Jane Austen Christmas NewsLetter 2014

Jane Austen Christmas Newsletter

Hello Everyone. Welcome to another Jane Austen Newsletter. Can you believe it is almost Christmas? We have the cold but no snow, yet in Indiana. How did Jane Austen celebrate Christmas? I did find out a few things when I searched the internet. Before Queen Victoria's time, Christmas didn't have the glitter and sparkle in Jane's time as it did in Queen's Victoria's time. Christmas is so commercialized that maybe they enjoyed Christmas more them we do in our time. This is what I found out.

Christmas trees in Jane's time. The tree was decorated with candles and paper ornaments. A deadly combination if the candles were lit. Red and green candles would make for a pretty tree. Don't light the candles. A wooden nativity set was placed underneath the tree. I guess this sounds rather plain. I am sure they felt the tree was lovely. Maybe Jane's sister Cassandra painted holly or Santa on tea sets and added to the decorations. Remember Cassandra was Jane's sister and she was a talented artist and loved to paint on tea sets and do art work.

Bullet Pudding was a food served and a game played during Jane Austen's time. They would put pudding in a big pewter bowl and you would eat it but look for the bullet. You couldn't use your hands to take the bullet out. You had to find it with your mouth and spit it out and be careful not to swallow it while you were eating the pudding. I think I would pass on eating this pudding. I think this was a man thing.

The celebration of the Twelfth Night was at it's popularity. Character drawings were cut up and put in a hat. Guests would take turns pulling these characters out of a hat and the character drawing they chose, they played that part. It was a play but not always the same play. It was what ever play the host chose and the chosen guests acted out the parts. Wonder if they had time to learn their lines?

What kind of gifts did Jane and her family get? Jane probably got writing supplies and maybe her brother Henry had the latest copy of her published manuscript. Maybe Jane bought her father and brothers new pocket watches, hats or just wrote stories for them. Cassandra probably painted her family portraits of themselves. Maybe Jane, Cassandra and her mother got new dresses. Family time probably meant more then gifts to them which is how it should be.

Jane Austen's characters. Darcy probably bought Elizabeth a fancy ruby or emerald necklace from London. Maybe he bought Mrs. Bennet a fancy necklace. Elizabeth bought new dresses for her sisters. I imagine the feast consisted of: turkey, duck, pheasant, mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetables, home made breads, the famous bullet pudding{Yikes!}, cakes and pies.

I would imagine Emma passed out Christmas crackers to her single guests with the names of who should marry who.

Jane Austen's other novel characters probably did "The Twelfth Night" event and I read they did in Northanger Abbey. Since Jane lived and wrote in this time, she could only write about Christmas in her stories about what she already knew to keep it real.

Jane Austen's Birthday is December 16. Mine is five days later. My Jane connection.

Wouldn't it be nice to go back into time and celebrate Christmas with Jane Austen or her characters? I think so. I hope you have a Merry Christmas. I will do another newsletter in February. It will be about romance of course. If you have any comments or suggestions, visit these forums and thanks. Have a Merry Christmas!

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