Christmas in Victorian England: Revival

During the second half of the nineteenth century the English re-claimed and transformed Christmas. What caused the turnaround in attitude? Some historians believe that the Oxford movement, a campaign for religious reform within the Church of England, generated renewed appreciation of Christmas traditions through its promotion of ritual, decoration, and the old holy days. In addition, images of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria celebrating Christmas with a decorated Christmas tree kindled widespread interest in this new Christmas custom. Finally, some writers credit Charles Dickens’s influential portraits of Christmas charity in A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1843) and Christmas cheer in The Pickwick Papers (1837) with inspiring Victorian appreciation of the Christmas season. Others disagree, arguing that Dickens captured the emerging Victorian attitude towards Christmas, rather than inspired it. Whatever his place in the chain of cause and effect, both British and American audiences hailed A Christmas Carol, and the tale became a cherished element of Victorian Christmas lore.