From witches' orbs to mummering masks, see the Christmas artifacts in the vault at The Rooms
The vault at The Rooms contains rarely seen objects from holiday seasons past
Deep in the vaults at The Rooms in St. John's are dozens of artifacts telling the stories of holidays past, from religious traditions and superstitions, to toys and ornaments.
Curator Maureen Peters is fascinated by the artifacts, and earlier this month organized a members-only holiday-themed tour of the vault at the cultural complex in downtown St. John's.
"For me, it just brings up a lot of memories of growing up here in Newfoundland and Labrador, and seeing things that spark memories from my own childhood," she said in an interview with The St. John's Morning Show.
For Peters, the nostalgia comes from 1970s and 80s ornaments and toys in the museum's collection, many of them handmade examples of Newfoundland ornament-making.
"They're the kind of thing that you kind of think about when you think about Newfoundland Christmases and going to your church fair or going to a community craft sale," she said.
Peters, whose background is in textiles, included winter clothes in the tour as well. Historians at The Rooms are able to determine when some objects were made by looking at the materials they were made with.
The Rooms has many artifacts from the First World War, including a brass Christmas tin that Princess Mary to every soldier who fought in the British forces. The tins contained spices, cookies, candy and tobacco.
The vault also contains several artifacts related to mummering, a quintessential part of a Newfoundland and Labrador Christmas.
Those artifacts include hobby horses and masks, one of which was made to resemble a large goat.
Last year, The Rooms featured an exhibit about the dark history of mummering. The practice was temporarily outlawed in the 1860s after a group of mummers murdered a man in Bay Roberts.
The vaults also include some objects whose origin — and purpose — isn't entirely clear, and Peters included one of those artifacts on her tour.
Several years ago, the museum acquired a large reflective silver orb from the 1700s, found in a St. John's attic.
"It's very beautiful, very hard to photograph," she said.
Peters said there are two prevailing theories about the object's purpose. The first is that the object is a jumbo-sized Christmas ornament. The other is that it's a "witch's ball," which people would hang in their window to scare away witches.
Peters said the vault tour — which The Rooms offers monthly under a different theme — gives people a chance to see behind the scenes. The museum posts information about each month's tour on its website.
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