[Bcma-l] Pioneer Holiday Traditions @ the Delta Museum & Archives Media Release

[bcma-l@museumsassn.bc.ca]

For immediate release

Delta, November 19 2007 Coming events at the Delta Museum and Archives

COMMUNITY PROGRAM—A pioneer Christmas


The Delta Museum and Archives invites the community to join in a pioneer
Christmas on Saturday, December 8 from 1-4 p.m. This drop-in program
includes guided visits of the Museum’s Victorian rooms and pioneer-inspired
Christmas crafts.

The winter season is a time for people of all faiths to celebrate. Different
cultures have adopted traditions to brighten the darkest days of the year
with festivity that celebrate the return of light after the dark days
leading to the winter solstice. We each we find ways to enjoy family and
reflect on what the season means to each of us. For those of us who
celebrate Christmas, we fill the darkest days of the year with joy and cheer
by singing Christmas carols, sending holiday greetings to loved ones, and
decorating a Christmas tree. It may feel like these traditions have been
around forever, but many of today’s most popular holiday traditions date
back to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901).

Delta’s earliest pioneers from Great Britain brought these popular
traditions with them when they settled the delta. Christmas was a special
time for Delta’s pioneers. Preparations would have started well before
Christmas day. Christmas goodies and decorations had to be made from
scratch. Store-bought treats and decorations were rare and expensive. Most
families could not afford to buy these things.

Today, it is difficult to imagine having to chop wood for the stove, milk
the cow, make butter, and collect eggs before we begin mixing dough for a
batch of Christmas cookies. It sounds like a lot of work, but the delights
that emerged from the oven would taste all the sweeter for the anticipation.

Delta’s pioneers also enjoyed decorating the Christmas tree. It was Queen
Victoria’s husband, Albert, who helped make the Christmas tree as popular in
Britain as they where in his native Germany, when he brought one to Windsor
Castle in the 1840's.

Of course, Delta’s pioneers would have had a much different experience
getting and decorating a Christmas tree than most of us do today. Someone
would have had to hitch up the horses before you could head out to the woods
in search of the perfect tree. Before Christmas day arrived, the tree was
brought into the house and decorated with mostly homemade decorations such
as popcorn and cranberry chains, cut out cardboard stars, cookies, sweets,
and maybe even cotton or wool batting to imitate snow on the branches!

Hundreds of Delta’s school children celebrate a pioneer Christmas at the
Museum each year, in November and December. This year, for the second year
in a row, the Museum is inviting the general public to share in this
delightful program reminiscent of the cozy Christmases of the past.

During the program on Saturday December 8 from 1-4 p.m., guests will visit
several of the Museum’s period rooms to hear more about pioneer holiday
traditions. The Ladner’s Landing streetscape on the bottom floor will also
decorated for Christmas. Here visitors will make decorations including
braided wheat dollies and a punched-tin ornament.

The cost for this drop-in program is $4 for children, $12 for a family of 4,
and children under 4 are free.

The Delta Museum and Archives is located at 4858 Delta Street in Ladner
Village. Please call 604-946-9322 for more information.

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