The Ghost of Christmas Past

A blog post by Jemima, Library Graduate Trainee, in which Charles Dickens looks back on the time when Christmas was officially banned in England

The Victorian writer, Charles Dickens, authored the well-loved novel The Christmas Carol whose popularity has not diminished over the centuries. Innumerable adaptations have been produced for both stage and screen since its publication; whilst the characters created by Dickens such as Scrooge and his “catch-phrase” Bah-Humbug! remain deeply embedded in the popular culture which surrounds the celebration of Christmas. Dickens has often been described as the man who invented Christmas and whilst this has been contested, he certainly contributed a great deal to the traditions which surround it in Britain. However, Dickens’ contribution to Christmas does not end here; as well as penning several other Christmas stories Dickens also published various articles on the history of Christmas in England and observations on the traditional ways in which Christmas was celebrated around the world. These can be found in All The Year Round, a literary magazine founded and owned by Dickens. Brunel Library holds every edition published between the year 1869 and 1879 in Special Collections. The range of topics these volumes contain are so diverse and truly fascinating, they are well worth an exploration, whatever your subject.

DIckens’ All the Year Round

In December 1870, All The Year Round included an interesting piece on the prohibition of the celebration of Christmas in the 17^th century and the methods, which seem ridiculous to us now, which the Puritans attempted to enforce this ban. Dickens paints a vivid picture of the general unrest, the riots and the acts of rebellion and cleverly satirises the entire situation in the way he is famed for. To give some background to the 20 years in which Christmas was banished from the calendar; the first half of 17^th century England was ruled by a Puritan parliament, headed by Oliver Cromwell, who put huge amounts of time and effort into reforming the moral and spiritual character of the country. The festival of Christmas came under their firing line as it was not seen as a Christian or religious festival for two main reasons. Firstly, it was a time of feasting, drinking and extravagance – all of these things were looked down upon by Puritans who advocated fasting and sobriety. Secondly, Christmas was a surviving Catholic festival and the Catholic Church was highly unpopular and viewed as a heretical strain of Christianity by the Puritans. As the Puritans could find no Biblical instruction that Christ’s birth be celebrated and as the celebrations themselves were seen as totally incongruent with Christian morality, the Puritan parliament felt no scruple in abolishing Christmas in 1642 and ordering that it should instead be “observed as a day of fasting and of humiliation.” (Dickens, All the Year Round Vol. 5, December 1870 p. 101).

Dickens highlights the absolute absurdity of the situation in his description of what measures the Puritans would take to enforce this ban and what actions they would consider as breaching their legislation. He writes that on Christmas day officials would search the entire city of London, looking for “superstitious pies and porridge, ransacking pots, robbing ovens, and stripping spits” (ibid.) believing that these things were wicked and against Christianity. “Holly, ivy, mistletoe, bay and rosemary were accounted branches of superstition. To roast a sirloin of beef, to touch a collar of brawn, to bake a pie, to put a plum in a pottage-pot, to burn a big candle, or to lay one log more upon the fire for Christmas’ sake was enough to make a man be suspected and taken for a Christian and punished accordingly.” (Dickens, All the Year Round Vol. 5, December 1870, p. 104). Not only were the traditional, secular means of celebrating Christmas prohibited, but religious observances were equally unacceptable. All churches were ordered to close over Christmas and anyone who tried to preach or give a sermon would be served with an arrest warrant. Despite the strict enforcements behind Parliament’s Christmas ban, year after year the people of England would find a way to celebrate and make merry one way or another. This rebellion could be small and personal and consist of making a Christmas pudding or singing a carol. On the other hand there were often larger, public rebellions. Riots would break out and mobs would form and attack the officials working for the Puritan parliament. Charles Dickens describes an incident in 1647 involving forbidden festive decorations and how they were fiercely fought for by the people in the local area. He tells us that Cornhill conduit had been dressed in evergreens and holly and ivy and rosemary and bays which were set on top of the tall building. The city marshall and his men were set to pull down the decorations, but the decorated building was defended by local lads, who attacked the marshall and caused his men to flee for their lives. On receiving report of this, the magistrate was scandalised and went down himself on his horse but met with the same fate. The yelling mobs scared his horse and it galloped away with him still mounted looking very undignified. Although some were seized and sent to prison for the day, there was still a feeling of triumph as the Christmas decorations remained upon the building. (Dickens, All the Year Round Vol 5, December 1870 p. 101).

Disability History Month

Disability History Month is an annual event which runs from 22^nd November to 22^nd December, covering AIDS day (1^st Dec), International Day of People with Disabilities (3^rd Dec) and International Human Rights Day (10^th Dec). Its aim is to raise awareness of the fight for equality that has been taken up throughout history by and for those whose lives are affected by disabilities. For more information on UK Disability History Month, visit their website.

In honour of this month, Brunel Library’s Special Collections would like to draw your attention to the remarkable items we hold which give insight into the lives of disabled individuals over the last two centuries.

The Burnett Archive, a collection of fascinating working class autobiographies, contains several accounts of lives affected by disability. To give an example, one autobiography is written by a man who suffered from epilepsy in a time when it was not well understood. Born in 1914, this man tells of his struggle to live a “normal life” and hopes that in doing so he can provide others with hope that they will be able to do the same (Wally Ward, Burnett Archive 2;798).
The autobiographies provide very moving personal life-experiences, and expose prejudices and discrimination which we may be shocked to discover today. Born in Manchester in 1912, Jim Ingram remembers being made an “other” even as a small child due to his physical disability. He recalls adults arguing over the worth of “crippled” children: “Once I overheard the older people arguing that a crippled child was evidence of sin and had no right to be alive. Things like me should be destroyed at birth.” (Jim Ingram, Burnett Archive 2:430)

Sadly, this discrimination often came from inside the family, as highlighted in one autobiography which tells of a brother resenting the birth of his severely disabled sister whom he feels stole his childhood and tore apart his family. This narrative gives insight into the effect that the lack of support and understanding within the wider society had on individuals. (Charles Esam-Carter, Burnett Archive Part 4)

The Burnett archives also hold fascinating but disturbing accounts of the treatment of people suffering with mental health conditions and their experiences in “lunatic asylums”. (H .J. Harris, Burnett Archive 2:363)

For more information on what the Burnett archive holds visit our webpage about it and arrange to visit and read these accounts for yourself.

In addition to these documents, we also have a modern collection of Transcription Poems, Neglected Voices, written by a former poet-in-residence at Brunel University, Allan Sutherland. These poems were created from life-interviews which Sutherland carried out among six individuals with different disabilities. The audio recordings and the full transcriptions of these interviews are held in Special Collections alongside the poetry collections themselves. ‘Proud’ is a poetry collection based on the words of Jennifer Taylor, who has a learning disability. ‘In Memory’ is formed from an interview with Catriona Grant, whose life was affected by a stroke at a young age. The collection, ‘This Hearing Thing,’ is based on the words of Wendy Bryant who gives an account of living with a hearing impairment, and lastly ‘Dan Dare Braces’ is a collection of poems on the life of Peter Moore, a survivor of abuse.

To access these invaluable first-hand accounts of living with a disability both in the modern day and in previous centuries, come and visit Special Collections and read these life histories for yourself.