The Star visited Black Creek Pioneer Village, to deconstruct the way Toronto celebrated Christmas 150 years ago.
CHRISTMAS FEAST 1867
This house at Black Creek Pioneer Village belongs to a middle-class English family. All of the food was made on site at the village in wood-fired bake ovens. Ansley Newland, an education interpreter and resident Christmas enthusiast at the village, explains the Victorian spread.
Christmas plum pudding: A longtime staple during the slaughtering season, the puddings used to be made with leftover bits of meat boiled in intestine, and eaten before the meal. By the 1860s, these puddings were a dessert, with currants and raisins, boiled in a special cloth or baked in a tin. After a meat-heavy main course, they were often doused in brandy and lit on fire by the lady of the house for a ceremonial flourish. In Britain, people added a sprig of holly for festive zip, but holly wasn’t native to Canada, so cranberries were a good stand-in, explains Newland.
Mincemeat tarts: Another legacy of the no-waste December slaughtering season, these were made with leftover “odds and sods” and initially baked into oblong pies, she notes. Folklore has it that the pies were a symbolic stand in for Jesus’s cradle, and were considered blasphemous by the Christmas-banning Puritans of the 1640s — “idolatry in the crust,” The World Encylopedia of Christmas notes — but people loved the treat and found a work-around, in smaller round tarts, which remained in Victorian times.
Christmas cake: In previous centuries, the fruitcake with marzipan icing was usually reserved for the Twelfth Night celebrations, with two beans baked inside that entitled the finders to be Lord and Lady of the evening, creating wacky rules. But by 1867, Twelfth Night celebrations had been curbed back, Christmas revolved more around the family, and the cake had migrated to Christmas dinner.
Kerosene: Torontonians are no longer using whale oil in their lamps, but kerosene developed by Canadian geologist Abraham Gesner. Gas lamps are not widespread in homes just yet, although they illuminate downtown streets. Candles are still popular, and paraffin wax has replaced tallow candles, which were made with animal fat, gave off poor light and smelled bad, Newland notes.
Oranges: A special treat, shipped from Spain (along with a good dose of Christmas port and wine). They are expensive, and families have to pre-order at the general store. Some families might buy one orange to share, and not waste a scrap, candying the peel. There are oranges in the U.S., but Florida is still thinly populated and the mechanization of the orange groves is “still a long way in the future,” University of Toronto food historian Daniel Bender says.
Plates: Most items around the house are made in Canada because by 1867, Toronto and Montreal are heavily industrialized. We’re no longer relying heavily on imports, but those with wealth might still be buying their dinnerware from Europe, Newland says. Finery from overseas is certainly a staple of the advertisement section of the Toronto newspapers.
Sugar: By 1867, sugar is a more common sight in the pantry than it once was, and everyone is on a sugar high at Christmas, feasting on sweets like these white gingerbread cookies. Sugar, for centuries a product of the slave trade, is being grown, harvested and collected by former slaves and indentured labourers in the British Caribbean, Bender says. “Sugar is still hard, long exploitative work, but the consumption levels are going up significantly,” he says.
Fireplace: Fireplaces continues to be built for nostalgia and romance, but most homes were heated with the help of a cast iron stove. The popular stoves were mass produced by the 1850s, and proved a more efficient way to cook and heat, with regulated heat that radiates through pipes, Newland says.
CHRISTMAS TREE 1867
This house belongs to a Pennsylvania Dutch family of farmers, the Stongs, who were doing well by 1867. Christmas trees were becoming more popular, especially among German and British families. Christmas trees received a mid-century boost when a lithographic print of the Royal Family with a Christmas tree in the background appeared in North American newspapers, Newland says.
Decorations: In 1867, homemade is king, with gingerbread men, lace snowflakes, and Christmas presents, such as hand-knit hats, serving as decorations. Christmas balls aren’t mass produced until the 1870s and 1880s.
Candles on trees: You had to be careful, yes, but the tree went up in the parlour on Christmas Eve, so it was fresh, and the home was cold at night, and you’d only light the candles for a few minutes, and keep a bucket of water close by. It was worth it, Newland says, for the beauty of a candlelit tree in the dark room in the darkest part of the year.
Gifts: Gifts have long been homemade, but industrialization brings mass-production of toys, and by mid-century, Toronto’s Globe newspaper encourages parents to buy tin horses and dolls for their children, Newland notes. Also in the 1850s, local media publish “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” (first published in 1823 in the Troy Sentinel), which adds to the excitement. In 1867, Toronto is on the verge of more commercialization and targeted Christmas displays.
Presents under tree: If you were lucky enough to get something too big for the branches, it went under the tree. In the 1860s, because of advances in printing techniques, wrapping paper is in the mix, but the designs are flowers, angels and birds, and not rosy-cheeked Santa Claus. “By 1896, Good Housekeeping is saying all the presents should be wrapped and under the tree rather than on the tree,” says Newland, an education interpreter at Black Creek village.
Tree toppers: Choose your own flourish: stars, angels, birds of paradise, even a glockenspiel. “We’re still very much inventing Christmas in the 19th century,” says Newland.