Victorian Easter traditions to try

The Easter holidays will be here before you know it, so why not get prepared by trying out some of these Victorian Easter traditions.

Decorate with floral arrangements

These days decorating your home for Easter isn’t everyone’s first priority, but in the Victorian era it was the done thing. Easter is the holiest day in the Christian calendar as it marks Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and during Victoria’s reign, there was a focus on being prudent and pious, so it makes sense that decorating for the holiest day was important. Homes would have been decorated with elaborate floral arrangements featuring lilies, tulips, pansies and lilacs. These arrangements were also used in churches, with lace and beadwork created to cover tables and shelves.

Make hot cross buns

From around January onwards, you’ll find a wide variety of flavoured hot cross buns in the supermarket, but they were incredibly popular in the Victorian era as a post Lent treat, traditionally eaten on Good Friday. A traditional hot cross bun contained raisins, mixed spices and candied peel, with a cross on the top made of almond paste or short crust pastry.

Eat simnel cake

While we’re on the subject of treats, simnel cake is also a traditional celebration cake from the Victorian era. It is a light fruit cake with a marzipan layer in the middle and a marzipan layer on the top that is decorated with balls to represent the disciples. Like many of our traditions, the simnel cake originated in Germany and came to England via the Hanovarian monarchs and Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria.

Painting eggs

Another German tradition that was adopted in England during the Victorian era is the painting of eggs. Children would dye eggs using cranberries, beets, oranges and lemon peel and then would participate in both egg rolling and egg hunts and the winner would receive a prize.

Eat a feast

Easter was a festival after all and the Victorians loved their feast days. Ham or lamb was served as a treat on Easter Sunday – they would also use the eggs from the decorations and hunts so they won’t go to waste.

Debutante balls

As you will have seen from shows like Bridgerton, in the Georgian and Victorian era young ladies from good families had their debut in society by appearing at a Debutante Ball. Easter marks the start of the social season, so the first Debutante Balls of the season usually took place around Easter. These events have rather fallen out of fashion, which is good for the young ladies who now have a bit more freedom over who they choose to marry!

Send Easter cards

Something a little easier to do is the sending of Easter cards – much like Christmas cards, these were bright coloured and featured lambs, bunnies and eggs and seasonal greetings.