Monday, December 28, 2009

Victorian New Years

Ever wonder what Victorians did to celebrate New Year's????? It seems that during the 1870"s the custom of young, eligible gentlemen to come calling on equal eligible young ladies come to be.... New Year's Eve celebrations did not occur until about World War 1. The Victorians rang in the New Year with a celebrate Ope House which lasted from noon to 6 P.M. The gentlemen paid short calls at each household and left their calling card.... The young ladies, surrounded by families, of course, received the gentlemen and would serve light refreshments. The custom became so popular that young ladies vied with each other as to the number of calling cards each one had received... The custom however quickly faded away,some ten years later, as families of young ladies realized more drinking than calling was being done. People still entertained with family and friends but not so anxious for young gentlemen callers.

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Musings.... We celebrated our last Christmas family get-together yesterday afternoon and evening and shared a very ,very nice time.... I need to get back to reality and think about placing little loved ornaments into storage boxes for another year ........ I so hope everyone enjoyed a lovely Christmas but I know a for all it isn't as lovely as for others... Seems we all have our different time for happenings in our lives... Remember those who may be going through some difficult times with a prayer and understanding and well wishes....

5 comments:

Marie said...

What an interesting post! Sounds like the young men were well fed, lucky for me I was born in this era- I am horrid in the kitchen. Happy New Year.
Marie @ Lemondrop ViNtAge

Anonymous said...

What a lovely post!!
Have a Wonderful Day!!
Love,
Marilyn
xxoo

Anonymous said...

Dear Marietta,
I am glad you had a lovely Christmas. I too need to think about packing away the Christmas pretties.

I like that info about the Victorian New Year's. I love calling cards, that is something I wish was still in "fashion."
Hugs))

Charlene said...

Thank you so much for sharing that story. Some things never change much do they? Funny how leaving calling cards is kind of like early blogging! Happy New Year. And that vintage image is divine! Happy New Year Marietta! Charlene

Shopgirl said...

Great post...Happy New Year Dear Friend!