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15

INTRODUCTION

A

t Downton Abbey, Christmas 1919

begins in the early-morning hours with

a commotion deep in the woods ending

the night silence. A large, dew-shrouded fir is cut

from its roots,bound onto the back of a lorry, and

then transported quickly along a tire-rutted, tree-

lined path. Before any family members are awake,

Thomas coordinates the tree’s swift unloading for

setup in the great hall. Meanwhile, the fires are

lit across the house, maids on their knees, their

hands covered in soot from the coals. Light floods

into the rooms as heavy, dark drapes are drawn

one after the other. Downstairs, Mrs. Patmore

and Daisy have already finished the food for the

family’s breakfast, and Daisy has gone upstairs for

her other duties.

On her way down, Daisy passes the great

hall, her arms heavily laden with cleaner and a

bucket of coals. She is stopped in her steps by

the sheer brilliance of the grand tree and takes

in the spectacle, amazed. Whereas before the

tree was bare, it is now shimmering with silver

tinsel and sparkling garlands. Edith, watched by

her sister Mary, is hanging a lovely ornament on

a branch, while Lord Grantham and Carson are

deep in conversation and gesturing toward the fir.

Mrs. Hughes, who has just criticized Daisy for

dawdling and sent her off downstairs, is now tak-

ing in the majestic tree herself, right in time for

the illumination of the new electric lights strung

among its branches. Not surprisingly, such bright

lights are not welcomed by everyone.The candles

of the past, which cast the tree in a more delicate

light, are still favored by the Dowager Countess.

It is tradition, she would say, and tradition is what

Christmas is all about.

Some may mistakenly believe that the

Christmas feast we see served later in the day at

Downton is centuries old, but it is actually rooted

in Victorian times. Many of the customs asso-

ciated with Christmas are much older, however,

going back to a time when winter was all about

surviving the darkest, dreariest, coldest, and most

dangerous time of the year.

In ancient Rome, the multiple-day festival

of Saturnalia, held in honor of the agricultural

god Saturn, was celebrated from December 17

through December 23. People decorated their

houses with greenery, sat down to huge feasts,

exchanged gifts, and lit candles. Role reversal was

popular too, with masters dressing like servants

and men like women. This was a phenomenon in

Britain in medieval times as well, when men of

the lower classes could be lords for the day and

the little boys could be bishops. An echo of these

practices is played out in season 2, episode 9,

when we see the servants wearing paper crowns

at Christmas lunch.

Beginning in the late third century, Saturnalia

was immediately followed on December 25 by

the feast of Sol Invictus (the Unconquered Sun),

which marked the gradual return to longer days

after the winter solstice, the darkest day of the

year. In the Northern Hemisphere, the latter