Fezziwig's Ball: a Victorian Christmas party
Mr Fezziwig is the best employer in English fiction, and his Christmas Eve ball is the best party. Here is what Dickens described, and how to throw one in a modern house.
Who was Mr Fezziwig?
He is the merchant Scrooge was apprenticed to as a young man, in Stave Two. On Christmas Eve, he calls the work to a stop, saying "No more work to-night", and has the shutters up. Then he clears the warehouse for a party.
The ball
In comes a fiddler with a music-book, and then the whole house: the housemaid, the cook, the baker, the milkman, and the apprentices. There is cold roast, cold boiled, mince-pies and plenty of beer. The dance everyone remembers is "Sir Roger de Coverley", which old Fezziwig opens with Mrs Fezziwig, with "three or four and twenty pair of partners".
Why it matters in the story
Scrooge watches his younger self at the ball and is moved. Dickens makes the point that Fezziwig spent very little, and made everyone happy. It is the moment the book says a good boss and a kind house are worth more than money.
How to throw one
- Clear the largest room and push the furniture back.
- Put a fiddle or a folk playlist on, and try one country dance.
- Make a simple cold supper: a ham, a cheese, bread, pickles and mince pies.
- Invite everyone: neighbours, colleagues and children.
The print
Fezziwig's Ball is the party in colour: the fiddler, the dancers and the lamps. It suits a dining room or a hallway at Christmas.
Read more: A Christmas Carol quotes.
Questions
- Who is Mr Fezziwig in A Christmas Carol?
- He is the kind merchant Scrooge worked for as a young man, who throws a Christmas Eve ball for everyone in the house.
- What dance is at Fezziwig's ball?
- "Sir Roger de Coverley", a country dance, which Fezziwig opens with his wife.