Factoid 2

Greetings! Your eagle eye, intrepid spirit, and trusty smartphone have led you to some bonus information this holiday season.

We’ve placed ten QR Codes throughout the site, each one linking to a different holiday-related anecdote.

Now you can thrill your friends and family with amazing factoids of how of Christmas and New Year's Day were celebrated at Fort Vancouver in the past!

Factoid 2

The winter holiday season began in earnest several days before Christmas. In anticipation of the holiday, the HBC would give its employees a regale or special treat of additional food and drink.

In 1845, this consisted of “rum and eatables” while a year later it was three quarts of flour, one quart of molasses, three and a half pounds pork, and one pound grease -- “but no Rum,” lamented Thomas Lowe, an HBC clerk. These regales would be key factors in the revelry to follow.

Source: Gregory P. Shine, “A General Time of Indulgence and Festivity”: Early Winter Holiday Celebrations at the Vancouver National Historic Reserve.