: Emily Eden’s diary reveals what New Year’s Eve meant for memsahibs in British India #IndiaNEWS In my study of writings by British women in colonial India, I came across a few accounts of New Year’s

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Emily Eden’s diary reveals what New Year’s Eve meant for memsahibs in British India #IndiaNEWS
In my study of writings by British women in colonial India, I came across a few accounts of New Year’s Eve celebrations in the remote outposts of the empire. Usually, the start of a new year would only mean more travels for these anyway itinerant women. But if they were home this time of the year, they would enjoy the festivities with great fanfare. They dearly missed the familiar sight of holly and mistletoe, but cheerily decorated their homes with a mix of plantain trees and roses. They purchased gifts for each other like they would back home, and enjoyed shopping for expensive items brought to them by traveling merchants. Grand celebrationsIn 1831, Fanny Parkes was awed by the merchandise some Arab merchants carried with them: gorgeous selections of pashminas, cashmere gloves, Persian cats, saffron, and illuminated Persian books, which look very fine. Around Christmas, she was delighted by the gifts of fruits and dry fruits given to her by merchants from Kabul. Like most of her peers, she welcomed the new year with proper honours (including punch à la Romaine), with friends and family, with the merrymaking ending only at 4 AM.Parties were a regular feature of life in the heydays of the Raj. The higher the memsahib in...Read more

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