Victorian Christmas Games That Aren't Around Anymore (Thankfully)

MarkinPhx

MarkinPhx

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Quote from this article https://www.atlasobscura.com/articl...ames-will-leave-you-burned-bruised-and-puking :

" [FONT=&quot]Traditionally played on Christmas Eve, players of Snapdragon must find themselves a broad, shallow bowl, and then prepare to risk their health. Into this bowl should be poured two dozen raisins. If raisins are hard to come by, almonds, grapes or plums will suffice. You should then pour a bottle of brandy into the bowl so that the raisins bob up and down like drowning flies. Place the bowl on a sturdy table, turn the lights down low, and then, with appropriate panache, ignite the brandy.
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]To play Snapdragon, arrange your family and friends around the blazing bowl so that their faces are lit in a demonic fashion and then, one by one, take turns plunging your hands into the flames in order to try and grab a raisin. If you can accomplish this, promptly extinguish the flaming raisin by popping it into your mouth and eating it.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]As one contemporary commenter wrote, the game “provided a considerable amount of laughter and merriment at the expense of the unsuccessful competitors.” So popular was it that it was even celebrated in poetry:[/FONT]
“With his blue and lapping tongue
Many of you will be stung,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
For he snaps at all that comes
Snatching at his feast of plums
Snip ! Snap! Dragon!”
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And then there's always "Squeak, Piggy, Squeak", in which a blindfolded person tries to identify other participants on the basis of how they squeal like a pig.

And if things start lagging at the party, there's always "Find The Thimble" (not to be confused with the modern-day version, "Hide the Kielbasa")
 
snapdragon-1887.jpg
 


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