Biscuits, panto, and a partridge in a pear tree.

If you follow us on social media, you will have seen our 6 days of festive objects series this December where we've been shining a light on festive items from the Kirklees collection.

We wanted to look at three of these objects in more detail and dive into some Christmas traditions.

A pantomime poster for Jack and the Beanstalk at the Dewsbury Empire, 1953/4

The pantomime we know and love today comes from the 16th century Italian 'commedia dell'arte' with its recognisable stock characters and moments of slapstick comedy. By the 18th century these characters began to appear on stages in London. This was blended with elements of Elizabethan courtly entertainment called 'masque' and 400 years later we have Jane Macdonald playing Maid Marion at the London Palladium. Nowadays theatres all over the country put on sparkling pantomime retellings of famous folk stories throughout December and into the new year.

Our pantomime poster is from the 1953/4 season at the Dewsbury Empire. The Empire opened in 1909 with the 2,000-seat venue spread over three levels (the stalls and two balconies).

The theatre was taken over by Richard Stevenson in the 1940s who turned the Empire into a pantomime powerhouse and the venue was often sold out from December to March. Stephenson had successful productions throughout the 1950s at the Theatre Royal, Leicester, and His Majesty's Theatre, Barrow in Furness. As the poster states this was his 6th annual pantomime.

Phyllis Holden played the titular Jack, continuing the pantomime tradition of subverting gender. Men have been playing female roles for as long as theatre has existed as women were banned from the stage until the Restoration in 1660. However, during the Victorian era women began to play the male leads as the rules of theatre meant that they could wear tights and breeches to play Aladdin, Robinson Crusoe, or Jack, and still receive rapturous applause. The risqué nature of women with their legs uncovered brought audiences flocking and even now there is an expectation from audiences of these role reversals. But pantomime merely plays to the trends of the day so who know what we can expect to see in years to come.

Sadly, the Empire closed only a year after Jack and the Beanstalk, in 1955. This was due in part to rising costs and the lack of relief from the entertainment tax. The tax was introduced in 1916 to help the war fund but continued long after the war had ended. The proportion of tax levied on seats could be very high, sometimes as much as the tickets themselves! There had been protests by the industry from the beginning and while the tax was finally abolished in 1960 for many this came too late. Many theatres had already closed their doors. The Empire closed in 1955 and was demolished in the early 1960s where an office block known as Empire House now sits on the site.

Huntley & Palmers biscuit tin

Over the festive period we all like to indulge a little and buy treats that we might usually deny ourselves. Special tins of biscuits, sweets, and miscellaneous goodies all contribute to that air of luxury at Christmas that makes it so magical.

This Huntley & Palmers biscuit tin from our collection is an important part of the Christmas confectionary story. Huntley & Palmers were one of the very first 'global brands' and in 1900 were the world's largest biscuit manufacturer. Their decorative tins were individual works of art and even came in fun novelty shapes like furniture and handbags. Their branding represented a certain expectation of standard and were a household name the country over.

The growing textile industry meant that the 19th century was a time of prosperity for Huddersfield, and you can imagine these tins being sold in the new department stores and bustling shopping arcades in the centre of town.

Each year Hartley & Palmers would release their coveted Christmas catalogue showcasing their special designs. Our tin depicts a festive scene on each side of the box. A snowball fight, a father returning home with a gift, a girl feeding the birds, and a family decorating a tree.

Today companies continue this tradition with special Christmas themed tins being produced for the festive period. Now brands make tins that light up or play music or even spin round (I'm looking at you M&S) and it remains as much about the tin as a decorative item as the food inside.

(Fancy tins also forgo the need to wrap them making them an easy last-minute gift for that person you forgot).

And a partridge in a pear tree.

The song 'the 12 days of Christmas' was originally written as a rhyme without music. It is thought to have originated in France but one of the first printed English version appears in Mirth without mischief (1780). It was likely a children's memory game where each line is harder to remember than the last.

Many composers have taken the rhyme and created their own melody, but the musical version we know best today is taken from an arrangement by Frederic Austin in 1909.

There have been changes to the lyrics since the song's first appearance. One of which is Austin's change of the original four colly birds to four calling birds (colly meaning blackened).

The partridge in a pear tree line has also caused some confusion. Some have speculated that 'pear-tree' is a misinterpretation of the French word for partridge (perdrix). Other versions use 'part of a juniper tree' as the first gift however this is likely a mishearing of the original partridge line. To confuse matters even more different countries have adopted their own versions. The French have seven windmills, and the Swedish have four pounds of pork! Either way, no one needs 23 birds flying around on Christmas day.

Our grey partridge is an illustration by Seth Lister Mosley (1847-1929), Tolson Museum's first curator. Mosley was a naturalist, taxidermist, and painter, and had a fascination with British flora and fauna. Grey partridges are found in grasslands in the UK and are ground birds (so unlikely to be found in any pear trees) with distinctive red faces and patches on their bellies.

View a 3D scan of a red-legged partridge , also from our collection. Red-legged partridges are mainly found in France (perhaps the original inspiration for the song) but were introduced to the UK from continental Europe. They are recognisable from their large white chin and throat patch, bordered with black.

You can explore our Sketchfab page to see more items from our collection in 3D.

Conclusion

Christmas is about people and traditions, their quirks and intricacies. Whether it is heading out to the panto, buying yourself a fancy box of treats, or the singing of seemingly nonsensical songs, I think deep down we all love to play into these whimsical customs. The festive period brings a strong sense of nostalgia and connects us, in a way, with Christmases from years gone by. Who knows what traditions we will still be celebrating in another hundred years, but I hope it still involves chocolates.

You can head to our instagram and other social media to learn about all six objects or read another of our blog posts to learn more about what Kirklees Museums and Galleries have been up to this year.