• Early church decided to capitalize on the
preexistence of the pagan Saturnalia in
selecting December 25 as the date for
Christmas.
• "Men dishonour Christ more in the twelve
days of Christmas, than in all the twelve
months besides.“
– English bishop Hugh Latimer, 16th-century
Holiday misrule
• Concerned Puritan fathers of New England
• attempted to thwart the transplantation of
English Christmas to America
• Puritan Parliament outlawed the celebration
in England during the 1640s and 1650s.
• Similar laws held sway in New England long
after restoration of the monarchy in 1660
reestablished Christmas in the mother
country.
•
We have come to claim our right....
And if you don't open up your door,
We'll lay you flat upon the floor.
•
Boston divine Cotton Mather wrote in 1712 that the "Feast of Christ's Nativity is spent in Reveling, Dicing, Carding, Masking, and in all Licentious
Liberty ...by Mad Mirth, by long eating, by hard Drinking, by lewd Gaming, by rude Reveling. . . ." Christmas caroling was condemned, as well, since it
occurred in parallel with these other acts. In Massachusetts, seafaring communities like Nantucket and the town of Marblehead continued
particularly notorious celebrations, despite officials' best efforts to quash Christmas observance throughout the colony.
Historian Stephen Nissenbaum recounts an instance of Christmas keeping in seventeenth-century Massachusetts as an example of a wassailing gone
very bad. On Christmas night of 1679, four young men of the village of Salem entered the house of septuagenarian John Rowden, who was known to
make pear wine, called "perry," from trees in his orchard. The men made themselves at home in front of the fire and began to sing. After a couple of
songs they tried to cajole Rowden and his wife into bringing them some of the new wine. Rowden refused and asked the intruders to leave, to which
they responded that "it was Christmas Day at night and they came to be merry and to drink perry, which was not to be had anywhere else but here,
and perry they would have before they went."
When the visitors promised to return later and pay for the drink, Mrs. Rowden said, "We keep no ordinary to call for pots." By "ordinary" she meant
tavern, and by "pots" she meant alcohol. The four men left, but three returned a quarter-hour later and tried to pass a piece of lead as payment in
coin. The Rowdens and their adopted son, Daniel Poole, got the men out the front door, but they wouldn't leave and called sarcastic taunts from the
street. John Rowden later testified to the violence that broke out next: They threw stones, bones, and other things at Poole in the doorway and
against the house. They beat down much of the daubing in several places and continued to throw stones for an hour and a half with little
intermission. They also broke down about a pole and a half of fence, being stone wall, and a cellar, without the house, distant about four or five rods,
was broken open through the door, and five or six pecks of apples were stolen. No exchange of gifts and goodwill there.
Practices embodying the idea of wassailing continued into the nineteenth century, and other wassail-like drinks, especially eggnog, gained popularity.
•
In the 1820s, American novelist Washington Irving did much to fix an idealized view of old English Christmas, complete with wassailing, in the minds
of his readers. In England, the works of Charles Dickens portrayed continued gatherings around the wassail bowl. In Victorian times, caroling came
into its own, distanced from its context of alcohol consumption and rowdiness.
•
•
Christmas in the New World
Americans brought with them the various European attitudes toward Christmas.
Generally, the members of the Church of England, the Dutch Reformed Church,
Lutherans, and Roman Catholics celebrated the festival. As early as 1607,
Virginians observed Twelfth Night, burned yule logs, sang carols, decorated
churches and houses with evergreens, rang bells, and held feasts (Gulevich 2000).
In contrast, the Puritans, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Quakers strongly opposed
the observance of Christmas. Puritans, for example, viewed Christmas as Popish
and the secular festivals as “wanton Bacchanalian Feasts” (Golby 1986). Following
the example of the Commonwealth, they declared December 25th a day of fasting
and penance, and any who abstained from labor, engaged in feasting, or made any
other acknowledgment of the day would be fined five shillings. Even after the law
was repealed in 1681, the festival was largely ignored in much of New England,
particularly in the cities. After the American Revolution, Christmas festivities also
slowed because there was a tendency to associate the holiday with Toryism and
Loyalism. Christmas remained fragmented and inchoate, often overshadowed by
other holidays. This would all change in nineteenth century when old traditions
were reinterpreted and rewoven to fit the needs of an increasingly urban and
modern society.
•
•
A Victorian Refashioning of Christmas
Charles Dickens' tale was key in reinterpreting Christmas for a changing industrial
society From the mid 1830s on, there was a resurgence of interest in Christmas
from newspapers and periodicals which had previously given little attention to
Christmas. In the face of an increasingly urban and industrial society which
seemed to corrode old-world values, Victorians began to long for a half-imagined
recent Christmas imbued with a medieval ethic. In short, Victorians attempted to
ameliorate their urban anxieties during what they perceived to be an insecure and
ugly present with the glow Old Christmas where all the classes met together to
celebrate Christmas. In this sense, the Victorian Christmas was not so much a
revival as it was a newly invented tradition that reinterpreted various Christmas
pasts to cater to Victorian needs, such as the paradoxical need for conspicuous and
extravagant consumption during expanding retail and leisure activities as well as
their desire to recapture Old Christmas’ emphasis on class equality and hospitality
to the poor, at least for a day.Perhaps the most famous text that demonstrates the
refashioning of Victorian Christmas is Charles Dickens' (A Christmas Carol) and
Washington Irving’s (“Old Christmas”) works which act as a metaphor of human
sympathy associated with childhood and family tenderness in the backdrop of
social unease (Golby 1986).
•
•
•
•
Christmas dinner
Christmas card
Christmas tree
mistletoe
•
It was also the Victorians who made Santa Claus popular.
Modern Santa Claus is based on Bishop Nicholas of Smyrna
(Izmir in modern-day Turkey) who was famous because of his
generosity. Perhaps his most famous story is when he saved
three sisters by filling their stockings with gold coins,
providing them a dowry which allowed them to marry rather
than be sold into slavery or prostitution. Children observed
the day of his death (December 6th) by putting out shoes for
him to fill with candy. Modern Santa Claus evolved from the
Dutch nickname for Saint Nicholas, Sinter Klauss, and draws
from an amalgam of various countries’ rendering of the story.
Santa Claus would be unified and made iconic through the
work of Professor Clement Clark Moore (“Twas the Night
Before Christmas”), Washington Irving (Knickerbocker’s
History of New York), and Thomas Nast who illustrated Santa
Claus a as the large, jovial, white-bearded figure dressed in a
red suit with white fur trimmings (Siefker 1997).
Thomas Nast is credited
with creating the iconic
image of Santa Claus
widely recognized today
Thomas Nast
• More than a mere cartoonist, Nast was an
innovator of icons, popularizing or instituting
many now familiar subjects such as the
Republican elephant, the Democratic donkey,
John Bull, Uncle Sam, and Columbia. Perhaps
his most lasting creation was his
interpretation of Santa Claus, modeled from
Clement Moore’s Visit from Saint Nicholas,
which persists as our present-day image of St.
Nick himself.
"Santa Claus in Camp," Harper's Weekly,
January 3, 1863, cover.
"Merry Old Santa Claus,"
Harper's Weekly, January 1,
1881, p.8-9.
Thomas Nast (American, 1840-1902). Christmas Furlough. Harper's Weekly,
December 26, 1863.
“The Same Old Christmas Story Over Again.” January 4,
1873.
"Santa Claus's Mail."
December 30, 1871
"Christmas-Eve -- Santa Claus
Waiting for the Children to Get
to Sleep." January 3, 1874.
January 1, 1876.
“A Christmas Sketch–‘Five O’Clock in
the Morning.’” January 5, 1878.
"Merry Christmas." January 4,
1879.
Civil War Harper's Weekly,
December 31, 1864
"Hello! Little One." "Hello! Santa Claus.!" December 20, 1884.
“Santa Claus’s Route.”
December 19, 1885.
C.S. Reinhart after Thomas Worth.
"Santa Claus is Coming!" From
Harper's Weekly. December 26, 1874.
The world's first commercially produced
Christmas card, made by Henry Cole in London,
1843.
Louis Prang, a German
lithographer who moved
to the United States in
1850, popularized
greeting cards.
Introducing Christmas
cards to America in 1875
"Bristol" Rods
“desirable for boys, owing to [its] great
strength and durability.”
Youth's Companion 1904
Schwarz's Toy Bazaar
"Santa Claus Buys all his
Toys, Dolls, Games, Etc., of
us."
Youth's Companion 1899
• [N]o other region incorporates all the images
and mythology of an American Christmas so
completely as does Vermont. Being a
Vermonter and cognizant of Vermont
attitudes, I believe this isn't because of an
exceptionally Christmasy outlook. No more
sugar plums dance in our heads than in the
skulls of Hawaiians, for instance. I attribute
the Vermont/Christmas association to hard
luck.
• Vermont became a rich source of Christmas imagery
for artists like Norman Rockwell and made some noise
in Hollywood with the 1954 Bing Crosby and Danny
Kaye film White Christmas, albeit the "Vermont"
scenes were shot on California sound stages (the
station wagon that picks up Crosby and Kaye at the
"Vermont" train depot has black and yellow California
license plates). Television has also mined Vermont
Christmas iconography, favoring it as background for
musical specials featuring performers like Andy
Williams, who sang "Moonlight in Vermont" for one
Christmas effort.
Vermont
• The Christmas card pictures are more and more a
record of a bygone era that exists only in
memory. Perhaps this is fitting, for Christmas is a
holiday of memories. We recall old times and
remember family members who are no longer
here to join in our festivities. It's sad to think of
things lost, but it helps us value those things we
have. We should try to fill the present with
holiday cheer, creating new Christmas images and
memories while heeding the old song's injunction
to "have yourself a merry little Christmas, now."
•
•
•
•
JB And I think you also told me about Christmas, it was sort of the town celebrated Christmas.
FF Well they always used to have a, Christmas time the church, they had a big, Christmas tree inside the church,
and they always used to have a, program and then the people would bring a lot of, for the kids, and that like,
presents and put them on the tree and then we'd go in at night, down to the church, and a, the minister would be
there, and have a sermon, a little sermon, and then they'd, pass out all the gifts for the little kids around and but, I
never had a, Christmas tree when I was to home. We never had a tree to home. We, we got a few presents, some
of them was hand down, mine was from my brothers had out grown. But. That's the way we had Christmas. We
didn't go out like they do today. And I remember my uncle had named me, gave me one year a little sled, the first
real sled I had. And I'm telling you I felt pretty big with that little sled that my uncle gave me for, cause he named
me. And he's the one that give me my bank account. And so.
JB Yeah now, as a kid, did you ever ride a jack jumper or?
FF Oh yes we used to, we had a, a traverse sleds, there would be 5 or 6 boys, kids get onto and ride. And then we
made our own jumper out of a barrel stay. Wooden barrel stay. And, nailed a piece of two by four on it and a little
flat seat on top of that, and we would take that and go up in the field and go down over across the crest and over
the field with, setting on that jumper, sometimes you, you did jump and you fell off and ha, ha! But that's the way
we used to, used to get our own entertainment. And we used to when I went to school, they rolled the roads with
the snow rollers. And the outside of the track, where the track was, the snow would be smooth and that like. So
when I went to school, in the town of Warren, at noon time, Gardner Hayes had a set of traverse sleds, and there's
five of us boys would, go up to what they called Thayer turn, it's on the road to my father's house, and we could
have time for one slide during the noon time we'd go down there and we'd go down through and pass right down
through Warren clear down beyond the lumber mills, at one slide, and we used to go pretty fast but this time in
particular, in January it had a thaw, and then it, froze up, and it was pretty slippery, and we went up there, and we
didn't make the turn down by Gerod Long's, we went through a barb wired fence and ended up in his blackberry
patch. And got scratched up a little but we lived through it. Ha! Ha! Ha!
• And at Christmas time, what I don't know
what is in there now, but across from the, old
post office was Jone's Store, and at Christmas
time he opened the upstairs up which is now
apartment, and we could go up there and do
our Christmas shopping. And two dollars
would go quite a ways.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
JB I also wanted to ask you a, a little bit about the differences or, the samenesses of the Christmas' you both talked about that before, Christmas in
Warren, Christmas in Waitsfield. [33.31] Growing up.
AL We didn't have some of the things they did, we had a, a church Christmas tree, where Sunday school we'd draw names. And then a, oh three or
four days before Christmas, they'd, open the church and the parents would come, we'd have a little program. But at school all we had was drawing of
names, you know, just the parents didn't come. But we'd draw names, and have our exchange I guess, and as I say we had the Christmas shop we
called it, and a, I don't remember not having Christmas tree lights, but they were the old fashioned kind when one went they all went. And a, I can
remember stringing popcorn, to trim the tree with. And a, but I remember we always had, as far as I know we always had the lights. But a, I grew up
with lights, because they had them here in the village. So I was lucky I guess to, so we had our Christmas tree light up but, I guess some of them
probably didn't, you know that lived back but we did and a, but we didn't, I don't think had the good times in the school that they had. [34.44]
JB Is that true?
JL Yeah they had a lot of things going on. Oh maybe twice a month, a month, the schools would have these box socials. The girls would pack a box
and then, the boys and the men used to buy them, and then you could eat what, what the girl had packed for lunch out of a box and take out a little
money to help the school out for different activities. [35.13] But I think the first school I went to there might of been a, 1718 there, and that
consisted of all 8 grades. Now the teachers would think they was kind of abused if they had to teach 8 grades during the day. And in the wintertime
they used to let, cut your noon hour short, a half an hour so you could get home before dark but I think the schools didn't get out of school until four
o'clock then. But in the wintertime they might take an hour off your noon and let you go home three-thirty so you could get home before dark.
[35.54] But I guess that was before the change of time. I'm sure it was.
JB Yeah I thought that one of the people we were going to interview was Alice DeLong, who taught I think in Warren and a, Fayston. What about
Christmas in Warren?
JL Well it was, of course you didn't have any electrical lights for the Christmas trees but, everybody in town they had, they had farms and you'd go
out, maybe you'd spend a whole day, picking out the Christmas tree that you thought was the best one on the property. It was a lot of fun, you'd go
out in the snow and drag it in. And decorate it with what you had. But then you didn't spend a lot of money on Christmas, kids maybe got something
to wear or clothing or boots or something like that for Christmas, and they were happy. Didn't have all these toys and things then, that they gave
away at Christmas. And then the school had Christmas parties too.
JB And wasn't there a, didn't you have Christmas at the church? Do you remember that?
JL No. Of course we was, three miles from the church, anyway and, if they did I don't remember going.