December 21, 2011
Outdoors
Surviving
Christmas in the Thirties
by Wayne Thompson
I was born after the Great Depression, so what I write at this time is
based on stories handed down to me from my parents during my youthful
years, as well as from the many others who survived that trying decade.
Black Friday in 1929 came a month earlier than it did this year, and it
wasn’t a big Christmas shopping event.
It was the day of the great stock market crash that stunned Bay and
Wall Streets, and set the stage for the start of the Great Depression
which ensued and lasted through what became known as the Dirty Thirties.
The term "dirty" wasn’t attributed entirely to the actual event, but to
the bad luck that seemed to coincide with it – the persistent drought
that gripped the Prairies.
Other parts of the country were also caught up in the bad weather -
torridly hot summers and cold winters that seemed "never to end."
Christmas seasons during that decade were grim for many.
Factories were being boarded up, with tens of thousands of workers
becoming jobless.
There was no unemployment insurance to lean on in those days – the
unemployed and financially destitute were forced to line up in the
streets to collect what was known as "relief" (the equivalent of social
assistance in today’s terminology).
Even many years after the end of the Depression, the Second World War
and the Korean War, my parents would remind me (with the approach of
the dreaded Christmas exams) of the importance of studying hard and
getting top grades in order to be in a better position to face a
possible replay of that financial meltdown.
The Thirties saw not only factories being shut down. Banks were quick
to foreclose on homes, businesses and farms. In those days, big-box
stores as we know them today did not exist. Eaton’s and Simpson’s were
the primary icons of the time, and if you lived north of the 49th
parallel, Hudson’s Bay Company reigned king of the trade.
Back in those times, life was simple to say the least, even at
Christmas.
Santa would be perched in his big chair on the fifth floor toyland in
Eaton’s downtown Toronto store, and Simpson’s had one of his "helpers"
so kids were told – this would adequately answer to "How come there are
two Santas?"
There was no TV, no Internet, no online shopping, all things we take
for granted today.
A big advantage was that a majority of the Canadian population was
rural based. As such, folks knew one another far better than now, with
personal contact rather than texting.
When a family encountered hard times, others more fortunate were there
to lend a helping hand.
Practically everyone resorted to making old things new, with women
getting behind the sewing machine to make clothing items for Christmas
giving, and the kids appreciated it.
There were always new surprises through new innovative things that
would appear under the tree on Christmas morning.
In spite of the hard times, Christmas in the Thirties was a season
during which to rekindle life in a spirit of hope, peace, joy and love,
as well as generosity – and a time to put aside the images of line-ups
at soup kitchens, idle factories, hostile bankers, drought parched
fields, and thousands of men hopping freight cars.
The Great Depression would end in 1939, just in time for the next life
challenge – the Second Great War.
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