A VICTORIAN EASTER
Before Victoria ascended to the throne in 1837, Easter had been a rather pious and austere occasion, with great emphasis on Lent and fasting.
In celebration of the new young queen, the Victorian Easter became a time for fairs, bonnet parades, bunnies, bonhomie and lavish celebration.
Victorians loved corresponding by mail, and during the latter half of the 19th century, publishers began designing writing stationery with festive images, and Easter greetings.
They could be bought quite cheaply, but many preferred to make their own Victorian Easter cards, with spiritual images such as lambs and crosses or bunnies and eggs on brightly colored paper.
Easter was always the holiest day of the Christian calendar marking, as it does, Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead.
There was standing room only in most churches, which would have been decorated with beautiful pride of place floral arrangements featuring lilies, tulips, pansies and lilacs.
Homes were decorated with elaborate floral arrangements, this time featuring simple flowers and blossom cut from the woodlands, meadows and hedgerows.
Women also created lace and beadwork in flower designs to cover tables and shelves.
The Easter bunny seems to have been imported to Britain from the United States, by way of Atlantic-hopping German and Dutch Lutherans.
The Victorian Easter bunny distributed coloured eggs to well behaved children much as Santa Claus does with his gifts at Christmas.
With it being a spring festival, the Easter Bunny didn’t come down the chimney but left his treats hidden in the gardens of Victorian homes, and here was born the Easter Egg hunt.
The hot cross bun became a Victorian Easter treat – though today you can buy them all year round.
They don’t have to be eaten hot but they should be cut and spread with butter.
The hot cross bun contains raisins, mixed spices, candied peel and have a cross on top made of almond paste or shortcrust pastry. They were regarded as a post-Lent treat and traditionally eaten on Good Friday.
Children would dye hens’ eggs using cranberries, beets, oranges, and lemon peel.
Just like the Christmas tree, Easter egg hunts and the egg roll was introduced by Germans to England during the 1800s.
Children would participate in both egg rolling and egg hunts, and the winner would receive a special prize.
Some Victorian egg hunts included cardboard eggs lined with fabric and containing candy.
Cadbury began distributing solid chocolate eggs in 1842.
Today more than 80 million boxed chocolate shell eggs are sold at Easter, not to mention all the Creme Eggs and Mini Eggs that are consumed.
Easter was a festival after all, and the Victorians loved their feast days.
Ham or lamb was served as a treat on Easter Sunday and it was paired with local vegetable dishes.
In order to not waste the eggs from the egg hunts, a variety of egg dishes were also introduced to these meals.
