Christmas crackers

 

Christmas crackers

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

In my usual galumphing way, I didn’t appreciate that for some people ‘crackers’ would summon visions of small biscuits to be eaten with cheese. It’s yet another example of my rather parochial view of the world. I do remember at lunch many years ago my middle daughter asked if we had any crackers, and I was about to go upstairs to retrieve some, when I realised she was talking about biscuits for cheese.

So, what is a Christmas cracker, and why? Traditionally, it decorates the table on Christmas Day, when the company sits down to eat mounds of food for lunch – turkey, pigs in blankets, sprouts, bread sauce, roast potatoes, with ‘all the trimmings.’

A Christmas cracker is a cardboard tube covered in brightly decorated paper, twisted at each end to stop the contents falling out. Contained within are a paper crown, a motto or joke, a small gift, like a thimble or a tiny notebook, and a cracker or banger. The banger is made from two narrow strips of paper, attached with a slight overlap. The overlap is coated with gunpowder or a thin layer of a friction-sensitive chemical, like silver fulminate. When the cracker is pulled, to break it open, the friction causes a tiny explosion, a snapping bang, which the cardboard tube amplifies.

Each place setting has a Christmas cracker, and the tradition is to pull your cracker with your neighbour or someone opposite. At the same time, your opposite number is supposed to hold out his or her cracker and you both pull together. The person with the largest section of cracker wins the contents.

Hats are donned, jokes are read out and scoffed at, and little gifts are exclaimed over. The hat is worn until the meal is completed, and that can be quite a long time if there is a starter, a main course, pudding, and cheese and biscuits – or crackers!

Some people make their own crackers. As a tradition, it originates in Victorian times, as do so many British practices.

Tom Smith was a London confectioner who sold sugared almonds wrapped in twists of paper. Around 1845 he started including mottos with the almonds.They were frequently bought by young men for young ladies, so the mottos often took the form of love poems. Later, the paper twists became tubes to which Tom Smith added the ‘bang’ to make them more exciting, and almonds were replaced with small gifts. Tissue paper crowns were added by his sons in the early twentieth century, and the love poems were replaced with jokes or riddles.

   In Great Britain, under the provision of the Pyrotechnic Articles (Safety) Regulations 2015 people under the age of eighteen are not allowed to buy fireworks. An exception is made for Christmas crackers, which are classed as fireworks, but it is still illegal to sell them to children under the age of twelve.

Aviation authorities have different rules about Christmas crackers. Some countries, like the USA, ban them outright, while others allow them under certain stringent conditions. Homemade crackers are banned by all airlines.

Straying thoughts

 

Straying thoughts

‘In the spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love,’ runs a line from Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem 'Locksley Hall.'  I might counter that with, ‘In the autumn an old man’s fancy darkly turns to thoughts of death.’ Morbid, no?          

No, not really. Something caught my eye and started me thinking about mourning jewellery. It dates back to the 17^th century but became popular, particularly in England, during the Georgian era (1714-1837) so called after the Hanoverian Kings George I, II, III and IV (not much imagination shown in the naming of kings!) and William IV. William reigned for a relatively short time (1830-1837)

                   Georgian mourning ring, gold with pearls and hair insert

                                     Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Mourning jewellery was created as a way to commemorate the beloved dead and show them respect. It became extremely popular in the 19^th century, when Prince Albert died and was so markedly mourned by his widow, Queen Victoria.

Mourning was subject to complex rules of etiquette, covering how long the mourning period should last, and what apparel and jewellery should be worn. With the Georgian emphasis on ‘Memento Mori,’ (‘remember that you must die’ – so cheerful!) people were encouraged to live their lives as fully and as well as they could.

The symbols they chose to adorn the jewellery often included skulls and hourglasses, reminding the wearers of the transience of life. Weeping willows and urns also featured, the willows with their trailing branches as symbols of grief.  Some jewellery also held miniature portraits of the dear departed and it was quite usual to put a lock of hair in a locket or ring.

The materials used included jet, onyx, enamel, or gold. 

                            Victorian mourning brooch with hair

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Other than lockets, jewellery might take the form of a ring, earrings, a brooch, a bracelet, a pendant or even a tie pin. Sentimentality became evident in Victorian symbols, with angels and clouds becoming more prominent than skulls. Wealthier families would set their jewellery with precious gems. Turquoise indicated ‘thinking of you,’ and children were often commemorated with pearls, because pearls represented tears.

                        Mourning earrings made from metal and human hair

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

 The dress code was very strict, especially for women. Black had to be worn for the first two or three years of deep mourning, complete with black veils, gloves and shoes. This was succeeded by ordinary mourning, with was black dresses without veils, moving onto light mourning of lilac, purple or grey. Queen Victoria went into deep mourning for five years after Albert died, and never really emerged from her grief, wearing sombre colours for the rest of her life.

There is a thriving market in antique mourning jewellery.

Georgian mourning brooch with garnets and pearls containing hair from the deceased. One similar to this has been offered on sale for £995.00. The idea of wearing this fills me with horror.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Modern mourning jewellery is created with ‘cremains,’ the ashes of a cremated body. Although the whole idea makes me feel a little queasy, I understand that it might bring a measure of comfort to the bereaved.  

As a complete contrast, but equally unsettling, to me anyway, is the advent of breast milk jewellery. This trend started around 2007 and became very popular about six years later. There is more information here and here, maybe too much information.