Mary Jo Putney

Mary Jo Putney

Patricia Rice

Patricia Rice

Susan Fraser King

Susan Fraser King

Anne Gracie

Anne Gracie

Nicola Cornick

Nicola Cornick

Andrea Penrose

Andrea Penrose

Christina Courtenay

Christina Courtenay

Christmas Fun and Games!

by

AshmoleanA couple of weeks ago I went to the Ashmolean Museum Christmas Party in Oxford. The Ashmolean is one of the most famous museums in the UK and one of my absolute favourite places. It was there that I first saw the 17th century engraved Bohemian glass that gave me a key idea for my book House of Shadows. I also set one of the scenes in the book there, so it was wonderful to revisit and celebrate with canapés and champagne, followed by carols in the sculpture gallery.

After the speeches and buffet we were divided into groups and given a short lecture by one of the Snakes board curators on an item in the museum that had a connection to Christmas. In our case it was the snakes and ladders board in the oriental gallery. Snakes and ladders is of course a traditional Christmas game that has been played for hundreds of years. I’m told that in the US it’s called Chutes and Ladders, apparently because when it was launched in the 1940s, children didn’t like the snakes. The object of the game is to navigate one's game piece, according to the roll of the dice, from the start (bottom square) to the finish (top square), helped or hindered by ladders and snakes respectively and it is based on pure luck.

However, the game in the Ashmolean was quite different. It is an 18th century version of the game as a morality tale. Based on the idea of karma, it teaches the players all about their spiritual path to enlightenment. The snakes have names like “greed” “envy” and “pride” and represent the pitfalls for man as he or she struggles upward towards heaven. This particular board is painted on British watermarked paper and was made for a British patron in the East India Company. The instructions on the board are written in Persian and English. It’s a beautiful and very rare artefact.

Snakes and ladders AshmoleanSnakes and Ladders became popular in England in the 19th century when families returning from colonial India brought it with them. It was the perfect game for reflecting Victorian ideas of morality.  Squares of Fulfilment, Grace and Success were accessible by ladders of Thrift, Penitence and Industry and snakes of Indulgence, Disobedience and Indolence caused one to end up in Illness, Disgrace and Poverty. While the Indian version of the game had snakes outnumbering ladders, the English counterpart was more forgiving as it contained each in the same amount. This concept of equality signifies the cultural ideal that for every sin one commits, there exists another chance at redemption.

In modern versions of the game the idea of morality has faded and it has become a game of chance although it still embodies the idea that for every ladder you hope to climb, there is a snake waiting around the corner! The phrase “back to square one” derives from the game.

Snakes and Ladders was one of my favourite Christmas games as a child and perhaps this association with Christmas has its roots in Old jigsawtoe northern UK because each year there is a snakes and ladders championship held at Christmas in the city of Sheffield. This year we are doing the Christmas jigsaw, another game with a fascinating history. What about you? What are your favourite Christmas games?

95 thoughts on “Christmas Fun and Games!”

  1. Fascinating, Nicola. I too loved snakes and ladders, and I can see how it could fit with a spiritual path. They were big on those in the past, and I wonder if they might be useful guides and warnings today!

    Reply

  2. Fascinating, Nicola. I too loved snakes and ladders, and I can see how it could fit with a spiritual path. They were big on those in the past, and I wonder if they might be useful guides and warnings today!

    Reply

  3. Fascinating, Nicola. I too loved snakes and ladders, and I can see how it could fit with a spiritual path. They were big on those in the past, and I wonder if they might be useful guides and warnings today!

    Reply

  4. Fascinating, Nicola. I too loved snakes and ladders, and I can see how it could fit with a spiritual path. They were big on those in the past, and I wonder if they might be useful guides and warnings today!

    Reply

  5. Fascinating, Nicola. I too loved snakes and ladders, and I can see how it could fit with a spiritual path. They were big on those in the past, and I wonder if they might be useful guides and warnings today!

    Reply

  21. I’d heard of snakes and ladders but never knew how it was played. Fascinating. When my husband’s parents were still living we had a tradition of all working on a jigsaw puzzle after Christmas dinner. Everyone did a little and by evening we had a finished puzzle. My m-i-l had one year’s effort framed and it’s still in the family.

    Reply

  22. I’d heard of snakes and ladders but never knew how it was played. Fascinating. When my husband’s parents were still living we had a tradition of all working on a jigsaw puzzle after Christmas dinner. Everyone did a little and by evening we had a finished puzzle. My m-i-l had one year’s effort framed and it’s still in the family.

    Reply

  23. I’d heard of snakes and ladders but never knew how it was played. Fascinating. When my husband’s parents were still living we had a tradition of all working on a jigsaw puzzle after Christmas dinner. Everyone did a little and by evening we had a finished puzzle. My m-i-l had one year’s effort framed and it’s still in the family.

    Reply

  24. I’d heard of snakes and ladders but never knew how it was played. Fascinating. When my husband’s parents were still living we had a tradition of all working on a jigsaw puzzle after Christmas dinner. Everyone did a little and by evening we had a finished puzzle. My m-i-l had one year’s effort framed and it’s still in the family.

    Reply

  25. I’d heard of snakes and ladders but never knew how it was played. Fascinating. When my husband’s parents were still living we had a tradition of all working on a jigsaw puzzle after Christmas dinner. Everyone did a little and by evening we had a finished puzzle. My m-i-l had one year’s effort framed and it’s still in the family.

    Reply

  26. I love that story about the jigsaw puzzle, Kathy Lynn! You must have been good at it to finish in a day. We have the Christmas jigsaw on the go at the moment and it’s taking a while… Lots of green grass and red leaves on the trees!

    Reply

  27. I love that story about the jigsaw puzzle, Kathy Lynn! You must have been good at it to finish in a day. We have the Christmas jigsaw on the go at the moment and it’s taking a while… Lots of green grass and red leaves on the trees!

    Reply

  28. I love that story about the jigsaw puzzle, Kathy Lynn! You must have been good at it to finish in a day. We have the Christmas jigsaw on the go at the moment and it’s taking a while… Lots of green grass and red leaves on the trees!

    Reply

  29. I love that story about the jigsaw puzzle, Kathy Lynn! You must have been good at it to finish in a day. We have the Christmas jigsaw on the go at the moment and it’s taking a while… Lots of green grass and red leaves on the trees!

    Reply

  30. I love that story about the jigsaw puzzle, Kathy Lynn! You must have been good at it to finish in a day. We have the Christmas jigsaw on the go at the moment and it’s taking a while… Lots of green grass and red leaves on the trees!

    Reply

  31. Delightful, Nicola! The game isn’t a Christmas custom in the US, as least as far as I’ve ever seen, but I did play and enjoy the Chutes and Ladders version a couple of time when I was a kid. I can understand why the snakes weren’t popular, but they would raise the stakes!

    Reply

  32. Delightful, Nicola! The game isn’t a Christmas custom in the US, as least as far as I’ve ever seen, but I did play and enjoy the Chutes and Ladders version a couple of time when I was a kid. I can understand why the snakes weren’t popular, but they would raise the stakes!

    Reply

  33. Delightful, Nicola! The game isn’t a Christmas custom in the US, as least as far as I’ve ever seen, but I did play and enjoy the Chutes and Ladders version a couple of time when I was a kid. I can understand why the snakes weren’t popular, but they would raise the stakes!

    Reply

  34. Delightful, Nicola! The game isn’t a Christmas custom in the US, as least as far as I’ve ever seen, but I did play and enjoy the Chutes and Ladders version a couple of time when I was a kid. I can understand why the snakes weren’t popular, but they would raise the stakes!

    Reply

  35. Delightful, Nicola! The game isn’t a Christmas custom in the US, as least as far as I’ve ever seen, but I did play and enjoy the Chutes and Ladders version a couple of time when I was a kid. I can understand why the snakes weren’t popular, but they would raise the stakes!

    Reply

  46. Snakes and Ladders was played everywhere back when I was growing up, but it’s not something we pull out now!
    Also, growing up, we used to have a family tradition of the jigsaw puzzle, as many others seem to. But that hasn’t happened for a few decades.
    However, on the weekend we returned from a holiday at the Gold Coast in Queensland, and I found an old jigsaw puzzle in a cupboard above our holiday rental fridge. I thought I’d give it a go, and before we knew it, there we all were, aged thirty-something to nearly seventy, all obsessed with finishing it! So much for the beaches! 🙂

    Reply

  47. Snakes and Ladders was played everywhere back when I was growing up, but it’s not something we pull out now!
    Also, growing up, we used to have a family tradition of the jigsaw puzzle, as many others seem to. But that hasn’t happened for a few decades.
    However, on the weekend we returned from a holiday at the Gold Coast in Queensland, and I found an old jigsaw puzzle in a cupboard above our holiday rental fridge. I thought I’d give it a go, and before we knew it, there we all were, aged thirty-something to nearly seventy, all obsessed with finishing it! So much for the beaches! 🙂

    Reply

  48. Snakes and Ladders was played everywhere back when I was growing up, but it’s not something we pull out now!
    Also, growing up, we used to have a family tradition of the jigsaw puzzle, as many others seem to. But that hasn’t happened for a few decades.
    However, on the weekend we returned from a holiday at the Gold Coast in Queensland, and I found an old jigsaw puzzle in a cupboard above our holiday rental fridge. I thought I’d give it a go, and before we knew it, there we all were, aged thirty-something to nearly seventy, all obsessed with finishing it! So much for the beaches! 🙂

    Reply

  49. Snakes and Ladders was played everywhere back when I was growing up, but it’s not something we pull out now!
    Also, growing up, we used to have a family tradition of the jigsaw puzzle, as many others seem to. But that hasn’t happened for a few decades.
    However, on the weekend we returned from a holiday at the Gold Coast in Queensland, and I found an old jigsaw puzzle in a cupboard above our holiday rental fridge. I thought I’d give it a go, and before we knew it, there we all were, aged thirty-something to nearly seventy, all obsessed with finishing it! So much for the beaches! 🙂

    Reply

  50. Snakes and Ladders was played everywhere back when I was growing up, but it’s not something we pull out now!
    Also, growing up, we used to have a family tradition of the jigsaw puzzle, as many others seem to. But that hasn’t happened for a few decades.
    However, on the weekend we returned from a holiday at the Gold Coast in Queensland, and I found an old jigsaw puzzle in a cupboard above our holiday rental fridge. I thought I’d give it a go, and before we knew it, there we all were, aged thirty-something to nearly seventy, all obsessed with finishing it! So much for the beaches! 🙂

    Reply

  66. Lovely blog, Nicola. A jigsaw is a good community activity, isn’t it? Beach cricket is the game I mostly associate with Christmas downunder. That and other beach ball games. We sometimes had a jigsaw puzzle on the go indoors, but since it’s summer here we spent most time outside.
    The morality –Indian and Victorian-era– aspect of Snakes and Ladders is fascinating, and new to me. It’s one of the games we had at home, also Scrabble, Monopoly, Sorry and various others. It’s great to have card and board games available for wet weather in the holidays.

    Reply

  67. Lovely blog, Nicola. A jigsaw is a good community activity, isn’t it? Beach cricket is the game I mostly associate with Christmas downunder. That and other beach ball games. We sometimes had a jigsaw puzzle on the go indoors, but since it’s summer here we spent most time outside.
    The morality –Indian and Victorian-era– aspect of Snakes and Ladders is fascinating, and new to me. It’s one of the games we had at home, also Scrabble, Monopoly, Sorry and various others. It’s great to have card and board games available for wet weather in the holidays.

    Reply

  68. Lovely blog, Nicola. A jigsaw is a good community activity, isn’t it? Beach cricket is the game I mostly associate with Christmas downunder. That and other beach ball games. We sometimes had a jigsaw puzzle on the go indoors, but since it’s summer here we spent most time outside.
    The morality –Indian and Victorian-era– aspect of Snakes and Ladders is fascinating, and new to me. It’s one of the games we had at home, also Scrabble, Monopoly, Sorry and various others. It’s great to have card and board games available for wet weather in the holidays.

    Reply

  69. Lovely blog, Nicola. A jigsaw is a good community activity, isn’t it? Beach cricket is the game I mostly associate with Christmas downunder. That and other beach ball games. We sometimes had a jigsaw puzzle on the go indoors, but since it’s summer here we spent most time outside.
    The morality –Indian and Victorian-era– aspect of Snakes and Ladders is fascinating, and new to me. It’s one of the games we had at home, also Scrabble, Monopoly, Sorry and various others. It’s great to have card and board games available for wet weather in the holidays.

    Reply

  70. Lovely blog, Nicola. A jigsaw is a good community activity, isn’t it? Beach cricket is the game I mostly associate with Christmas downunder. That and other beach ball games. We sometimes had a jigsaw puzzle on the go indoors, but since it’s summer here we spent most time outside.
    The morality –Indian and Victorian-era– aspect of Snakes and Ladders is fascinating, and new to me. It’s one of the games we had at home, also Scrabble, Monopoly, Sorry and various others. It’s great to have card and board games available for wet weather in the holidays.

    Reply

  76. My children and I never had a traditional Christmas game, but we did have a traditional Jigsaw we assembled each Christmas. I still have the remains, although we’ve lost so many pieces in the 50 or 60 years we’ve owned it that it can no longer be assembled!
    It’s a very untraditional jigsaw puzzle, shaped as a circle rather than as a rectangle, it contains quotations from Shakespeare; the quotations often form shapes. For example “Double, Double, Toil and Trouble, Fire Bur and Cauldron Bubble” curls around in a round pot shape with the letters bubbling out from it.
    We looked forward to working this puzzle every year.

    Reply

  77. My children and I never had a traditional Christmas game, but we did have a traditional Jigsaw we assembled each Christmas. I still have the remains, although we’ve lost so many pieces in the 50 or 60 years we’ve owned it that it can no longer be assembled!
    It’s a very untraditional jigsaw puzzle, shaped as a circle rather than as a rectangle, it contains quotations from Shakespeare; the quotations often form shapes. For example “Double, Double, Toil and Trouble, Fire Bur and Cauldron Bubble” curls around in a round pot shape with the letters bubbling out from it.
    We looked forward to working this puzzle every year.

    Reply

  78. My children and I never had a traditional Christmas game, but we did have a traditional Jigsaw we assembled each Christmas. I still have the remains, although we’ve lost so many pieces in the 50 or 60 years we’ve owned it that it can no longer be assembled!
    It’s a very untraditional jigsaw puzzle, shaped as a circle rather than as a rectangle, it contains quotations from Shakespeare; the quotations often form shapes. For example “Double, Double, Toil and Trouble, Fire Bur and Cauldron Bubble” curls around in a round pot shape with the letters bubbling out from it.
    We looked forward to working this puzzle every year.

    Reply

  79. My children and I never had a traditional Christmas game, but we did have a traditional Jigsaw we assembled each Christmas. I still have the remains, although we’ve lost so many pieces in the 50 or 60 years we’ve owned it that it can no longer be assembled!
    It’s a very untraditional jigsaw puzzle, shaped as a circle rather than as a rectangle, it contains quotations from Shakespeare; the quotations often form shapes. For example “Double, Double, Toil and Trouble, Fire Bur and Cauldron Bubble” curls around in a round pot shape with the letters bubbling out from it.
    We looked forward to working this puzzle every year.

    Reply

  80. My children and I never had a traditional Christmas game, but we did have a traditional Jigsaw we assembled each Christmas. I still have the remains, although we’ve lost so many pieces in the 50 or 60 years we’ve owned it that it can no longer be assembled!
    It’s a very untraditional jigsaw puzzle, shaped as a circle rather than as a rectangle, it contains quotations from Shakespeare; the quotations often form shapes. For example “Double, Double, Toil and Trouble, Fire Bur and Cauldron Bubble” curls around in a round pot shape with the letters bubbling out from it.
    We looked forward to working this puzzle every year.

    Reply

  81. I remember playing Chutes and Ladders when I was very young. Our family never had a favorite Christmas game, but if we got a new board game for Christmas, that would be the one we played day and night till we got sick of it.

    Reply

  82. I remember playing Chutes and Ladders when I was very young. Our family never had a favorite Christmas game, but if we got a new board game for Christmas, that would be the one we played day and night till we got sick of it.

    Reply

  83. I remember playing Chutes and Ladders when I was very young. Our family never had a favorite Christmas game, but if we got a new board game for Christmas, that would be the one we played day and night till we got sick of it.

    Reply

  84. I remember playing Chutes and Ladders when I was very young. Our family never had a favorite Christmas game, but if we got a new board game for Christmas, that would be the one we played day and night till we got sick of it.

    Reply

  85. I remember playing Chutes and Ladders when I was very young. Our family never had a favorite Christmas game, but if we got a new board game for Christmas, that would be the one we played day and night till we got sick of it.

    Reply

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