The 25 Strangest days of Christmas Day 17 - The Chains of Christmas

0:00 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to the Strange History Podcast and

0:03 Speaker 1: Day seventeen of our Victorian Christmas countdown the twenty five

0:08 Speaker 1: strangest days of Christmas. Before ribbon, tinsel or glitter existed

0:13 Speaker 1: to haunt carpets for eternity, Victorian families made paper chains,

0:18 Speaker 1: but not like we do now. There was no twenty

0:21 Speaker 1: minutes and we're done. Victorian paper chain nights were multi

0:25 Speaker 1: day affairs. Families would cut paper by candlelight, paste loops

0:29 Speaker 1: together with flower glue, occasionally glue themselves to each other,

0:33 Speaker 1: and absolutely not stop until the entire home looked like

0:37 Speaker 1: a holiday spider web of cheer. In eighteen seventy one,

0:42 Speaker 1: the Harrington family of Surrey created a chain long enough

0:46 Speaker 1: to wrap their entire house twice. The local paper described

0:50 Speaker 1: it as a triumph of festive industry and questionable priority.

0:56 Speaker 1: Victorian's believed effort equals love. Also, emptiness of free time

1:01 Speaker 1: equals decoration intensity.

1:04 Speaker 2: This episode is sponsored by Pascete Safe craft adhesive, now

1:07 Speaker 2: guaranteed not to accidentally bond siblings together. Paste safe keep

1:13 Speaker 2: the crafting lose the crisis.

1:15 Speaker 1: Next, we head to the dining table and bring a

1:18 Speaker 1: pig's head with an apple in its mouth,