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 con...
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2016
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247416000437 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247416000437 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0032247416000437 2024-09-15T18:31:19+00:00 Christmas at the Poles: emotions, food, and festivities on polar expeditions, 1818–1912 McCorristine, Shane Mocellin, Jane S.P. 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247416000437 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247416000437 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Polar Record volume 52, issue 5, page 562-577 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 journal-article 2016 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247416000437 2024-08-07T04:03:28Z 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. Article in Journal/Newspaper Polar Record Cambridge University Press Polar Record 52 5 562 577 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
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. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
McCorristine, Shane Mocellin, Jane S.P. |
spellingShingle |
McCorristine, Shane Mocellin, Jane S.P. Christmas at the Poles: emotions, food, and festivities on polar expeditions, 1818–1912 |
author_facet |
McCorristine, Shane Mocellin, Jane S.P. |
author_sort |
McCorristine, Shane |
title |
Christmas at the Poles: emotions, food, and festivities on polar expeditions, 1818–1912 |
title_short |
Christmas at the Poles: emotions, food, and festivities on polar expeditions, 1818–1912 |
title_full |
Christmas at the Poles: emotions, food, and festivities on polar expeditions, 1818–1912 |
title_fullStr |
Christmas at the Poles: emotions, food, and festivities on polar expeditions, 1818–1912 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Christmas at the Poles: emotions, food, and festivities on polar expeditions, 1818–1912 |
title_sort |
christmas at the poles: emotions, food, and festivities on polar expeditions, 1818–1912 |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247416000437 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247416000437 |
genre |
Polar Record |
genre_facet |
Polar Record |
op_source |
Polar Record volume 52, issue 5, page 562-577 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247416000437 |
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Polar Record |
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52 |
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5 |
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562 |
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577 |
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1810472951243341824 |