Christmas at the Poles: emotions, food, and festivities on polar expeditions, 1818–1912

Abstract

In this article we survey descriptions of Christmas celebrations contained in the diaries and narratives of polar explorers (mostly British) from 1818 to 1912. We find that Christmas was a time almost universally associated with the display of positive emotions, although this was in the context of increased amounts of stress associated with the challenges of over-wintering at high latitudes. Firstly, we argue that Christmas was crucial to the well-being of expedition participants because it opened emotional channels that enabled them to cope with stress. Secondly, we argue that Christmas revealed a play space in which certain types of normally deviant behaviour were welcomed. Thirdly, we argue that Christmas was a major nutritional event for over-wintering crew members, satisfying a need for calories that was rarely met in the everyday rations.

Christmas and New Year “Dietary Titbits” and Perspectives from Chronobiology

“…Anecdotal evidence and opinion about dietary practice in non-primary research are included. Christmas during polar expeditions from 100 years ago was explicitly added as an exclusion criterion because an initial check yielded such studies but they lacked relevance to modern Christmas dietary practices en masse [ 18 ]. Data relevant to our aim were extracted and presented together in a cohesive synthesis.…”

How Jean-Baptiste Charcot came to embrace fear but not anger. Emotions of polar exploration and their communication to the public in the 1900s

“…As Le Myre de Vilers’ speech made clear, the question of the management of the anger and tensions on an expedition reflected on its leader: if it appeared successful, it was to his honour. Expedition leaders employed rather standardised methods to keep morale up, from feasts on birthdays, Christmas and national days to sports competitions during the overwintering (McCorristine & Mocellin, 2016). This focus on managing tensions and anger as a criterion of good leadership was a break with the Hatteras model: in Verne’s book, his hero got angry several times; he also lost almost all his men before reaching the North Pole (Verne, 1867, pp.…”

“…An important exception is Carolyn Strange’s 2012 article showing that cheerfulness was a central aspect of the experience of the participants in the British Antarctic Expedition of 1910-1913 (Strange, 2012). Another is a 2016 article on Christmas at the Poles by Shane McCorristine and Jane Mocellin: they argue convincingly that celebrating Christmas on polar expeditions “simultaneously reminded individuals of their private home lives while enabling them to bond in a group during a time when good fellowship and positive emotions were considered normative” (McCorristine & Mocellin, 2016, p. 564).…”

Nourishing food, clean air and exercise: medical debates over environment and polar hygiene on Robert Falcon Scott’s British National Antarctic expedition, 1901–1904

“…45 At other points, Scott seems to have been more attuned to the psychological role of food in the preservation of expeditionary morale, such as through the use of special and varied foods in mid-winter and Christmas celebrations. 46 While Koettlitz, and Markham were clearly advocates of the physiological and psychological importance of a varied diet, Scott's views appear more ambiguous.…”