Museum of Childhood, Edinburgh
"Snowballs
and runny noses" is a new exhibition in Edinburgh which reveals
that there is much more than just Christmas and Santa Claus for
children to look forward to in the wintertime as Lorraine Wakefield
has been finding out.
Making snowmen, pelting each other with snowballs, careering at top speed downhill on a sledge and traipsing in wet, cold and with a stinging face and fingers are some of my best memories of a childhood winter and it seems I'm not alone.
A new exhibition at the Museum of Childhood in Edinburgh remembers just such pastimes and compares a child's winter of the past with the present although some things never change - like snowballs and runny noses!
Snow always makes winter a special time for children and this exhibition - like the entire museum - gives a unique viewpoint of Scottish history and traditions through a child's eyes.
Assistant keeper at the museum Carolyn Chinn has put together the exhibition with the help of local youngsters from Leith Walk Primary School as well as memories of older Edinburgh residents to discover how much has changed over the years.
Although Christmas and Hogmanay are the highlights of any winter it is not just the traditions surrounding the most popular festivals which are studied in the exhibition but also more everyday aspects like clothing and games.
"In the past because there was no central heating or double glazing people had outdoor and indoor clothing and that also affected how they spent their evenings, which was usually huddled together by the fireplace," explained Carolyn.
"Nowadays there is a lot more flexibility as we don't have to wear lots of clothes indoors and even outdoors kids tend to just wear fleeces.
"Clothing these days is a lot less restrictive as kids can run around and get dirty and it really has changed how kids deal with the weather."
The advent of winter snow and ice also provides children with endless hours of cheap fun whether they spend it skating, sledging or simply battling it out with snowballs.
"It is a unique time of year as we get snow and ice which provide
a wonderful cheap tool for impromptu games like building snowmen,
sliding on ice and snowball fights," continued Carolyn.
"One of the biggest changes over the years is that families used to be bigger and houses smaller so kids really had to play outside even in wintertime and they relied a lot on physical games, like tig and British Bulldogs, and a lot of these school playground games are still played today.
"Indoor pursuits have changed a lot as today kids have computer games and TV's, which are sedentary and solitary pursuits, while in the past the whole family played board games together or did hobbies and crafts like needle work and stamp collecting, which are not so popular these days."
Of course no exhibition on winter could fail to mention Christmas and the history of Santa Claus is examined from the days when children were delighted to receive an orange and some nuts in their stocking to today when toys and computers are more usual.
However Carolyn's research has shown that Christmas toy fads are not just a product of the commercialised 1990's but can be traced right back to the start of the century.
Another interesting observation is that letting off fireworks on Hogmanay is not just associated with the new millennium as older people who have contributed to the exhibition remember seeing fireworks to mark the beginning of the New Year as far back as the 1950's.
As with all the exhibitions at the Museum of Childhood "Snowballs and runny noses" is aimed very much at children too and visitors can write their letter to Santa, make their very own New Year's Resolutions and Christmas cards.
The temporary exhibition is just a small part of the work of the museum which houses thousands of child related artefacts from as far back as the early 1800's to items dating from the present day.
It was the brainchild of councillor Patrick Murray and opened in 1955 in the Royal Mile, moving to its current site further down the famous street two years later. It was extended in 1986 and occupies two 18th century tenement blocks off the High Street frontage.
Keeper John Heyes explained that the museum attracts one of the highest annual visitor figures in the whole of the capital with some 250,000 people passing through the doors each year both young and old.
According to John the museum tries to capture all aspects of a child's life from toys and playing to schooling and health issues with the emphasis very much on comparing and contrasting the past and present.
One of the most fascinating things about the museum is that no matter how different some things are today many of the games and songs children entertained themselves with in the past still endure today to be passed on to future generations.
"Snowballs and runny noses" runs from 11 November 2000 to 27 January 2001. Admission to the museum is free and opening hours are Monday to Saturday 10am - 5pm.
The Museum of Childhood is run by Edinburgh City Council and more information on it and other City of Edinburgh Museums and Galleries is on the website at http://www.cac.org.uk
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