Victorian Christmas Traditions at Black Creek Pioneer Village

Last year, Garrett and I went to the Black Creek Pioneer Village in Toronto as part of our Advent Activities Calendar. Neither of us had ever been there at Christmastime and we fell in love with all the decorations, traditions and exhibits.

 If you’re ever able to go this time of year, I strongly recommend it! We were able to get a few free tickets this year and thought it’d be a great opportunity to bring our friends Dave and Courtney.

Neither of them had been there since they were kids, so it was nice to show them around. And yes…we made them sit with Santa.

…which meant we had to as well.

The whole village is decorated for the holiday season, with evergreen boughs and wreaths at every corner.

It was a chilly day, but the sun was shining bright. It would have been so lovely to have some snow on the ground too.

Inside the buildings they are decorated for the different European cultures that had immigrated to the area back in the Victorian era – mostly British, Scottish and German.

In the German homes, they had big Christmas trees full of gingerbread cookies, dried flowers, nuts and gifts.

Their decorations are what inspired me with our own Dried Orange Slice Ornaments this year. Maybe next year we’ll dry salt dough shapes or cinnamon ornaments.

 These little cones with dried flowers are a nice touch too.

 The tin stars could be a fun craft, although knowing me, I’d probably cut myself!

 The presentations of the different foods is probably one of my favourite parts of the Christmas displays.

 It’s interesting to see the different dishes they’d made – from fancy flaming puddings to simple mincemeat tarts (which used to actually have meat in it!)

 Some of them I recognized, like cookies and pastries.

While others were harder to figure out – that one on the left is actually a type of fruit cake that is then wrapped in a pastry. I can only imagine how heavy it is!

I learned something new this time about pineapples: they were a sign of wealth and good hospitality. You could preorder a pineapple from the local store to have for the holiday season or you could rent one just for your party, then you’d return it for the shop owner to rent it out to someone else. It really makes you think of how different things are now!

We also learned more about the Scottish New Year’s tradition of Hogmanay. Between Christmas and New Year, you’d work hard to get any tasks you started in that year finished and then clean your house from top to bottom. On December 31st, you open all the doors and windows and get out all the bad luck, then you’d seal everything up tight and wait for your first visitor after midnight on New Years. These “first-footer” (which you hoped would be a tall, dark-haired male) would traditionally bring three gifts for good luck in the New Year: a piece of coal (for warmth), bread (for good food) and preserving salt (for long life). Then the party could begin!

 In the minister’s house, we found one lady making cute little meringues.

 The whole home was full of delicious looking preserves and treats, all made at the village.

She also showed us how this stove from 1865 worked. How did they know if the temperature was right for baking bread or cookies if they didn’t have a thermometer back then like we do now? It turns out that they’d put their hand in the oven and count how long they could stand being in the heat. 5 seconds was good for bread and 8 seconds was good for cookies. Makes me appreciate modern stoves more!

 This brick oven had a separate area for baking bread.

They were roasting chestnuts in the main fire and had samples for everyone to try.

We also got to see the flaming pudding again! They pour brandy on it, then set it on fire. You can just imagine how impressive that would have been in a room dimly lit with candles and lanterns.

They had free samples of the pudding to try, or you could go around back to the kitchen to purchase other traditional Victorian treats.

 Back out in the cold and sunshine, we took a walk around to see all the different decorations on the outside of the buildings.

This little log cabin may have been dark inside, but it was pretty warm and cozy thanks to the fire. It’s hard to believe that this family raised seven kids in a tiny three room log cabin for 16 years before moving to a bigger house.

The last two times we’ve been to Black Creek Pioneer Village, the schoolhouse hasn’t been open, but we got to take a peek inside this time. The second we walked in, the schoolmaster made us all go sit in our seats.

 He was pretty strict about the rules, and more than a few of us got in trouble. It made me glad we didn’t go to school back then.

Throughout the property there are animals everywhere, from sheep and horses to ducks and geese.

 It felt a little like that movie Babe.

On our way out, we caught the gingerbread contest as well. I need to convince my sister to try this one year!

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For more information on Black Creek Pioneer Village, check out their website and facebook, or see my other posts below:

December 2013: An Old Fashioned Christmas at Black Creek Pioneer Village

August 2011: Step Back In Time, Black Creek Pioneer Village