Regency Christmas Traditions: Parlor Games

Article by Maria Grace. She has one husband, two graduate degrees and two black belts, three sons, four undergraduate majors, five nieces, six cats, seven Regency-era fiction projects,  notes for eight more writing projects, cooks for nine in order to accommodate the growing boys, and usually makes ten meals at a time so she only has to cook twice a month.

Christmastide and the release of my new book are both coming soon upon us. To celebrate both, I am beginning a series on Regency Christmas traditions, possibly with a few of my family’s thrown in for good measure.

Regency Parlor Games pt. 1

Christmastide was a time for fun and frivolity. Parlor games made up a large part of the fun.

They were played by all classes of society and often involved overstepping the strict bound of propriety. Losers often paid a forfeit, which could be an elaborate penalty or dare, but more often were a thinly disguised machination for getting a kiss. Often, forfeits were accumulated all evening, until he hostess would ‘cry the forfeits’ and they would all be redeemed.

Here are a few of the games that might have been played during Christmas parties of the Regency.

Blind Man’s Bluff and variations there of

Many variations of this game existed, including Hot Cockles, Are you there Moriarty, and Buffy Gruffy. All the variations include one player being blindfolded and trying to guess the identity of another player who had tapped them or who they have caught. A great deal of cheating was generally involved, which only added to the sport.

Click here to read the rest of the article at Maria’s blog, Random Bits of Fascination.