hard, they no doubt thought that they had it better than their ancestors!
I do think that we have lost a good part of our humanness as we have become more and more isolated and out of touch with God's creation around us. These Victorians and Edwardians, at least the working class ones, were closely enter twined with the trees, plants and animals that surrounded them - deriving sustenance, healing, and shelter from them. Which of us is really better off?
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