christmas spirit

• christmas wasn't always the major holiday it is today as it was marked with 12 days of parties and feasts in medieval times before these celebrations were banned by the puritan government of the 1640s, which believed that they were a sinful distraction from its religious message
• by the early 1800s, christmas was considered old-fashioned and marked with little more than a sombre church service
• however, in the victorian era there was a revival of interest in old christmas traditions such as the singing of carols and the decorating of trees
• it's thought that this was partly inspired by queen victoria's husband, prince albert, who brought many christmas traditions from his native germany to england
• dickens played a major part in this revival and wanted to bring back the traditional idea of christmas as a season of goodwill and cheer
• dickens saw christmas as a way to brighten up a country which had been made dark and gloomy by the industrial revolution
• in dickens' view, christmas was a time not just for remembering the birth of jesus but for following his example
• he saw generosity, charity and helping the less fortunate as christian values and believed that christmas time was the perfect opportunity to live by these values