The Colonial Christmastide: Celebrating Christmas in Colonial America

 ~ ~ ~  Read on to learn that,  contrary to popular belief,  many of our colonial ancestors - from New England to the South - truly did indeed celebrate this glorious holiday ...

...and how they celebrated
Oh!  Myths taught as truth can sometimes be so hard to change,  even with primary sources ~ ~ ~ 

A-waiting to celebrate the 

Christmas Tide with her friends

It still amazes me that the arguments continue on of whether or not Colonial America celebrated Christmas.  It is my hope that my research on this subject of colonial Christmas celebrations will be enough to convince my readers that,  though there were a large percent of the population who did not celebrate,  there still were a great many who truly did  celebrate the Christmas tide,  and not just Germans or Catholics.  And not to forget that many others,  at the very least,  acknowledged   the date,  especially in the mid-to-late 18th century.  And they and their observances should not be cast aside.
Unfortunately,  however,  modern day newspapers,  some historians,  and people who believe Facebook memes tend to spread the myth about how the founding generation absolutely  did not  welcome that holiday into their 18th century homes,  and how Christmas  "skipped over"  the 18th century and was all but ignored until Charles Dickens supposedly revitalized it with his  "A Christmas Carol"  book in 1843.  But as I delve deeper into Christmas history,  I continuously find the opposite to be true for a good many of our colonial ancestors,  in more cases than modern historians would lead one to believe.
Now,  what I have here in this posting is only a part of the material I have found as I dug through various writings and especially primary sources  (it's hard to argue against primary sources,  and yet,  people still do),  and some will not open their eyes and welcome the information at hand,  but instead prefer to remain steadfast against what I have found.
It's hard to fight tradition thought,  right?
But...well,  let's switch on the time machine to the colonies of 250 years ago and see for ourselves:

Merry Christmas from 1760 
(Daggett House at Greenfield Village)

Welcome to my home.

Come in for some Christmas cheer. 
How does your father,  old fellow?
(Giddings House)

Every year there are discussions about the colonial celebration of Christmas - not only  how  the colonial Americans observed Christmas,  but  if  they even celebrated at all,  for there are those who,  for some reason,  feel as if the keeping of Christmas didn't begin until the 19th century. 
In 17th and 18th century Colonial America,  the observances of Christmas varied throughout the colonies,  from the Puritans in New England who  *mostly*  did not celebrate Christmas,  to the Southern Anglicans whose revelries most closely match modern Christmas celebrations. 
It is true that Christmas during America's colonial period was not celebrated by everyone - especially in the 1600s and early 1700s.  In fact,  at one point it was actually outlawed in England and then in Massachusetts;  as it is told,  the Puritans in England,  under Oliver Cromwell,  outlawed the celebration of Christmas,  calling it  "Popish"  (Roman Catholic)  and considered the secular celebration a continuation of pagan beliefs: 
as the law stated-----
(anyone)  "found observing,  by abstinence from labor,  feasting,  or any other way,  any such days as Christmas day,  shall pay for every such with offense five shillings." 
In 1659,  the ban became official for the people of Massachusetts; 

Christmas banned?
Say it isn't so!

the General Court banned the celebration of Christmas and other such holidays at the same time it banned gambling and other kinds of  'lawless'  behavior,  grouping all of them together.  The court placed a fine of five shillings on anyone caught feasting,  exchanging gifts or greetings,  or celebrating the holiday in any manner.

"The generality of Christmas-keepers observe that festival after such a manner as is highly dishonourable to the name of Christ.  How few are there comparatively that spend those holidays  (as they are called)  after an holy manner.  But they are consumed in Compotations, in Interludes,  in playing at Cards,  in Revellings,  in excess of Wine,  in mad Mirth ..."

- Reverend Increase Mather,  1687
 

I am very glad,  my Dear,  that we did not choose to live in Massachusetts! 

(Giddings House in Greenfield Village)

Upon hearing of this non-celebratory outlawing of Christmas,  many here in the 21st century typically take it to mean that Christmas was banned throughout the colonies,  that there were no observances whatsoever for the entire colonial period - a mighty long time.

Increase Mather

This is simply not so;  there was plenty of mirth and joy along the East Coast on the 25th of December  (and for weeks beyond)  during the good old colony days,  for there were still those who insisted on celebrating,  as Increase Mather found out.  In his diary of December 18,  1664,  Increase felt it necessary to deliver an anti-Christmas sermon.  The following day he then wrote that three wealthy members of his own church had quite a discussion - an argument,  it seems -  about his previous day’s sermon:  “Discoursed much about Christmas,  I Con,  they Pro.”
The ban was revoked in 1681  by an English-appointed governor,  Sir Edmund Andros,  who also revoked a Puritan ban against festivities on Saturday night.  But, according to THIS site  (a site which seems to perpetuate more myth and half-truths than facts),  after the ban had been lifted,  "Christmas had simply been forgotten,  and wouldn’t catch on again until the mid-19th century."  
I don't think so.
In fact,  that's not really the case at all.  Yes,  it is true that many colonists were not happy and did not approve of the lifting of the twenty year ban and of the celebration of Christmas;  it seems that a large number of New England colonists still abstained from celebrations.  But...in 1711 Boston,  Cotton Mather,  son of Increase,  marked from his pulpit,  "I hear of a number of young people of both sexes,  belonging,  many of them,  to my flock,  who have had on the Christmas-night,  this last week,  a Frolick,  a revelling feast,  and Ball.  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."
(I mean,  seriously - if the ban was working,  why would they have had to continue to preach against its celebration?)
Samuel Sewell,  whose diary of life in Massachusetts Bay Colony was later published,  made a habit of watching the holiday each year—specifically how it was observed.  In 1685  (not long after the ban was lifted)  he wrote,  "Carts came to town and Shops open as is usual.  Some,  somehow,  observe the day;  but are vexed,  I believe,  that the Body of the People profane it,  and,  blessed be God!  no Authority yet to compell them to keep it."

But,  according to Sewell,  "some,  somehow,  observe the day."  
Then there is Virginia's Governor William Byrd,  who's table,  on Christmas Day of 1709,  was covered with such delights as  "turkey and chime,  tongue and udder,  roast apples and wine." 
Even in mid-18th century Boston,  the non-celebrators also  'somehow observed the day.'  For instance,  that most famous of churches,  The Old North Church  (known back in the day as Christ Church),  hung the greens for Christmas.  Christ Church was Episcopal,  a denomination which  "smelt a little to the Congregationalists of idolatry and brimstone,  but even more sweetly  (as other small Puritans remembered)  of Christmas greens.  Christmas was carefully not observed in such churches as the Cockerel  (the church of Paul Revere's parents),  but the Congregational children loved to sneak off to the Episcopal churches at Christmastime and smell the greens."
So,  as you can see,  the myth of Christmas being totally forgotten is not at all true,  and the reveling of the holiday did continue,  and it grew in acceptance,  eventually erasing the ban. 

Bringing in the Yule Log

Now,  before getting into colonial celebrations,  here is a brief early history of Christmas:
Most everyone in our modern times knows that Jesus was not born on December the 25th,  and that His birth more than likely occurred in either the spring or the autumn of the year. 
And this was suspected in the colonial period as well.
But to get to the root of  "the problem,"  we must travel back further in time...like nearly 1500 years before the 18th century,  for a very brief account of how our Christmas celebrations came to be...

In those days,  the date we now call Christmas Day - December 25 - was a celebrated public holiday in the family home.  It was a time for feasting,  goodwill,  generosity to the poor,  the exchange of gifts and the decoration of trees.  But it wasn’t Christmas.  This was Saturnalia,  the pagan Roman winter solstice festival.  Saturnalia originated as a farmer’s festival to mark the end of the autumn planting season in honor of Saturn  (satus means sowing).  

Dice players from a wall painting in Pompeii

The first-century AD poet Gaius Valerius Catullus described Saturnalia as  ‘the best of times’:  dress codes were relaxed,  small gifts such as dolls,  candles,  and caged birds were exchanged.  Saturnalia also saw the inversion of social roles;  the wealthy were expected to pay the month’s rent for those who couldn’t afford it and masters and slaves to swap clothes.  Also,  family households threw dice to determine who would become the temporary Saturnalian monarch.

As far as the date of our modern Christmas,  this may have derived from early ecclesiastical  "number-crunchers"  who figured that the nine months of  Mary’s pregnancy following the Annunciation  (the announcement by the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary of her conception of Christ)  on March 25th would produce a December 25th date for the birth of Christ.

So,  though Christmas more than likely took celebratory ideas from Saturnalia,  it's chosen date might not have had anything to do with that holiday at all.

But Christmas itself as a holiday apparently started – like Saturnalia – in Rome,  and spread to the eastern Mediterranean.  The earliest known reference to it commemorating the birth of Christ on December 25th is in the Roman calendar of AD 354. 

It is in my opinion that the blending of the two - Saturnalia and Christmas - along with a third contender from a  "civil"  Roman holiday - Sol Invicta  (the Persian god of light or the sun) - probably gave us the makings of what would become our modern Christmas celebration.

Once Christmas itself had been established as the main holiday  (or holy day),  gifts were exchanged,  families and friends gathered to feast,  and the Birth of Christ was celebrated.
And there it has stood for centuries,  with many of our traditions evolving over time.

Mummers: Men that would disguise themselves in garish costumes during special times of the year, especially at Christmas and New Year's Eve, and put on skits, sing carols, and were general merrymaking pranksters.They would gather together with a large wooden bowl and move throughout the village to people’s homes singing songs of good health and happiness to the homeowners as well as to their servants and animals - not unlike our modern caroling. The villagers, in turn, would fill the bowl with the spicy ale or money or both. Whoever did not give the drink or money, or whoever gave too little, the mummers (also known as wassailers) would wish ill will on them. Or…maybe would push their way into the home where they would find food or drink and take it for themselves of their own free will, their faces hidden from the masks and costumes they were wearing.
Yes,  that is me with the mummers below.

Many carols have been written about mumming  (or wassailing),  most notably The Gloucestershire Wassail from the medieval period that tells the tale of mummers/wassailers as they reach the door of one of the wealthy landowners of the village (like the photo above shows):

Wassail!  Wassail! all over the town,
Our bread it is white and our ale it is brown;
Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree;
With the wassailing bowl,  we'll drink to thee.

Here's to the mare,  and to her right eye,
God send our mistress a good Christmas pie;
A good Christmas pie as e'er I did see,
With my wassailing bowl I drink to thee.
 
Here's to the horse,  and to his right ear,
God send our master a happy new year:
A happy new year as e'er he did see,
With my wassailing bowl I drink to thee.

Come butler,  come fill us a bowl of the best
Then we hope that your soul in heaven may rest
But if you do draw us a bowl of the small
Then down shall go butler,  bowl and all.

Be here any maids?  I suppose here be some;
Sure they will not let young men stand on the cold stone!
Sing hey O,  maids!  come trole back the pin,
And the fairest maid in the house let us all in.

Then here's to the maid in the lily white smock
Who tripped to the door and slipped back the lock
Who tripped to the door and pulled back the pin
To let the jolly wassailer walk in!

Click the link below to hear a fine  "pub"  version of two ancient songs of the season:  Jolly Old Hawk and the Gloucestershire Wassail - and sing along with the lyrics above! 

Things were about to change...and this leads us to - - -

~ Christmas in the Colonies ~

From the diary of Long Island resident of Mary Cooper:

Thursday December 24,  1772 –

Warme but snows very very fast in the after noon.  I and Frances very buise cleaning the house.  Frances gone.  I am up all this night cooking and boileing meat for mins pyes.

Christmas,  December the 25 day,  Friday  (1772) –

Warme,  the sun shines bright and warme.  I and Salle huured away to meeten and staide to the night meeten.  A very greate white  frost and very cold coming home.

Off to find Christmas in the colonies...
(photo taken at Colonial Williamsburg by Fred Blystone)

We learned earlier about how Oliver Cromwell outlawed the Christmas Holiday in England,  and that Increase Mather banned it in Massachusetts,  only to have the ban revoked a couple decades later.  
But that was in the 1600s;  in the 1700s,  the times they were a-changing.

As time went on,  more and more churches throughout New England added Christmas sermons to the date of December 25 and began celebrating this holy day of Christ’s birth,  and by mid-century it was well on its merry way.  In 1772,  the Baptist church of Newport,  Rhode Island observed Christmas for the first time in its history,  and Congregationalist minister,  Reverand Ezra Stiles was in attendance.  “It is probable,”  he wrote shortly after,  “this will begin the Introduction of Christmas among the Baptist Churches…”  In his December 25,  1776 diary,  Stiles wrote,  “This day the nativity of our blessed Savior is celebrated through three quarters of Christendom…but the true day is unknown.”

And,  as president of Yale,  Stiles permitted his students to attend Christmas services,  despite the Congregationalist’s official rejection of the Holiday.

I was welcomed into the Saltbox Farm House of Samuel and Anna Daggett with much kindness,  just as long as I kept my Christmas celebration to myself!  Aye…they were strict Congregationalists and many from this denomination did not celebrate the holiday.

Anna Daggett,  a staunch Congregationalist,  spoke to me about Christmas as well as about life in general on a cold winter's night while I visited at the 1760 home of she and her husband,  Samuel:

We'll spend the long nights in cheerful
delights
     to drive the cold winter away

Although Christmas was no longer banned in New England,  several religious denominations,  mostly found in the middle colonies,  were opposed to the celebration,  and continued to exclude themselves,  as you have heard Mrs. Daggett say in the clip.  In 1749,  a visitor among the Quakers in Philadelphia noted that:  "Christmas Day. . . The Quakers did not regard this day any more remarkable than other days.  Stores were open. . . There was no more baking of bread for the Christmas festival than for other days;  and no Christmas porridge on Christmas Eve!"

Philip Fithian,  a Presbyterian missionary working among the Virginia Scotch-Irish in 1775,  remarked that:  "Christmas Morning - Not a Gun is heard ­Not a Shout - No company or Cabal assembled - To Day is like other Days every Way calme & temperate."
At first the Presbyterians did not care much for celebrating Christmas,  but when they saw most of their members going to the Anglican Church on that day,  they also started to have services.

Things continued to change as time went on.  

Poor Richard's Almanac 1739

In the year 1734,  Benjamin Franklin,  in the second number of his almanac,  Poor Richard,  placed between the dates of December 23-29:  "If you wou'd have Guests merry with your Cheer / Be so yourself or so at least appear,"  and for the same time in 1739:  "O blessed Season!  lov'd by Saints and Sinners / For long Devotions,  or for longer Dinners."
Franklin's verse makes it clear enough he was no hater of Christmas.
The last major almanac printer holdout,  Nathaniel Ames,  named Christmas in 1760,  and when he did so he added an explicit religious verse  (This is a time for Joy and Mirth / When we consider our Saviour’s Birth).”

As is written in the book The Battle for Christmas by Stephen Nissenbaum,  “After 1760 it was exceptional not  to name Christmas  (in Almanacs)."
Nissenbaum also states that Connecticut almanac maker Roger Sherman published a series of almanacs from 1750 to 1761,  and every one of these listed Christmas and the saints’ days,  even though there were some who disliked his almanac because of it. 
Written in Martha Ballard’s diary on December 29, 1796,  “Daniel Livermore made a present of an Almanack to my Son Cyrus.”

Though it was more than likely a New Year's gift,  the almanac would have certainly noted that December 25 was Christmas.

Let's hear from others and their opinions about this Holiday: 

Anna Green Winslow,  a young school girl of Boston,  wrote in her diary on December 24,  1771:  "The walking is so slippery and the air is so cold,  that aunt chuses to have me for her scoller these two days.  And as tomorrow will be a holiday,  so the pope and his associates have ordained,  my aunt thinks not to trouble Mrs.  Smith with me this week."
Then the next day,  December 25,  Miss Winslow writes,  "This day the extremity of the cold is somewhat abated.  I keept Christmas at home this year, & did a very good day's work,  aunt says so."
This does not mean young Anna celebrated the holiday,  but she did take note of it and hinted that there were others around her who did.
The pope ordained it!

My  "daughter"  and I enjoyed a quiet day of peaceful celebration on this Christmas tide.

The celebrations of this glorious holiday was celebrated quite fervently in  (Colonial)  Williamsburg,  Virginia,  where the excitement began to build as the month of December went on.  Missionary Philip Fithian,  on December 18,  1773,  wrote,  "Nothing now is to be heard of in conversation but the balls,  the fox hunts,  the fine entertainments,  and the good fellowship which are to be exhibited at the approaching Christmas...which are to continue til twelfth-day.  Everyone is now speaking of the approaching Christmas----The young Ladies tell me we are to have a Ball,  of selected Friends in this Family---But I,  hard Lot,  I have never learned to dance!"

Awaiting to dance...

The first sign of the festivities was on Christmas Eve,  when guns were fired into the chill Virginia air.  Christmas Day,  however,  was a quiet holy day marked by going to church,  where a few sprigs of holly in the deep windowsills were the only decorations for the season.
But this was only the beginning:  Scattered throughout Virginia and elsewhere,  relatives and friends had come for long visits of weeks or months.  The women and the house servants were busy planning and preparing great feasts - sometimes up to 20 or 30 different dishes might be served,  carefully arranged on the table for a great afternoon meal.
A grand ball would commence afterward,  where,  after hours of dancing,  revelers could partake in a fine dessert feast.  As one girl from the gentry wrote on December 26  (I believe the year was 1776):  "Mama made 6 mince pies & 7 custards,  12 tarts,  1 chicken pye,  and 4 puddings for the ball."

Like their English counter-parts in the south,  there were those in the northern communities who ate and drank their way through the Christmas holiday,  for not everyone was a non-celebrator.  To the Anglicans,  Roman Catholics,  and Lutherans,  the Christmas season was embraced and celebrated.  There were also some Dutch and Germans in New York that celebrated Christmas not only with religious services,  but,  at times with the excitement of the southern colonies.
And John Adams,  our 2nd President,  noted the holiday in a letter penned to his  "Dearest Friend"  (wife Abigail)  dated  "Christmas Day 1794" - a Thursday - and speaks of attending church where he heard  "a good sermon."

There's a wonderful old carol written in the mid-17th century that gives a great first-hand account of Christmas celebrations during this early period:

All You That Are Good Fellows 

All you that are good fellows come hearken to my song 
I know you do not hate good cheer or liquor that is strong
I hope there is none here,  but soon will take my part
Seeing my master and my dame say welcome with their heart.

This is a time of joyfulness and merry time of year 

When as the rich with plenty stored do make the poor good cheer
Plum porridge,  roast beef,  minced pies stand smoking on the board
With other brave varieties our master doth afford.

Our mistress and her cleanly maids have neatly played the cooks 

Methinks these dishes eagerly at my smart stomach looks
As though they were afraid to see me draw my blade
But I revenged on them will be until my stomach’s stayed.

Come fill us of the strongest,  small drink is out of date 

Methinks I shall fare like a prince and sit in gallant state
This is no miser’s feast although that things be dear
God grant the founder of this feast each Christmas deep good cheer.

This day for Christ we celebrate who was born at this time 

For which all Christians should rejoice and I do sing in rhyme
When you have given thanks unto your dainties fall
Heaven bless my master and my dame, Lord bless me and you all.

Here we have Simply Dickens  (in their Victorian finery)  performing  "All You That Are Good Fellows"

Like the carol suggests,  the celebration of the Christmas season consisted of parties,  hunts,  visiting, church services,  and feasts.

In Christmas feasting pray take care, 

Let not your table be a Snare,

But with the Poor God's Bounty share~

Benjamin Franklin

Poor Richard Improved 1744

I am certainly glad we are not in Massachusettes!

I hear many still refuse to observe Christmas there!

(Photo taken in Colonial Williamsburg by Fred Blystone)

Christmas decorations generally consisted of holly and ivy strung throughout the house,  with a sprig of mistletoe or a kissing ball prominently displayed.  A great effort was made to decorate the churches with laurel,  holly,  and other garlands.
Something that was common was the  "sticking of the Church"  with green boughs on Christmas Eve.  Garlands of holly,  ivy,  mountain laurel,  and mistletoe were hung from the church roof,  the walls,  and the church pillars and galleries.  The pews and the pulpit,  and sometimes the altar,  were bedecked with garlands.  This scene is described by Peter Kalm,  a Swede who visited Philadelphia in 1749.  On Christmas Day he wrote:  
Nowhere was Christmas Day celebrated with more solemnity than in the Roman Church.  Three sermons were preached there,  and that which contributed most to the splendor of the ceremony was the beautiful music heard to-day. . . . Pews and altar were decorated with branches of mountain laurel,  whose leaves are green in winter time and resemble the  (cherry laurel).

Paul Revere was a Congregationalist who did not celebrate Christmas.  According to Esther Forbes,  "Christ Church  (the Old North Church)  was Episcopal,  a denomination which smelt a little to the Congregationalists of idolatry and brimstone,  but even more sweetly  (as other small Puritans remembered)  of Christmas greens.  Christmas was carefully not observed in such churches as those the Congregationalists attended,  but the children loved to sneak off to the Episcopal churches at Christmas-time and smell the greens." 

No doubt Paul Revere was one of those youths,  for he was hired on as one of the Christ Church bellringers.

Bruton Parish - Colonial Williamsburg 
(photo by Charlie Wilson)

Lavender,  rose petals,  and pungent herbs such as rosemary and bay were scattered throughout the churches,  providing a pleasant holiday scent.  Scented flowers and herbs were chosen partially because they were aromatic and thus were considered an alternative form of incense.  The Reverend George Herbert,  an Anglican clergyman from Maryland, urged  "that the church be swept,  and kept clean without dust,  or cobwebs,  and at great festivals strewed,  and stuck with boughs,  and perfumed with incense." 

No Christmas Trees in Colonial times...
...except maybe in a German home.

Virginians decorated homes in the same way,  but they most likely reserved one or two main rooms in the house for the Christmas observance.  

(In our modern day,  residents in Historic Areas spend countless hours recreating what they believe to be beautiful natural decorations of fruits.  Though greatly admired and copied far and wide,  they are an inaccurate re-creation of eighteenth-century customs and materials.  Citrus fruits such as oranges,  lemons,  and limes would never have been wasted on any form of decoration.  A pineapple was considered a precious commodity in the eighteenth century and would not have been used as a door or mantel centerpiece.) 
The Christmas Tree,  by the way,  was a staple in many German homes in the colonies,  for it had a long history in Germany,  with documentation dating back to the early 1500s.  The tradition of cutting down fir trees to be used in their holiday celebrations was brought over with them as they immigrated to North America.  The decorations on these trees were elaborate - candles,  sweets and dolls - but they did not gain wide popularity to non-German America until the mid-19th century  (Williamsburg's first tree was in 1833).

The traditional Christmas feast varied from household to household  (depending on how wealthy the family was and where they were located)  but generally consisted of hams,  beef,  goose, turkey,  oysters,  mincemeat pies,  wines,  rum punches,  and various other treats.  The season was considered a grown-up celebration,  but presents would sometimes be given to children.
Southern plantation families usually supplied rum and presents  (often candy)  to their slaves on the first of the year.
Chocolate was also quite a treat for the colonists.

Though chocolate had been in North America for quite some time,  it was in 1773 that the demand for it in the colonies resulted in the importation of over 320 tons of cocoa beans.  Drinking chocolate was affordable to all classes of people and was available in most coffee houses,  where colonists would gather to talk about politics and the news of the day.

And it could be transported in solid blocks without spoilage

Overseeing the chocolateer

Drinking chocolate was said to have a variety of medical benefits.  It was purported to promote weight gain to restore flesh to emaciated patients,  especially to those who suffered from tuberculosis.  It was used to stimulate the nervous systems of feeble patients,  and also to calm patients who were over-stimulated such as soldiers fresh from battle.  It could improve digestion,  and was used to bind to medicines to make them more palatable to patients.

In 1785,  Thomas Jefferson predicted that chocolate would become the favorite beverage in North America over coffee and tea.  This prediction came after the Boston Tea Party and the rejection of tea by the colonists,  and prior to the widespread consumption of coffee in North America.

Chocolate remained exclusively a drink until the mid-19th century when advertisements for solid eating chocolate first appeared.

In the following clips we see a chocolateer working his craft and explaining the importance and fondness of this treat to the colonists that we now take for granted:

And here is an additional bit about chocolate in the colonial period:

I would love to try original chocolate,  just to find out what it tastes like,  wouldn't you?  But it was for the more wealthy folk such as the Giddings.

Something else I found interesting is that in mid-18^th  century Boston,  newspaper  “carriers”  (boys who delivered the local papers to homes)  expected a tip on Christmas.  In fact,  in the 1764 Boston Evening Post was a poem with the heading  “The News-Boy’s Christmas and New Year’s Verses”  which began with: 
The Boy who Weekly Pads the Street

With all the freshest News he meets,
His Mistress and Masters greets.
Christmas and New-Year,  Days of Joy,
The Harvest of your Carrier Boy,
His hopes you’ll not his Hopes destroy… 

Three other carriers addresses wished their recipients  “a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,”  and asked for a  “few shillings,  some pence,  and a lib’ral hand.”

One hardly ever thinks of war and battles playing a key role in our country's history during Christmas,  but George Washington's ragtag army's defeat of the Hessians in December 1776 was such a pivotal moment in the history of America.  On Christmas eve in 1776 some of the 30,000 German mercenaries  (Hessians)  hired to aid the British troops,  were in a joyful mood for two reasons:  they were close to defeating George Washington's troops and it was Christmas Eve,  a time of enthusiastic rejoicing with food,  songs and decorated trees,  thus not much attention was being paid to their military duties.  Early on December 26^th  Washington and his army attacked and were able to defeat their usually well-prepared foes.

Battle of Trenton, December 26, 1776:

It was said the Hessian soldiers had a little too much Christmas  "nog" in their blood from their celebration,  which helped Washington's army to defeat them.

One of Washington’s staff commented,  "They  (the Hessian soldiers)  make a great deal of Christmas in Germany,  and no doubt  (they)  will drink a great deal of beer and have a dance to-night.  They will be sleepy to-morrow morning.”
However,  this may not have been the case.  Patriot John Greenwood,  who fought in the battle and supervised Hessians afterward,  wrote,  "I am certain not a drop of liquor was drunk during the whole night,  nor,  as I could see,  even a piece of bread eaten.”
Historian David Lengel wrote:  The Germans were dazed and tired but there is no truth to the legend claiming that they were helplessly drunk.

The Revolutionary War had its share of highs and lows for Christmas.  The lowest point was undoubtedly Christmas at Valley Forge,  where many soldiers were near freezing and near starvation,  eating meager rations of mutton and cabbage with no whiskey or wine.

Christmas 1776 at Valley Forge

But George Washington would probably cite Christmas 1783 as his best.  That’s when he rode up to Mount Vernon to celebrate his first holiday at home after eight years of revolution.  He had resigned his commission just days before and was determined to surprise his family with his presence.  They, in turn,  surprised him with a feast fit for a king.

As described from Mt. Vernon:  Christmas Pie,  which was a traditional British dish with a sturdy crust and layers of meat,  including a turkey,  a goose,  a fowl,  a partridge and pigeon,  and seasoned with nutmeg,  cloves,  mace,  pepper and salt and slathered with four pounds of butter,  all cooked together for at least four hours.  

Then there was Martha’s recipe for  “great cake”—40 eggs,  4 pounds of butter,  4 pounds of powdered sugar,  5 pounds of fruit and a half pint of wine and brandy thrown in for good measure.  Add in Washington’s extended family and a few select friends,  at it was a welcome respite after nearly a decade on the run in more than 200 encampments.

Christmas at Mt. Vernon with family and friends - -
Someone needs to tell Mr. Washington that Christmas was not 
celebrated in his time.  He must not have gotten the memo.

Martha hoped that  “from this moment  [they]  would grow old together,  in solitude and tranquility.”   Alas,  her Christmas wish was not to be.  But the intervening years were as close to a domestic idyll as Washington ever experienced.

George Washington was known to splurge on diversions for his family and guests.  Irena Chalmers notes that in 1759,  with this being his first Christmas with his new wife,  Martha,  gave the following presents to her children:  a bird on Bellows;  a Cuckoo;  a Turnabout Parrot;  a Grocers Shop;  an Aviary;  a Prussian Dragoon;  a Man Smoking;  a Tunbridge Tea Set;  3 Neat Books,  a Tea Chest,  a straw parchment box with a glass and a neat dress'd wax baby.  Once,  during the war,  he hired a band on Christmas Day.
In the winter of 1787,  a travelling salesman brought an Arabian camel up to Mount Vernon for the equivalent of  $77 today to entertain and educate the extended Washington family.

And in 1797,  with less than two years left in his life,  he wrote a note to the husband of Martha’s granddaughter which could serve as a Christmas coda from the original founding father:  “We remain in Status quo and all unite in offering you, & yours,  the compliments of the season,  and the return of many,  many more,  and happy ones.”

 
The Southern frontier had some of their own old Christmas customs,  which continued on into the 20th century.  Visitors to Appalachia and the highlands of North Carolina found that the practice of  "Old Christmas,"  with bonfires and the firing of guns  (along with fireworks),  still exist. 

Opinion on the date of  Old Christmas  varies:  Some believe it is the 5th and some the 6th of January.  This day is believed by these people who keep it to be the real date of the birth of Jesus.  They say the Christmas we observe is a  "man­made" Christmas." 

Life on the American colonial frontier was,  as it would be 
expected,  quite different from the well established east coast.

The frontier at that time was heavily populated with the Scots-
Irish.  They organized their lives by the events of the Christian 
calendar,  but differed greatly from the rest of British America.  
They have preserved some of the ancient Christian rituals which 
had lingered along the border lands between England and 
Scotland decades after they were abandoned in other regions of 
the British Isles.

Our frontier people seemed to have kept a day which they 
called  "Old Christmas,"  on January 5th or sometimes the 6th.  It 
was on that day that even in the poorest of homes,  feasts were 
common,  as were evening bonfires.  They also celebrated by the 
continual discharging of their muskets.

 This had once been the custom in the British borderlands,  now 
brought to North America.  As one visitor noted:  "In some parts 
of this country it is the custom to observe what is known as  'Old Christmas.' "

And even farther out on the frontier,  in the cold north country of Fort Michilimackinac at the tip of Michigan's lower peninsula,  Christmas was also celebrated,  though by the French settlers who lived there.

From the book Colonial Michilimackinac by Mackinac State Historic Parks we find that Christmas was a major religious feast.  Early in December,  animals were slaughtered to provide food for the occasion.  Special foods were prepared and fat was saved from the animals to make tallow candles.  Candles lit up the houses and the church in the days before Christmas.  A lot of candles were needed for the Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.  The church bell summoned all to attend.  It was a spectacular sight with all the candles burning and a decorated creche.  People raised their voices in song and the priest celebrated three Masses.  Leaving the cold church,  everyone returned home for a sumptuous meal called reveillon.  Following the meal,  singing,  dancing,  jigging,  and storytelling were on until sunrise.

Music of Christmas: the Christmas Carol~~~~~

All you that are good fellows
come hearken to my song... 

We hear songs of Christmas almost daily from November through the end of December and,  many times without even thinking,  we may find ourselves humming or singing along.
But have you ever given thought to just how old some of these tunes actually are?

Christmas canticles of some form have been around for millennia,  and,  believe it or not,  a few from the ancient times still remain in our midst.  For instance,  from 12th century Ireland comes The Wexford Carol,  medieval England gave us The Boars Head Carol and The Gloucestershire Wassail.  God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen is from the 15th century,  Bring A Torch Jeannette Isabella and Coventry Carol are from the mid-1500s,  with the mid-to-late 1600s bringing us All You That Are Good Fellows,  I Saw Three Ships,  The Huron Carol,  and The First Noel.  The Holly and the Ivy is from around 1710,  Joy To the World was written in Virginia in 1719,  Hark! The Herald Angels Sing was written in 1739,  and O Come All Ye Faithfull is from the 1750s - all being a  very few  examples of the many carols from the 12th century through the colonial period.

By the mid-18^th century,  most of these Christmas hymns began showing up in New England hymnals,  and beginning in 1770,  a new set of Christmas songs were appearing in these music books,  which were written by New England composers,  including William Billings of Boston,  who wrote eight new carols between 1770 and 1794,  one of which is still known today -  "While Shepherds Watched Their Flock By Night."
On a fun side note,  "The 12 Days of Christmas"  actually began around 1780  (or earlier)  as a sort of parlor game where one person would begin by saying  "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree."
The next person would add his or her own line:  "On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree."  The third person would add their own line then must remember to repeat,  in descending order,  the two who went before.  The same with the fourth person,  fifth person...all the way up to twelve different gifts.  Now, there were many other gifts that we no longer say  (or sing):  seven deer a-running,  nine cocks a-crowing,  eleven bears a-beating,  and many other variations.
Fun fact:  for the 4th day of Christmas,  the line was originally written as four colley birds - not the more modern calling birds.
We still play this parlor game in my living history group,  by the way,  only we don't allow the popular song gifts - everyone must come up with their own.
Christmas celebrating indeed!

From what I've been able to find out  (thanks to History Myths Debunked),  the phrase Merry Christmas is indeed the greeting one was more likely to use in colonial times.  "Different sources trace the origin of the phrase back to different dates,  but in each case,  they all pre-date the 18th century.  The casual use of  'Merry Christmas'  in Charles Dickens'  "A Christmas Carol"  seems to suggest that it was already well-known to the English by the early to mid-19th century."

Though I know some do not celebrate Christmas,  I shall repeat 
the well-known phrase from the kindness of my heart to all of our acquaintances:

“Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!”

Speaking of New Year's,  here is a video explanation from the Giddings House  (now located in Greenfield Village)  of their New Years celebration:

 

Looking into the future,  the 19th century saw additional customs and traditions added to Christmas celebrations by such notables as Washington Irving,  Clement C. Moore,  Mr. Dickens,  Thomas Nast,  and even Queen Victoria,  all of whom helped directly or indirectly to form the modern Christmas we know today. 

I am very glad to have found
Christmas in the Colonies.

For nearly two millennia folks have been celebrating the birth of Jesus in one way or another,  but upon hearing of the banning & outlawing of Christmas in America during colonial times,  my interest in the subject was piqued,  for I felt there was more to the story than what I read.
And I was not disappointed,  for,  as you have just seen,  there really is much more to the story;  unless we dig deep in our research beyond the fluff,  modern  trendy  slants,  so-called  'shocking' history,  and news tactics  "to sell papers"  so we can understand its history beyond the headlines,  we cannot fully appreciate and understand history in the way it was.
Yes,  though the colonial Christmases were not as we have them today,  the day was still a holiday for so many.  As  “Battle for Christmas”  author Stephen Nissenbaum describes it:  “Then,  as now,  there was no single  Christmas.  For some it was probably  (just another day).  For others it was a time of pious devotion that could range from mirthful joy in the Savior’s birth to angst over personal failings,  and from stately prayers to ecstatic hymns.  For others still it was a time for feasting---accompanied or not by a supply of alcohol.”

So!  When and if you hear or read about how Christmas was not celebrated in the colonies,  you can now disprove those myths and let them know that,  though there were many that did not acknowledge the date set for the birth of the Savior in any way,  it was  still celebrated fervently by a large population throughout the colonies - even during the short time it was against the law.

Now,  with that,  as I did with my colonial neighbors,  I shall wish you all a very Merry Christmas in the truest sense of the word!

My time here is nigh as I fade into the shadows 

and head back to the future…

All of the information for this posting has come from the numerous sources listed here:

The website of Colonial Williamsburg
as well as the Christmas in Williamsburg book
The All About Jesus Christ website  
"Inventing Christmas" - by Jock Elliott
The Battle for Christmas by Stephen Nissenbaum
The Diary of Anna Green Winslow
The Diary of Mary Cooper
American Christmases by Joanne Martell
An article by Donald N. Moran that was originally printed in a Sons of Liberty newsletter back in 2001.
The earliest Christmas celebrations came from History Today
Christmas in the 17th and 18th Centuries website
A History of Christmas blog
And the dictionary information under Christmas in Colonial America
The written information about chocolate came from HERE

The greater majority of the photos in this posting - Daggett House,  Giddings House,  McGuffey Cabin,  the Mummers,  and any photo I am in - were taken at Historic Greenfield Village,  located in Dearborn,  Michigan  (click HERE for their website)

~A major THANK YOU goes to Charlie Wilson and Fred Blystone,  two men who take beautiful photographs at historic Colonial Williamsburg  (their credits are listed under their photographs included).  Their pictures greatly helped me to tell of the colonial Christmas celebrations.
The rest of the photographs you see here were either taken by me or,  if I am in the pictures,  were from the keen artistic eye of my daughter.

To learn more about a colonial New Year's celebration,  please click HERE

 

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