Christmas was the season for Jane Austen

Christmas for Jane Austen, who would have celebrated her 244th birthday on Monday, December 16, would have been a time of parties, balls and lively plays.

Having been born in Steventon, it is widely known that she attended gatherings at the Basingstoke Assembly Rooms in Market Place and two years ago, on the 200th anniversary of her death, a life-size bronze statue of her likeness was unveiled outside the Willis Museum to celebrate her legacy.

The statue is now at the centre of the Top of the Town’s Christmas celebrations and the perfect spot to have the “friendly meetings’ that Jane writes of in her novels, as the Willis Museum, which is operated by Hampshire Cultural Trust, is the focal point of Basingstoke Together’s festive light projection.

In Pride and Prejudice Austen wrote “I sincerely hope your Christmas…may abound in the gaieties which the season generally brings”.

In Austen’s time, the festive season lasted from December 6 to January 6 but there was no Santa or stockings and Christmas trees and cards did not become widespread until the Victorian era. Homes, including the Steventon Rectory where Jane spent her childhood, would instead have been decorated with evergreen boughs such as holly with berries, ivy and laurel.

While at Steventon Rectory, Austen wrote drafts for Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, inspired Hampshire’s stunning countryside and her experiences in Basingstoke. Unfortunately, nothing remains of the building, however the church of St Nicholas, where Jane’s father was rector, still stands today.

The church would have been a big part of Jane’s Christmas celebrations.

On Christmas Day people went to church before returning to a celebratory dinner of turkey or goose and Christmas pudding.

The day after, families like the Austen’s, would have given to charity before presenting their staff with Christmas Boxes – hence why today this day is known as Boxing Day.