Hiya, WordWrangler Readers! We are so excited to welcome historical author Rue Allyn to the blog today! Rue is going to give us a peek into the past today (and give us a glimpse of her yummy heroes, too)! Take it away, Rue!
Christmas 1870
As I
prepared for the holidays, I began to wonder what Christmas would be like for
the characters of my Wildfire Love series. In general terms the Alden sisters grew up in the repressive household
of one of Boston’s richest and most powerful fictional characters. Despite the
rise of gift giving and other holiday traditions occurring in the late 19th
century, Edith, Kiera and Mae would not have received much if anything from
their miserly, hypocritical, misogynist grandfather. He would have lavished the
few gifts he gave on politicos and business associates whose favor he sought.
Until he passed away in 1870, the girls experienced the joy of the season with
the household servants, at religious services, and in charitable endeavors. Freed
from their grandfather’s guardianship and as his heirs, these young women would
probably carry on their charity having learned from experience the pleasure in
giving to others. Having found their HEAs they would also have begun to
celebrate with decorations, meals and the exchange of gifts in their own homes.
So what specific traditions would Edith,
Kiera and Mae include in their new lives as wealthy wives and mothers? In
researching the topic I found this fascinating article at http://christmas-celebrations.org/11-christmas-in-nineteenth-century-america.html. I quote the first two paragraphs (since the author
says it as well or better than I could).
“At the
beginning of the nineteenth century American Christmas celebrations varied
considerably from region to region. These variations reflected religious and
ethnic differences in the population. In PURITAN New England, for example, many
people ignored the holiday (see Christmas in Colonial
America).
In Pennsylvania German-American communities reproduced a number of German
Christmas traditions. Prosperous Southerners, especially those of Anglican
English or French descent, hosted lavish Christmas meals and parties. All
across the country many of those who celebrated Christmas in nineteenth-century
America did so with noisy, public, and some-times drunken, reveling. By contrast,
non-observers tried to ignore the noise and the festivities. They treated the
day as any other workday, since it was not a legal holiday in most of the
century.
“During the
second half of the nineteenth century, however, more and more people began celebrating
Christmas. Regional and religious differences faded as new American Christmas
customs emerged. These customs helped to transform the American Christmas into
the tranquil, domestic festival we know today. As the century rolled on, larger
numbers of people incorporated customs and myths surrounding the Christmas tree, Santa Claus, and family gift exchanges into their
Christmas celebrations. The Civil War (1861-65) served as a watershed in
American Christmas observances, after which time the commercial trappings of the holiday—especially Christmas cards, store-bought gifts,store window displays, and wrapping paper — took on greater importance.
The
books in the Wildfire Love series are One
Moment’s Pleasure (Edith), One
Night’s Desire (Kiera), and One
Day’s Loving (Mae). You can
get more information about each book by clicking on each title or you may
purchase directly from Amazon.
Check
out my website for links to other
holiday tour posts. All who comment
will be entered into a drawing for a free download of the entire Wildfire Love
series. Enter as many times as you like.
About
Rue Allyn: Author of historical, contemporary, and erotic romances, Rue Allyn
fell in love with happily ever after the day she heard her first story. She is
deliriously married to her sweetheart of many years and loves to hear from
readers about their favorite books and real life adventures. Learn more about Rue at http://RueAllyn.com.
Interesting information. Welcome to the corral!
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting Liz. My research did not lead me to any personal accounts (although I'm sure some exist). However, I found the increase of gift giving after the Civil War to be a compelling enough nugget for this blog.
ReplyDelete