Lilium Regale: Victorian Christmas Cards and Christmases in New Zealand
STORIES
Archive items can invoke different reactions, depending on people’s perceptions and experiences. In this blog we explore two stories inspired by a Victorian Christmas card – firstly a brief exploration of the use of flowers on Nineteenth Century Christmas cards, then a more personal sharing of Christmas memories.
Victorian Christmas Symbolism
by Interim Archivist Alexandra Sullivan
I must have been good this year as Santa has delivered one of my Christmas wishes early. I have read about Victorian Christmas cards, but had not had the pleasure of seeing one, until now. In November Mary Ann Prior, the granddaughter of Constance Villiers Stuart, kindly donated some extra material from Constance’s archive (known in the archive world as an ‘accrual’) to the Archive of Garden Design. Among these items are three beautiful Christmas cards dating to the 1880s.
CVS/2/5/2/14, Christmas card with a lily design, from Maurice, undated; floral Christmas card sent to Master Patrick from Mrs. Parkes, undated; Christmas card with three carnations and a poem, 1885; Constance Villiers Stuart archive, Archive of Garden Design.
Although taken for granted today, the sending of Christmas cards had only been common for about a decade when these cards were produced (helped by the introduction of the halfpenny postage rate on postcards in 1870). Archive Volunteer Chris Barry shares my enthusiasm for the cards, and the card with a lily motif is particularly special for her, as it evokes memories of her childhood Christmases in New Zealand. A lily might seem like a strange choice for a British Christmas card, but flowers were popular choices for Nineteenth Century cards, partly because of the Victorian passion for floriography and collating scrapbooks of flowers. The fact that the first Christmas cards were often produced by Valentine’s card manufacturers also explains this romantic imagery, as well as the poems which often adorn the front of the cards. In the second part of this blog Chris tells us why the lily is an enduring symbol of Christmas for her.
Lilies, Love them or Loathe Them
by Archive Volunteer Chris Barry
I don’t like lilies, as I usually associate them with funerals and formal flower arrangements, but the species on this Christmas card, the Royal Lily (Lilium regale) is an integral part of my childhood, and Christmases in New Zealand.
CVS/2/5/2/14, Christmas card with a lily design, from Maurice, undated.
In the Southern Hemisphere December is summertime, schools have broken up for the long summer holidays. It’s a time of being outside with a freedom to enjoy what that offers.
My mother was an unenthusiastic gardener but even she grew Christmas Lilies, Lilium regale. So we smelt them outside in the build up to the big day. The smells of a NZ summer Christmas are uniquely distinctive: the fresh fir tree struggling with summer temperatures, and the vase of Christmas lilies filling the house.
Our Christmas Day was very special. I was the youngest of six children, had nieces and nephews from an early age, plus Christmas Day was my mother’s birthday. The pile of presents under the tree was on an industrial level.
Many find the intense perfume of the Regale lily overwhelming. For me it is an instant connection to Christmases past, 12000 miles away, a more innocent time when front doors weren’t locked and life was full of family.
In our own SE London garden I have planted Christmas Lilies close to the house so that my kiwi husband and I can experience anew our childhood Christmas memories.
Lilium regale growing in Chris' garden.