Love Letter
THE LARP
Blitzmas (Christmas 1940)
"Year after year, preparing for Christmas is largely the same: people send cards, attend holiday events and sort out a big, Christmas Day meal.
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Surprisingly, the same was true for Britons 74 years ago, when the country was under heavy fire from German bombs. By December 1940, the U.K. was in the middle of the Blitz, as a series of devastating air raids from German forces destroyed huge sections of British cities, including London, Birmingham and Bristol, and claimed tens of thousands of lives.
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But although the country was under heavy fire, people across Britain did their best to carry on regardless as far as Christmas was concerned — in a wartime festive season that came to be known as “Blitzmas.”
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TIME reported on Dec. 30, 1940, that despite the bombs, “life in the big London air-raid shelters, where over 1,000,000 people regularly spend the night, had become so standardized that many shelter Christmas parties were elaborate communal affairs with mass harmony singing, skits and dancing.”
Other British holiday traditions were observed, although often with an understandable twist. King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth still sent out their annual Christmas card, though it included a photograph of them “standing in front of the bombed portion of Buckingham Palace,” TIME reported.
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The rest of the royal family’s celebration was largely routine, as they were known to keep their holiday simple. Yet the royals were forced to spend the holiday at a location “kept rigidly secret lest Nazi airmen bomb George VI while the King was reading his scheduled Christmas broadcast.”
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Not that the war didn’t interfere with some of the cherished traditions of the British Christmas. Streetside caroling was canceled in London due to the bombings and black-outs, while many families had to make do with “cheap Empire beef or mutton” for Christmas dinner, rather than the traditional, pricey goose and turkey. And for the first time in Britain, shop and heavy industry workers were sent to work to keep up the war effort on Dec. 26 — Boxing Day, as it’s known in the U.K. — even though the day has been a holiday in the country since 1871.
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But Britons were determined to keep Blitzmas as festive as possible, even in the face of danger. London theaters carried on with the tradition of staging family-friendly musical theater productions, known as “Christmas Pantomimes.” As TIME noted in 1940, “This year, more than ever, adult Britons went with their moppets to these children’s entertainments, seemed to evoke Christmas memories of better, bygone times.”"
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(Source: time.com)
“The future will be hard,
but our feet are planted
on the path of victory,
and with the help of God
we shall make our way to justice and to peace.”
King George VI
(Christmas 1940)
"Keep Calm and Carry On!
This could not be more appropriate when describing what became known as ‘Blitzmas’. In December 1940, Hitler’s Luftwaffe was doing its best to wipe British cities off the map. But the British public were having none of it and were determined to have the best possible holiday they could. Time magazine reported that Christmas parties were being held in the larger air-raid shelters, which provided safety for over one million people. Even the London theatres put on the usual Christmas Pantomimes. However, everyone suffered. It was not a normal Christmas by any means.
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Gifts were difficult to come by. However, the Evening Standard reported that the Oxford Street pavements were congested and had a pre-war atmosphere. Luxuries such as silk stockings or French perfume were not to be found, but there was still liqueur chocolates available, and if you were lucky, you might find some figs or Turkish delight. Wine and spirits were plentiful but brandy was rare. The most popular present that Christmas was soap!
It was a ‘recycle’ Christmas. At home, decorations for the most part, were handmade, often by the children. Due to a paper shortage, scraps of paper, old Christmas cards, old newspapers, and brown paper were used to make ornaments and decorations. Presents were often homemade gifts wrapped in brown paper or even small pieces of cloth. Hand knitted items, such as hats and scarves were made by unravelling old jumpers and war bonds were bought and given as gifts, which helped the war effort. Homemade food items, such as chutneys and jams were popular and practical presents, along with items associated with gardening, like wooden dibbers for planting.
[...] The royal family had to spend the holiday at a secret location in case the Nazi airmen attacked while George VI was giving his Christmas broadcast. But as a mark of solidarity with the British public, the royal Christmas card was a picture of the king and queen in the grounds of the bombed Buckingham Palace. Traditional carol singing was cancelled due to the bombing and black-out, festive lights were not to be found on the streets, and many people had to work on the 26th of December, Boxing Day, which was a public holiday.
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Due to rationing and high prices, most could not afford the traditional turkey or goose. Housewives had to use all their ingenuity to find substitutes. Luckily, the Ministry of Food provided lots of information (see recipe below) and even films on the subject. (The Imperial War Museum has many examples of these.) The only concession came in the week before Christmas in 1940; the tea ration was doubled and the sugar allowance increased to 12 ounces.
It can’t have been easy to celebrate a normal Christmas with many families separated by war and loved ones fighting overseas. Even though there was a small respite from the bombing in London on Christmas and Boxing Day, by 29th December, many families were rushing for the safety of air raid shelters once more. The King’s speech on Christmas Day must have been the highlight for many families but in December 1940. the outlook still looked bleak.
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