“Doubtless the right way to approach the magic and the mystery of this day is to be seven years old, and to be untroubled with foolish doubts about Santa Claus.”
Those words opened the Christmas editorial published in the Daily 91原创 a century ago. A look back at the 91原创 and the Victoria Times from 1923 show that while the details might be different, many of the stories are quite like the stories being told today.
Then as now, Christmas followed a busy time for shopping. But in those days, shopping was done in local stores, and they stayed open until 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve to accommodate all the last-minute shoppers.
The stores were busy, the 91原创 reported, “until the tired salespeople gave the signal for closing by making ready the dust cloths over the depleted stocks of Christmas merchandise.”
It wasn’t all about shopping, of course. A few days before Christmas, the 91原创 reported on the special musical programs at local churches planned for the Sunday before Christmas as well as Christmas Day.
“There is a wealth of beautiful music in the collected services, and there will doubtless be the usual big congregations to hear the anthems and solos and organ numbers at the various churches,” it said.
When Christmas arrived in Victoria, the Times reported that it was “an old-fashioned English Christmas” that featured “holly and evergreens, blazing Yule logs, star-decked and garlanded Christmas trees laden with seasonable fare.”
Christmas is about giving and making life better for those around us. That is true today, and it was true in 1923.
Several community organizations worked hard, a century ago, to ensure that hampers went to the homes where need was known to exist.
The Salvation Army used a vacant store on Johnson Street as a distribution depot for the relief of homes and families in need. The Salvation Army also provided shelter to 50 homeless men, and Christmas meals for many more.
The Salvation Army and the Friendly Help Society provided groceries and fuel for families that otherwise would have done without.
The Elks and the Rotary Club also helped the community. The Rotarians had a major fund-raising drive in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and the money was used to provide boots, underwear, sweaters and stockings to those in need.
The Times reported that children at the B.C. Protestant Orphanage hung up their stockings on Christmas Eve and woke up at dawn on Christmas Day to investigate their jolly contents.
“Dinner hour saw the steaming turkey with all its festive accompaniments vanish under the raid of healthy young appetites, plum pudding and mince pies, fruit and nuts and candy, all appearing and disappearing in due course,” the newspaper said.
Due to an outbreak of chickenpox, the Children’s Aid Home was in quarantine, so no outsiders were allowed to join the festivities there. The 17 children in the home still found happiness in the well-filled stockings that were given out.
Kris Kringle visited the Army and Navy Veterans and the Great War Veterans to distribute toys to children of members and to war orphans.
Special Christmas events were also held in the Aged Women’s Home and the Old Men’s Home.
It was a green Christmas in Victoria, and we took advantage of our weather with two traditions: Swimming at the Gorge as well as a tournament at the Victoria Golf Club.
At the foot of Johnson Street, we would have seen the final work being done on the new bascule bridge, which was almost ready after three years of construction. It was due to open in January 1924.
In the meantime, a decision needed to be made, because the Crystal Garden was going to a referendum on Saturday, Dec. 29.
Both newspapers argued in favour of the development, which the 91原创 described as “the most attractive feature of beautification ever advanced for the benefit of Victoria.”
The Times noted that the building would cost taxpayers just $200,000 and would trigger an even larger investment by the 91原创 91原创 Railway — which already had given the city better transportation through “palatial steamers,” as well as the Empress Hotel.
It would have been hard to vote against a development that would include the finest saltwater swimming pool in Canada, dancing floors larger than the ballroom in the Empress, indoor gardens, an outdoor botanical garden, and space for picture galleries and exhibits of all kinds.
The voters agreed, giving the Crystal Garden strong support in the referendum.
The Crystal Garden is still here, although its primary purpose has been changed more than once.
The community spirit, so evident in 1923, remains as strong as ever.
We work together, and we help each other.
Then as now, that is the true spirit of Christmas.
