The Festivities in
Colonial America
By: Lindsay Volpe
7C1- ID1
Introduction
During colonial times, holidays and
celebrations were observed throughout
the colonies. They were celebrated
differently depending on where you
lived. I have chosen many holidays and
celebrations to discuss with you. I hope
you find it as interesting as I did.
Weddings
• They took place at a church or at the persons’ home.
• It was a tradition for the Dutch to give a “monkey
spoon” to the newlyweds. The spoon symbolized
festivity. A monkey drinking from a goblet and a
heart appeared on the spoon.
• The night before the wedding, a dance would take
place at the house of the bride.
• The wedding cake usually had a piece of nutmeg
inside it because the people believed that the person
who found it would be the next to get married.
• The Sunday after the wedding was a day to honor
the bride and groom with dancing, singing, and
feasting.
A wedding during colonial times.
Nutmeg found
inside the
wedding cake.
Monkey spoon
Baptisms
• When a baby was born family members
would come together to welcome the new
baby.
• The people celebrated baptisms by having a
party.
• It was a tradition for the Dutch to give the
baby an “apostle spoon” on the day he or
she was christened.
• On the end of the spoon was a saint or
apostle, for who the child was named after.
Apostle Spoon
Baptism during colonial times
Fairs
• Fairs took place once or twice a year during the spring
or fall.
• These events usually lasted between three to ten days.
• The purpose of fairs was for business and for pleasure.
• Farmers would sell their crops and livestock at the
fairs.
• Entertainment consisted of puppets, tightrope walkers,
jugglers, and fiddlers.
• Activities consisted of bowling, boat races, riding the
merry-go-round, playing games, and participating in
contests.
• Tug-o-war was a very popular game at fairs.
Bowling played at the
fairs
The merry-go-round
Candlemas Day
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This event took place on February 2nd.
There are two different reasons the colonists celebrated this holiday:
1. It was a Christian feast day celebrated with candles blessed by
the church.
2. It was an important holiday for the farmers.
If the day of Candlemas was sunny and nice, there would be 40 more
days of winter and the farmers would not have much luck with their
crops.
Medieval people thought that animals that were hibernating woke up
on Candlemas Day to acknowledge the weather.
If a hedgehog saw its shadow on Candlemas Day, it would go back to
hibernating and the people, especially farmers would have to deal with
more cold weather.
Candlemas Day is now known as Groundhog Day and a groundhog is
used instead of a hedgehog.
Hedgehog
Blessing of the candles by
the church
May Day
• Symbolizes the return of flowers after the long days
of Winter.
• This holiday was celebrated in many cultures.
• On May Day, the many colonists that did celebrate
this holiday went “a-maying.” “A-maying” was when
colonists woke up early in the morning to go out to
collect flowers.
• To help celebrate this special day, the colonists
decorated a pole, the maypole, with flowers and
ribbons. Later, they danced and sang around it.
Children dancing around the
Maypole
A painting based on May
Day
Harvest Home
• This holiday took place on the day of the
autumnal equinox.
• The autumnal equinox was a time to relax and
take a break after gathering crops to get ready
for the winter.
• After all the work was done, a feast took place.
• During the feast the people would pick a girl
from the crowd and make her the Queen of the
Harvest. They would then dress her in white and
make her ride on the top of a loaded cart.
A painting based on Harvest
Home
The Queen of Harvest sitting
on a loaded cart.
Christmas
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Captain John Smith and his men celebrated the first Christmas in America
in 1608, in the colony of Virginia.
The colonists celebrated Christmas as a day to praise the birth of the lord
Jesus Christ.
People who lived in Virginia, decorated their houses for Christmas. They
made wreaths with spruce, apples, pine cones and lemons. They also put
holly behind paintings and mirrors as well as cotton balls to act as snow.
An important event celebrated in Virginia for Christmas was carrying out
the Yule log and putting it in the fire place.
The other colonies celebrated Christmas as well.
In the New England colonies the colonists spent their day working on
Christmas. They tried to fight for their freedom to celebrate Christmas but,
they failed.
The middle American colonies also celebrated Christmas.
The Dutch in New Amsterdam started to celebrate Christmas on
Sinterklaas Eve and they didn’t stop until after Christmas day.
A popular dessert that was made on Christmas was called speculaas
cookies. This was a spicy cookie or biscuit.
On Sinterklaas Eve, children would fill their shoes with hay and carrots for
Sinterklaas’ horse, just like today we leave cookies and milk for Santa
Claus.
Pennsylvania also celebrated Christmas. This colony was divided into
three groups: those who ignored Christmas, those who wanted to keep
Christmas as a strict religious holiday and those who wanted to celebrate
the holiday with joy.
Colonists throwing the Yule log into the fire
Speculaas
cookies
Sinterklaas
Conclusion
As you can see the holidays
and celebrations that were
observed during colonial times
were very interesting. Some of
them are still celebrated today
however, some customs have
changed.
INGREDIENTS:
3 cups all-purpose four
1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp baking power
1/8 tsp baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 ¼ cups packed brown sugar
1 egg
½ cup sliced almonds
DIRECTIONS:
1.
In a medium sized bowl, mix the flour with spices, baking powder and salt.
2.
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg.
3.
Stir in the flour mixture, then add almonds. Mix and knead with hands.
4.
Divide the dough into four parts, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours.
5.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
6.
Flatten ¼ of the dough with hands. Cut out cookies with cookie mold.
7.
Transfer cookies onto greased cookie sheets, spacing about 1 inch apart.
8.
Bake cookies for 20 minutes or until light brown on edges.