Christmas in America
Columbus’s 1492 voyage to the New World ended when he ran aground on Christmas Eve, and he and his men were rescued by native peoples. His was, of course, the first of many such expeditions to what would eventually be called the Americas. Later explorers found the inhabitants of these unfamiliar lands engaging in end-of-the-year festivals just as people did back in Europe. Peoples in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska had winter celebrations; a tribe in North Dakota hung gifts on cedar trees.
To understand modern Christmas traditions, however, you need to look toward Europe. The first wave of European settlers to the colonies came from English, Dutch, and Germanic backgrounds. These groups, representing a variety of churches and religious affiliations, organized communities according to the traditions and values of their heritage. Among other religious, cultural, and political differences during the colonial period, was the question of Christmas. In this case, there was scant middle ground: Some were completely for it, some completely opposed.
Outlawing Christmas in America
The celebration of Christmas in early America depended very much on where the settlers had come from in the Old World. Those with traditional English backgrounds tended to recognize the holiday, while the Separatist or Puritan pilgrims brought with them the sentiments of the Protestant Reformation in seventeenth-century England: They believed that the day didn’t necessarily reflect Christ’s true birth date, and they disapproved of the excesses involved in its celebration. Excerpts from the diary of Governor Bradford of Plymouth Colony, for example, give a dismal description of Christmas in 1621, describing only work and the discouragement of celebration.
Festive Fact
Christmas was officially banned in Massachusetts between 1659 and 1681, rolled in together with such frowned-upon activities as gambling. Those who disobeyed the law, and were found celebrating the holiday by feasting or drinking, for example, could be fined five shillings.
Not surprisingly, the traditions of the English grew even more unpopular after the American Revolution. Christmas had a long way to go in the new United States of America.
Christmas Comes Back
The Puritans were not the only group of settlers in early America, however. In Virginia, the Cavaliers (seventeenth-century English royalists) observed Christmas by ringing bells, decorating evergreens, and feasting. Dutch immigrants also arrived in the seventeenth century, along with their Christmas traditions, which included Sinter Klaas. And, of course, settlers from Germany also brought their strong holiday traditions with them.
This steady influx of moderates from overseas brought about the repeal of the anti-Christmas law in 1681, and the first Christmas services were held in Boston Town Hall in 1686. Still, even when it was no longer illegal, Christmas remained a workday in Boston. Although Alabama declared Christmas a legal holiday in 1836, the first state to do so, the same was not done in Boston until 1856, and children there were attending school on Christmas Day until 1870.
Holiday Helper
Hessian troops at Trenton, unwilling to forsake their customary celebrations during the Christmas season of 1776, were taken by surprise by General Washington in one of the turning points of the Revolutionary War. As it happens, Hessians, who came from central Germany, are believed to have been the first to set up a Christmas tree on American soil.
In the nineteenth century, it seemed that wherever Germans settled in America, they brought Christmas cheer. In Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, and elsewhere they kept their love of Christmas alive. In some places they were surrounded by some of the holidays’ staunchest opponents, but they carried on anyway, and gradually gained converts to their merry ways. An infusion of Victorian Christmas spirit that began in the middle of the nineteenth century, coupled with the continued dedication to the holiday by German immigrants and their descendants, brought about the beginning of the Christmas that Americans recognize today.
Another important influence in bringing Christmas to America was author Washington Irving. He introduced St. Nicholas in his 1809 book A History of New York, and followed that up with
The American South led the way in returning Christmas, with Alabama, Louisiana, and Arkansas all declaring the day an official holiday in the 1830s. The federal government didn’t follow until 1870. In 1890, Oklahoma—the last contiguous state or territory that did not officially recognize Christmas as a holiday—also changed its mind. The country was now celebrating from sea to shining sea, gradually incorporating customs and traditions from all over the world.
Creating an American Christmas
Today, when many people think of Christmas, some of their fondest images come directly from the popularity of the holiday that grew throughout the 1800s and into the 1900s. Clement Moore’s “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (also known as “’Twas the Night Before Christmas”) appeared in 1822, for example, while Francis P. Church’s “Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus” was published in 1897.
Images of Santa Claus were also popping up with regularity, including Thomas Nast’s interpretations in Harper’s magazine from 1863 through the 1890s, and the famous Coca-Cola Santa images between 1930 and 1964. It’s largely from these illustrations that we get our present-day image of Santa as either bearded and cloaked or bearded, red-suited, and jolly.
Star Bright
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is one of the most popular songs of all time. The character was created by Robert L May in 1939 in a free, giveaway poem for Montgomery Ward customers. The story was turned into music and lyrics in 1949 by Johnny Marks and was sung originally by Gene Autry.
Today, the Christmas season in the United States starts unofficially with Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, an event watched by millions of Americans both in person and on television. It began in New York City in 1924, welcoming Santa Claus onto Macy’s balcony, although he’s been ending his parades at Herald Square ever since. Balloons made their appearance in 1927, and continue to become more colorful and elaborate.
More officially, the White House leads the country in celebrating Christmas, with its annual lighting of the National Christmas Tree and the beginning of the Christmas Pageant of Peace in Washington, D.C. Both serve to brighten the nation’s capital and, indeed, the nation.
The overwhelming sentiment of the American Christmas matched its Victorian English counterpart in its emphasis on family, peace, and goodwill. The excesses of medieval times were left behind, replaced instead by a sense of charity toward those less fortunate and a coming together of family and friends. Today, it can be argued that the American celebration of Christmas that grew gradually stronger through the nineteenth century has done much to influence celebrations around the world.
