By the time of the Victorian age Christmas was not really an established holiday. There was no Santa Claus, no identifiable iconography, no stocking hung by the chimney with care. The Victorians were trying to figure it all out. It was Queen Victoria (1819-1901) herself whose own celebration of Christmas gave the fledgling holiday a serious boost in England. Illustrated, mass-produced Christmas cards caught on with the British people during Victoria’s reign. Card makers of the era drew from Christian as well as pagan images, and also general interests of the era, such as science, art, or religion. Does that really explain sled riding chickens, murdering frogs and anthropomorphic oysters though?
