Victorian Christmas Traditions Quiz

the young woman of the house sets to work. She pulls a single mistletoe berry and leaf from the pocket where it has been stowed since her beloved kissed her under the bunch hung from the ceiling. (It was customary for couples kissing under the mistletoe in the 19th century to remove a berry each time a kiss was had. Once the berries were gone, no more kisses.) After locking the door she swallows the berry and works by candlelight to complete the charm. She pricks the initials of ‘him her heart loves best’ into the mistletoe leaf and then stitches it to the inside of her corset near her heart, where it would ‘bind his love to her so long as there it remains’. Though varying in exact details, similar rituals would have been taking place in homes across England on Christmas Eve. The mid-19th century saw a resurgence in popularity of such traditions and divinations. Once seen as witchcraft, magic and superstition, divination rituals such as these were recast as benign and appropriate entertainment for young women and girls. Though folk-wisdom had long been replete with herbalist cures, luck charms and practices to predict such things as the weather, it was predominantly romance rituals – specifically marital soothsaying – that became popular with young women, particularly among the middle and upper classes.