Tea party

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A tea party can be a formal, ritualized gathering (traditionally of women) for afternoon tea, although men may be invited to participate. Tea time according to English tradition occurs around 4 P.M. and is of two types: high tea and low tea. In spite of its name, "high" tea is an informal family meal where savory food is usually served, similar to an American left-overs supper. Low tea is more formal, its name perhaps derived from the low drawing room tea tables on which it was sometimes served. In England as in America, the latter ritual has almost disappeared outside of tourist hotels and specialty tea rooms.

Formal tea parties are often characterized by the use of prestige utensils, such as bone china or silver. The table, whatever its size or cost, is made to look its prettiest, with cloth napkins and matching cups and plates. In addition to tea, larger parties may provide punch, or in cold weather, hot chocolate. The tea is accompanied by a variety of easily managed foods: thin sandwiches, such as cucumber or tomato, cake slices, buns or rolls, and cookies are all common.

The tea party was a feature of great houses in the Victorian and Edwardian ages in the United Kingdom and the Gilded Age in the United States. Although modern life no longer allows for the stay-at-home wives and servants who originated the form and practiced it on a regular basis, the formal tea party still survives as a special event, as in the debutante teas of some affluent American communities. Its most familiar and widely known modern equivalent is probably the fancy baby shower.

In the older version, servants stay outside of the room until needed. Writing in 1922, Emily Post asserted that servants were never to enter the room unless rung for, to bring in fresh water and dishes or to remove used dishes. This was partly due to the rigidity of social convention at the time, but it also reflected the intimate nature of the afternoon tea. Proving the truth of eighteenth-century author Henry Fielding's quip that "love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea," the custom of banning servants from the drawing room during tea shows the hostess' desire to encourage free conversation among her guests. Many of the formalites of that age have disappeared, particularly since World War II, when economic changes made household servants a rarity, but afternoon tea can still provide a good opportunity for intimate conversation. (For an illustration of a traditonal tea, you may see the tea party scene in the movie The French Lieutenant's Woman.)