A Victorian Christmas

Seasons greetings! It is well into December and I am getting rather Christmassy - the decorations have been put up today and most of the presents have been wrapped. All this festivity got me thinking about what Christmas was like in the Victorian era...

At the beginning of the 19th century, Christmas was not widely celebrated, but by the end of Queen Victoria's reign it had become more like the holiday we are so fond of today. The royal family itself are the ones we have most to thank for the introduction of Christmas to Britain. In 1848 (the same year of the formation of our beloved PRB) the Illustrated London News published a drawing of the royal family around a Christmas tree, which Prince Albert had introduced from Germany. Soon nearly every home contained a decorated tree, complete with ribbons, candles, sweets and homemade decorations. Apparently Victoria and Albert decorated their tree themselves, and the children hung gingerbread on the branches - what a lovely idea! Wish I had thought of putting gingerbread on my tree before I swamped it with baubles...

 What an evenly decorated tree! though with that many candles it looks to be somewhat of a fire hazard...

In 1843 a design for a Christmas card was commissioned by Henry Cole. There were 1,000 copies and each had to be hand coloured. The card sold for one shilling each - this was more than the average person could pay. However, with the advancement in printing technology, the Christmas card became extremely popular - in 1880 alone 1.5 million cards were produced. 

Another commercial aspect to Christmas was invented, again, in 1848 when British confectioner, Tom Smith, came up with a novel and festive way to sell sweets. Inspired by a trip to Paris where he saw sugared almonds sold in twists of paper, he invented the first Christmas crackers. these were at first filled with sweets, then later in the century the contents were changed to paper hats, small gifts and bad jokes.

Ice skating, a popular Victorian past time. That gentleman looks like a very good ice skater! He also looks rather like the other man in the background, and the others too - did the painter run out of models, perhaps?

Camille Pissarro 1879

Claude Monet 1880

While searching for Victorian winter paintings, I came across these two beautiful landscapes by Pissarro and Monet. I was interested to see that both works were painted in the same winter; looking it up I discovered that the winter of 1879-80 was particularly harsh, apparently the seventh worst on record. France was bitterly cold - a temperature of -25.6C was recorded in Paris and the Seine was frozen over. Only by February 1880 did the cold finally fade away, almost two years later, for the cold weather started in '78. 
I love the different shades of blue in Pissarro's painting, really shows the frozen ground and air - makes me shiver even to look at it! The pastel colours of Monet's painting are beautiful, which contrast between the bright orange of the setting sun and its reflection, and the dark shadowy skeletons of trees. I always love finding new paintings - its so interesting not just to study the paintings themselves, but also look into the history around when they were produced. There are so many amazing things in the past. Oh, the beauty of art history!

Merry Christmas!

Thoughts on a Mumford & Sons Concert

I am a little apprehensive of this post, for it is not the kind that I intended to do when I set up my blog. However, I felt compelled to share my thoughts on this subject, for it is very dear to me. Last Tuesday I was lucky enough to see Mumford & Sons in the Newcastle Metro Radio Arena. (I apologize for the quality of the photos, they were taken on my phone) I cannot describe in words how wonderful it was to see my favourite band in concert.  The power of music always amazes me. Here are my humble thoughts...

Starting with a quick word about the support acts. The first was a British band called the Post War Years. Because I have never really liked that style of music, I was surprised to find my self really enjoying their performance - the energy and love the talented young men had for their music was obvious, and watching them perform was compelling. I was rather in awe of the lead singer's dancing - a strange dance it was but intriguing! The second act was the Dawes, all the way from America. I enjoyed their songs and will look more into their music. Obviously, the crowd went wild when Marcus Mumford was invited to do a song with them!

 Finally, it was the turn of Mumford & Sons. As was to be expected the place was in uproar - the starting song was the magnificent Babel. Though I go regularly to concerts, I have never been standing, so was a little taken a back by the energy of the crowd, but by the end of the song I was jumping and singing along with everybody. Our proximity to the stage exceeded my expectations (front row!) - Ted Dwane was less than a metre away and I was able to see his beautiful Movember moustache!

The gig went on for longer than I expected - for over two hours! They played about 15 songs; classics from Sigh No More and newer tracks from Babel. Thistle and Weeds was exceptionally beautiful; with a really long building intro and the tension is slowly built up into a most divine and well composed piece of music. Hopless Wanderer was, obviously, a great one to hear live - the energy of the band is infectious! I was very pleased that Broken Crown was included, for it is my favourite; a dark but hauntingly beautiful song. It was also lovely to see Winston Marshall sing For Those below on his own - he has a beautiful voice - the audience went silent. A very surreal moment.

When we thought the concert was sadly coming to an end, the band went off stage; but then appeared at the other side of the hall. For we were at the front of the main stage, we could not see them, but heard the band play an acoustic rendition of Timshel and Reminder. Again, the crowd fell silent and it was incredible moment to hear the divine voices echoing round the place. The encore was The Cave (epic!) and The Dawes came back on to play With a Little Help From My Friends together. A very fitting ending to an incredible night.

What a great concert! I still cannot believe that I have been able to see Mumford & Sons. The energy and passion they have for their music is incredible and infectious. It is obvious that they love performing their songs and that really comes through when watching them live. Because this is a band who primarily focus on live performances, it is incredible to see them in reality, much better than listening to their albums. I definitely recommend their concerts to anyone who loves this incredible band or even just loves concerts in general. Apart from going to the Tate's Pre-Raphaelite exhibition (review coming next week), seeing Mumford & Sons has been the highlight of my life!