A Jane Austen Christmas: Regency Christmas Traditions

Jane Austen Regency Life #1

by Maria Grace

Many Christmas traditions and images of ‘old fashioned’ holidays are based on Victorian celebrations. Going back just a little further, to the beginning of the 19th century, the holiday Jane Austen knew would have looked distinctly odd to modern sensibilities.

How odd? Families rarely decorated Christmas trees. Festivities centered on socializing instead of gift-giving. Festivities focused on adults, with children largely consigned to the nursery.  Holiday events, including balls, parties, dinners, and even weddings celebrations, started a week before Advent and extended all the way through to Twelfth Night in January. 

Take a step into history with Maria Grace as she explores the traditions, celebrations, games and foods that made up Christmastide in Jane Austen's era. Packed with information and rich with detail from period authors, Maria Grace transports the reader to a longed-for old fashioned Christmas.

Non-fiction

Genres: Christmas, Nonfiction, History, Regency, Holiday, Audiobook, British Literature

122 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 11, 2014

About the author

Six time BRAG Medallion Honoree, #1 Best-selling Historical Fantasy author Maria Grace has her PhD in Educational Psychology and is a 16-year veteran of the university classroom where she taught courses in human growth and development, learning, test development and counseling. None of which have anything to do with her undergraduate studies in economics/sociology/managerial studies/behavior sciences. She pretends to be a mild-mannered writer/cat-lady, but most of her vacations require helmets and waivers or historical costumes, usually not at the same time.

She stumbled into Jane Austen fan-dom in the mid '90s with Emma Thompson's Sense and Sensibility film, having somehow graduated HS without ever having read Austen. It was only a short leap then to consume all of Austen's works, in all their various media forms. In the hopes of discovering more works by Austen, she stumbled into the fan fiction forums, which naturally led to asking 'What if...' herself. Twenty nine books later, she still asks that question.

She writes gaslamp fantasy, historical romance and non-fiction to help justify her research addiction.

Reviews

[Melissa McShane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The connection to Jane Austen is very slight; the subtitle would be a more accurate title. This compilation of Regency Christmas holiday traditions is a good general overview that rarely dips deep, but then it doesn't really have to. For anyone looking to celebrate Christmas the early-19th-century way, this is a fine resource, though I should warn those people that the recipes included come from as close to original sources as the author could manage, and require a lot of ingenuity and understanding of cooking to reproduce. I picked this up as a quick reference and was pleased to find a very good index of sources, complete with hyperlinks (I didn't test any of them, so I hope they're usable). I plan eventually to look into them for that deeper experience I mentioned.

[Laura✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably the nerdiest book I’ve read all year, but it was interesting to see what traditions, songs, food, and activities have continued since that time and which ones have been dropped. A few family traditions I remember doing as a kid were included and were no doubt brought over to Canada with my great-great grandparents from England in the 1800s.

[Meredith (Austenesque Reviews) · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Informative Reference to Regency Christmastide Celebrations and Recipes

Rating: 3.5 stars

Isn’t it wonderful when two things you love are combined? Like Jane Austen and Christmas? 🙂 I love reading Jane Austen-Inspired Christmas stories, and I am so happy that so many new ones are coming out each year! But in addition to decking the halls at Longbourn, sleigh riding at Pemberley, or seeing Mr. Darcy encounter the Ghost of Christmas Past, I love learning the real practices and traditions of how Christmas was celebrated during the Regency era. I’ve previously read two books that canvassed traditions of the Christmas season during Jane Austen’s time – Jane Austen’s Christmas: The Festive Season in Georgian England by Maria Hubert and A Jane Austen Christmas by Carlo DeVito, and both while enlightening in some aspects had a fair amount that disappointed or dissatisfied.

I was excited when I saw that Austenesque author Maria Grace published her own nonfiction work that highlights and informs readers about Regency Christmas traditions. Having loved many of her fiction works and knowing her passion for history and research, I was hopeful that A Jane Austen Christmas by Maria Grace would be the Jane Austen related nonfiction Christmas work for which I’ve been waiting!

I’m happy to say that there was much I loved and enjoyed about A Jane Austen Christmas! What I loved most was learning some things that were completely new for me about Christmas celebrations and traditions during Jane Austen’s time – I hadn’t before realized how many traditions centered around bringing luck or warding off bad luck! Talk about being a little superstitious! In addition, it warmed my heart to learn that many of the gifts given customs were charitable gifts, I like that tradition a lot. And I discovered while I most likely would need to stay away from many of the dishes traditionally prepared for Christmastide including the pies (because I’m a vegetarian), I would definitely be happy to sample wassail, punch, ratafia, and syllabub! Best be careful not to get myself foxed! 😉

Aside from all the information that I enjoyed gleaning from Ms. Grace’s research, I appreciated how all these facts and traditions were presented – the organized chapters and outlined segments, the inclusion of images, and the helpful resources – like an index and reference page. However, I did wish for more connection to Jane Austen and her novels given the title of this work. I know there isn’t recorded about Jane Austen’s family celebrating Christmas and that it is only mentioned briefly in a few of her novels, but it would have been wonderful to tie any Austen history or allusions of Christmas into this nonfiction work no matter how small they might be. In addition, I think readers should be aware that one third of this book is comprised of recipes. Which while interesting, may not be as useful to readers since they may challenging to translate to our modern cooking techniques and styles. Moreover, since there are 33 pages of recipes in a work that is 122 pages in length, perhaps it should be added to the subtitle somehow – maybe something like “Regency Christmas Traditions and Recipes.”

A Jane Austen Christmas by Maria Grace is a brief and informative guide to Christmastide celebrations and traditions observed during Jane Austen’s time. I think I am a little critical when it comes to Jane Austen Christmas related works, but out of the three I’ve read, this one is definitely my favorite! It is a wonderful choice for readers who want to understand and learn a little bit more about Regency Christmas season celebrations, and I enjoyed imagining the Austen, Darcy, and Knightley families taking part in many of the customs and traditions outlined in this work.

Austenesque Reviews

[Anne (In Search of Wonder) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating info about Christmas in the regency era, and written in such a way that I could pick it up and put it down throughout the season, reading little bits at a time.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent Christmas traditions, games, and original recipes. Very informative.

[Mai · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short read, but quite detailed and useful for research or for those who are just interested in the period.

[Tori · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a book using Jane Austen's name, it was very lacking in Jane Austen. I probably would have rated it higher if it was simply titled Regency Christmas Traditions.

[Gratia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful source of information

Ms Grace delves into the minutiae of Regency life over the winter festive season. Although there is some repetition, the book is overall well researched and informative. I recommend it to authors of Regency based books as well as people who are just interested in learning more about that period of time.

[DoctorM · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, witty, with some lovely depictions of Regency Christmas customs. A pleasant and charming read at Christmastime. A bit too focused on rural as opposed to urban customs, but nonetheless delightful as a seasonal piece.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must for any Anglophile or Jane Austen fan. It tells you everything you never knew you always wanted to know about Regency Christmas traditions. Bonus: the recipes are hilariously awesome and amazing. It is well-researched also. Read it.

[E.F. Buckles · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a non-fiction book that tells us what Christmas celebrations looked like during the Regency Era in which Jane Austen lived. I thought it might be a bit more about Austen herself, but she’s really only mentioned briefly a few times by way of letting us know that this is likely how she would have been celebrating. Still, it was a very interesting read. I’d heard about many of these traditions in passing over the years, so it was nice to get a little more detail about the WHY of them. I also liked that the author mentioned why we don’t still celebrate some of them today. (Including one of Britain’s rulers outlawing some of them, so they fell out of use.)

It was also interesting on a personal level to learn the origin of some of the traditions that my family kinda sorta passed down (very casually) over the years. For example, my Grammy (my father's mother) always used to say it was good luck for a dark-haired man to be the first to cross the threshold of the house on New Years. Now, many of my family members have been Christians, including my grandparents on both sides, and we don’t actually believe in luck, so it was just kind of a “haha, okay” kind of tradition. There also weren’t any specifics about who the dark-haired man had to be, and all the men on Dad’s side of the family have been dark-haired, so when my Grandpa was alive, he would step outside and come back in after midnight on New Years, and these days, if my Dad is feeling up to it, he goes outside, says a quick prayer of blessing over our home, and then comes back in, thus fulfilling the tradition. (And for the record, if he hasn’t felt up to hobbling outside in the cold after midnight, he still prays over us, and the year has been no better or worse because he didn't cross the threshold first.)

Dad never knew where his mother got this concept, so I enjoyed learning that it was the Scottish and Northern English who apparently did this all the way back in the Regency Era. My family has Scottish and English (and a few other European things) heritage on both sides of the family, so I guess it got carried along over the centuries, and then we brought it over here to America.

The Regency Era folk apparently got a lot more specific about this, and other traditions, almost to the point of being laughable. It seems the dark-haired man back then was not necessarily supposed to be a member of the family going out and back in, it was supposed to be someone who wasn't already in the house coming in. And I thought it was hilarious that there was some debate as to if it was luckier for the man to have high arches than flat feet, and various other qualities. (Good thing my family didn’t carry that part over because Dad, his brothers, and Grandpa have all been notoriously flat-footed.) Other traditions were like this, too, like how the women would race to do something or other to the well on the first day of the year and then wash the cow’s udder with the water for good milk production. It was just amusing to me how specific some of it got.

(I will note that one of Grammy’s traditions, where she claimed you shouldn’t do laundry on New Year’s Day lest you “wash someone out of the family,” was not mentioned as a Regency Era tradition, unless I missed it, but that one always sounded to me like one of our ancestors, or possibly Grammy herself, just wanted a break from laundry and made that up. XD Also for the record, my Mom likes to do laundry on New Years so we can start the year with fresh, clean things, and no one has been “washed out” of the family because of it.)

Anyway, there were many other traditions mentioned here, and I certainly see how the celebrations were different in Jane Austen’s day than they are now. There are recipes from the era at the end of the book, too. I listened to this on audio and was surprised that the narrator actually read through them all. I suspect that if you want to try any of them, you’d probably be better off getting a physical or ebook copy, though. 🙂

Recommended reading for those who enjoy learning about history. Who knows, you might even learn some things about your own family traditions like I did!

Content Advisory:

Language:

None.

Violence/Scariness:

None.

Sexual:

The author mentions that a few of the party games they played back then could turn into excuses for interaction between the sexes that otherwise wouldn’t have been allowed, or even considered scandalous, but she doesn’t delve into excessive detail. She simply states as a fact that sometimes they’d say salacious things to each other as part of the games and the like. (One reason 12th Night festivities got outlawed is because the ruler of the day thought it was turning into an excuse for people to behave inappropriately.)

Spiritual:

Some of the traditions mentioned are Christian in nature, and some are straight up superstition with no Biblical basis.

Other:

Mentions of alcohol consumption.

[Mo Jordan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Jane Austen Christmas: 2 stars

My Thoughts:
I kind of feel bad about this but I genuinely did not enjoy myself while reading this book. I felt like there was no effort made into making this interesting and engaging and it was just throwing information at you. Yes, it's a nonfiction but that doesn't mean it can't be enjoyable. For example, we had a section about pantomimes and the end of the section says "Since the audience participated in the show, emotions could run high. So much so, a pantomime could, and occasionally did, incite a riot." And that was it. I mean, was there no example of a riot that was particularly big or interesting? And even if not, surely there were other times stories could have been used to highlight the information being shared. This essentially ended up being slightly more interesting than a textbook and nothing more.

I am also incredibly salty about the title. It does say A Jane Austen Christmas and yet this has next to nothing to do with Jane Austen. It should have simply been called Regency Christmas Traditions. There were about 3 times where something was said like "However, in Jane Austen’s day, textiles were very expensive." Stating that something happened in Jane Austen's Day doesn't make this a JANE AUSTEN CHRISTMAS. And what a wasted opportunity that was - similarly to my first point, this would have been better having discussed specific things Jane Austen's family did. Where did they tend to spend Christmas? Their own house? Did they host many people? Did they travel a lot? There's no way you don't have a single story specfically about Jane Austen during Christmas time.

Sadly, this was boring and disappointing. Unless you are using this is a reference for school/writing, I just wouldn't recommend it.


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[Sarah Coller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I'm pretty disappointed with this little book---which is a bummer because I had it on my Amazon wishlist for a really long time before finally deciding to buy it for myself this year. It's a great idea but very underdeveloped. She throws out many terms without explanation; things like "fasting dish", "hoops" for baking, "sack" and "gill" in relation to the kitchen. Seems she could have explained the less familiar terms like she did in other areas. It's not a balanced book.

Another thing that annoyed me was she begins the recipe chapter by saying she didn't make edits---but then she obviously does---again, inconsistently. For instance, it's pretty common knowledge that the "s" and the "f" looked very similar in those days, yet she doesn't consistently change or not change them. She changes all the s words to their correct spelling (with an s at the beginning instead of an f) except for the word "six". In all cases, she leaves it as "fix". Also, she refuses to correct obvious mistakes like "in fourth" instead of "one fourth", yet she paraphrases other instructions.

A final annoyance was that she makes way too many assumptions about the lewd ulterior motives of party game players. Not everyone had romance on the brain all the time. I have five teenagers who often have parties with 20-25 young people here ages 13 to 20. They're prime examples of a group of young people getting together for good, clean fun without feeling the need to hook up. If they can do it in 2019, I'm highly doubtful that people in Jane's day were as lecherous as the author's imagination seems to make them out to be in places.

I don't have any real great takeaways from this tiny volume, but I do think the author could expand it greatly for a much meatier read.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title: A Jane Austen Christmas: Regency Christmas Traditions
Author: Maria Grace
Narrated by: Barry Shannon
Publisher: Maria Grace
Length: Approximately 2 hours and 19 minutes
Source: Purchased from Amazon.com

Do you like to learn about holiday traditions? I have loved to read about the traditions of all holidays since I was a child. I really like seeing how our celebrations of holidays have changed through the years. I was delighted to see this audiobook that focused on regency Christmas traditions, which is one of my favorite time periods to read about.

This book is not about Jane Austen, but it is about how Christmas was celebrated during her time period. I thought it was interesting that there were no Christmas trees in the Regency period, but that houses were decorated with greenery on Christmas Eve. Christmas was celebrated during the traditional twelve days of Christmas from Christmas Day through the Epiphany (January 6th). The book also explained traditional dishes that would have been eaten during the celebrations. A lot of the celebrations seemed to revolve around card playing and getting together with family and friends.

I thought the book was well researched and informative. Barry Shannon was a fine narrator.

This review was first posted on my blog at: https://lauragerold.blogspot.com/2024...

[ReadsandThings · Rating 2 out of 5]

This fell short of what it pretends to be on the cover - don't expect to read about Jane Austen, because you won't. This very short book gathers some facts about Regency Christmas, but also veers heavily into earlier Georgian and later Victorian customs, which in a book already this short is surprising to me. Jane Austen gets mentioned once or twice in passing, and I couldn't help feeling she's only been put on the cover in order to get people to buy the book (or perhaps because the author has previously published other books roughly revolving around Regency England, Jane Austen and her plots). The last third of the book is given to period recipes.
The typesetting was generously spaced (meaning the book might have been much shorter still), but the book is badly edited and full of typos and formatting inconsistencies (I'm referring to the modern part of the text, not the original recipes), and the overall impression was that it was rather carelessly put together.
I would perhaps recommend this as a small gift for someone who has an interest in period recipes, or enjoys period drama but has no particular desire for full historical detail. However, if you've already read about the period or are interested in deep historical detail, you won't glean much new knowledge from this. Daniel Pool's "What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew", or Lucy Worsley's "Jane Austen at Home" offer a much deeper and richer insight into Regency life and customs.

[Trisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

As interesting as this little book was, it’s not really about the way Jane Austen celebrated Christmas – or even the way the characters in her novels did. True, it did focus on some regency era customs but much of the book was about the way Christmas was celebrated prior to that time as well as during the Victorian period.

Most interesting to me was the chapter about parlor games and pastimes that used to be popular back when people had to rely on each other for entertainment. But I have to admit I can’t imagine today’s party goers having a lot of fun jumping up and down in front of each other crying “How d’ye do? How d’ye do? How d’ye do” and “Tell me who, tell me who, tell me who!” (unless of course, everyone had had an awfully lot to drink.”)

And speaking of things to drink, the book includes a number of recipes, including several for syllabub as well as how to make negus (something I’ve come across in many of the Regency and Victorian era novels I’ve read.)

As interesting as this book was, it would have been so much more enjoyable had the author included scenes from Jane Austen’s novels that take place during the holidays in order to revisit the way her characters celebrated.

[Nicola Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always find Christmases past super interesting. The old traditions, what was expected at the time, how it was celebrated. Nowadays it’s a very commercial holiday but back then it was a while different vibe.

I really enjoyed learning about the things they used to do, the food they used to eat, the entertainments etc… Regency is such an interesting era so this book was a sure win for me. I also love Jane Austen so it was interesting to think of how Christmas would have been like for her, the games she would have played etc…

I think it definitely needs a relisten on my part as I did get a little distracted at a few points (always a possibility with audiobooks!) but it was greatly narrated and easy to listen to. Although there is a bunch of recipes at the end which is great, but didn’t make for great listening when it comes to listening to the audio! Better to have a physical copy I think.

If you’re interested in history, love Christmas and are intrigued by how the old used to execute Christmas, it’s a book you’d love!

[Darcy · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of my biggest pet peeves is when an author attaches Jane Austen’s name to a book that has nothing more to do with Jane Austen than the fact that she lived during the period they are writing about.

This book seemed like a lost opportunity to me. The Regency period had fascinating games (let’s douse a pile of raisins with brandy, light it on fire, and see if we can eat them without catching fire ourselves!), recipes to turn your stomach (calves-feet jelly, anyone?), and it offered potentially deadly dining experiences (let’s hide trinkets in our pudding)! Despite all this excitement, the author managed to purge her writing of all humor. There were perhaps two references to Jane Austen. Her name was clearly used to get people interested in this book. The recipes were interesting to skim, but they made up about a quarter of this book, and I was not looking for a cookbook. Overall, as a quick little reference to Christmas traditions this book is good, but there is no depth and no style in the writing of it.

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won a copy of this audio book, but I didn't really know anything about it. I didn't realize it was a nonfiction book at first, so I was a bit surprised when the narration started. The book wasn't what I expected, but I found it fascinating.

This book looks at all of the Christmas traditions from the regency era -- the celebrations, food, parties, games, and more. I loved learning about the pomp and traditions, especially since we often sing/read about them (like plumb pudding) or participate in them (caroling) without really understanding where they came from or what they mean. I was quite surprised how many of the traditions are based in secular superstition, but it was still interesting to read about.

If you're interested in either Christmas traditions OR life in the regency era, I think you'll enjoy this book.

[Em · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not particularly helpful. I was looking for more period sources and more Christmas centric. The Christmas specific is mostly sourced to blog posts and online articles, most of which aren't sourced at all - so not particularly trustworth - and none of it is sourced in the text (there's just a generic bibliography at the end). Some of the recipe books sourced from are from the mid 1700s while another book is from the mid 1800s, and many of the recipes are not Christmas specific. I would have really liked a sample menu, for example. It's an OK compendium of website resources but most of them are top hits on Google anyway.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this audiobook up because it was short and about Christmas traditions. I really appreciated the detail it went into, such as the dates when things were typically done as well as how not all Christmas traditions will be followed in every home. It focused on food, decorations and entertainment, which I found, especially the games played, as something I didn't know. This isn't focused on Jane Austen as much, more as the regency period as a whole. I also really appreciated the recipes and the history behind everything.

I wish it had been a little longer and went into even more detail but I really liked listening to this.

4 stars!

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this little volume of seasonal Regency history. While it does focus more on the upper classes and gentry, there is some discussion about what traditions were observed by everyone regardless of economic status. I appreciated that the author kept the sections succinct yet detailed and didn't try to make the book longer just because. (I feel that is sometimes an issue with non-fiction books.) I also love that the author includes her bibliography (list of sources) at the end which I can reference when wanting to find out more. Overall, I think this book is worth a read if you enjoy the Regency time period.

[Wendy DeWachter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, especially the recipes and decorating. I found the parlor games, described in detail, sad. Only because modern adults would not ever participate, even with too much punch. Many of the games will be recognized from children's birthday parties. I cannot believe how much alcohol was consumed and in how many ways, even for children. However, the recipes are great, I plan to use some next Christmas and incorporate some of the decorating too. The descriptions and stories of Christmas and New Years parties are wonderful.

[Cristina Huelsz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Maria Grace is a great researcher about history, culture, food and traditions.
This is her first book I have in physical and it was great to read it around Christmas and to learn so much about it.
Definitely I will look at some of the recipies for this year.
Without a doubt her website randombitsoffascination.com has so much to learn and enjoy, as it is her novels.

[Ketti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting short book about Christmas traditions. It was fun to hear about how many of our Christmas traditions came about. I don’t think I will remember a wit of it, but it was fun to hear about. It really didn’t have a much to say about Jane Austen. Perhaps Jane Austen had a Christmas tree, but not likely? Have Jane Austen in the title was defiantly a hook.

[Sydney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. It's short and concise, though there's not too much on actual Christmas traditions, and a lot of recipes (that I admittedly skimmed through). I did like learning about regency-era etiquette and about all the balls and parties they would host. I read a lot of books with a regency setting so I liked having a little bit of historical background for those stories.☺

[María Eugenia · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5. Lo había empezado varias veces, pero por fin lo acabé este año. Tiene cosas interesantes sobre cómo se celebraba la Navidad en la regencia (tradiciones, canciones, juegos, comida, etc.) pero las recetas del final están sin adaptar (son los textos tal cual se publicaron en el s. XIX) y sin fotos y se hacen un poco pesadas.

[Kate Zielinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short and quick read, you are immediately transported to the early 19th century filled with balls, minced pie and horse-drawn carriages! I love a good Jane Austen-era read especially at Christmastime. Even the old-fashioned recipes towards the end were delightful to read!

[Tiffany Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good little primer on Regency celebrations; light on Austen - and not a ton of content altogether. Still, it would be a nice addition to seasonal reading. Also, I listened on audio, but would have preferred a hard copy, particularly since the Las tquarter was all recipes.

[Esmare · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting book to listen to for the sake of curiousity or interest in the historical side, but I think it would be more useful as an ebook or paperback that you can refer back to easier if you want to play the games or attempt the recipes.