I usually begin my last post of the year with a reference to my method of writing and
the paraphernalia required. This year,
I’m turning back the clock to consider what Jane herself might have written at
this point. She certainly wouldn’t be
mentioning computers, screens, or keyboards!
But, having re-read her collected letters, I feel sure that she would
have written about her plans for the season and the expected enjoyment of
catching up with family and friends that she hadn’t seen for some time.
When I consider her
novels-and there were more than the six that everyone quotes or regularly talks
about-Christmas is mentioned as a greatly anticipated and enjoyable event. But Christmas for her would have been quite
different from the celebrations we take part in. And yet there are some things that are
constant.
A Regency Christmas
began on Christmas Eve and lasted through until Twelfth Night. For Jane, it was a time when ‘everybody unites’¹. In Persuasion, we see Christmas
through the eyes of one of her characters, as Jane describes a large table occupied
at one side by a group of chattering girls, and on the other side, 'dishes, pies and trays of food
where a group of boys are ‘holding high revel’. The picture is ‘completed by a roaring
Christmas fire, which seemed determined to be heard, in spite of all the noise.’ If Jane were here right now, I’d tell her
that I remember similar occasions as a child myself. No matter what the century, some things hardly
change.
In her letters to
family, friends, and her publisher, we get a more personal view. In December 1798, she tells her sister Cassandra
how she ‘enjoyed the hard black frosts of last week,’ and comments on the walks
she took in the clear air. A few days
later, she bemoans the fact that ‘the snow came to nothing.’ In December 1808, she compliments Cassandra on a ‘composition’ she had jointly written with a Mr Deedes, stating that ‘he has great merit as a writer.’ It would
appear that even in the nineteenth century, writers needed other writers’
opinions and support. No change there,
then! A little later in the same letter, she tells Cassandra, ‘Yes, I mean to go to as many balls as possible.’ Whilst going to balls wouldn’t be my personal choice, I
always enjoy meeting up with friends at this time of year for lunch, coffee, or
cake, or even all three. The conversation is the critical
part of those events, too.
Christmas is a time
to reflect and to be generous. Jane’s
letters echo this, irrespective of to whom she was writing. Lastly, this time of year is very much about
children and the fun and happiness that surrounds them. In 1817, then at the age of forty-two, Jane
wrote to her ‘raeD yssaC’ a complete note backwards! I guess Jane never really grew up. It’s only when Christmas comes around that I
realise I have never really grown up either!
Lastly, on this very
auspicious day, and in the words of Jane Austen, I would like to thank all readers
of this blog, readers and reviewers of my books from the bottom of ‘a heart
not so tired as the’ left hand ‘belonging to it.’²
Merry Christmas
If you celebrate
Christmas, as I always do, may yours be a happy one. For those that don't celebrate, please accept my best wishes
for the final weeks of this year and the future that the next year will bring. The blog will return on January 13th.
¹ Emma
² Letter to Cassandra 1808
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