"A general time of indulgence and festivity": Early winter holiday celebrations at the Vancouver National Historic Reserve - Part I: Christmas
Shine GP. 2007. "A general time of indulgence and festivity": Early winter holiday celebrations at the Vancouver National Historic Reserve - Part I: Christmas. Vancouver Columbian
Just as today we celebrate a holiday season, encompassing an array of different holidays and celebrations from late December to early January, so did the early Hudson’s Bay Company employees and families, at area such as Fort Vancouver and the Village now included within the boundaries of the Vancouver National Historic Reserve. At the same time, these nineteenth century celebrations are both very similar to and markedly different from the way we celebrate the holiday season today. With the help of fur trade- era journals, letters, books, and newspapers, we can begin to understand how the season was celebrated in our community during its formative years. Today, special events such as “Christmas at Fort Vancouver”, held this year on December 8 on the grounds of the national historic site, help connect visitors to these integral traditions of the past. This report is about the Christmas celebrations at Vancouver National Historic Reserve.