Historic Roots of Beloved Christmas Traditions

Christmas is nearly upon us and holiday lights, nativity displays, mistletoe, and colorful ornaments are gracing Washington County homes and properties. One of the most popular shared tradition involves the Christmas tree. Even today, many of the trees adorning our livings rooms (parlors for you history fans) were freshly cut, hauled home, and put in a bucket of water to freshen up before taking center stage. 

Families enjoy many shared traditions, but where did these originate?  Let’s take a trip back in history, as the past usually helps explain the present.

Past tours of Victorian mansions in the St. Croix Valley, from the old Warden's House in Stillwater to the Folsom House in Taylor's Falls, have described one of the most durable and universal traditions – the Christmas tree.  The first reference of the Christmas tree was in 1605 in Strasbourg, Germany.  German immigrants later brought the Christmas tree to the United States, and Americans were quick to adopt the idea. By 1848, there were Christmas trees selling in Philadelphia’s markets, and three years later Mark Carr sold the first Christmas trees from New York City docks.  By 1880, there were more than 400 Christmas tree merchants in New York.

From there, the holiday tradition spread west like a wildfire.

The floor to ceiling tree that we now enjoy is a purely American tradition. The early Christmas trees were different, as the true Victorian tree was a tabletop affair. These small trees gained in popularity after an etching of the British royal family appeared in the Illustrated News; The drawing showed Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and family gathered around their tabletop Christmas tree in Windsor Castle.  Everyone was smiling and the sense of delight was contagious, even for reserved Brits.

The little trees were decorated with homemade ornaments: cakes, cookies, fresh and dried fruits, strings of popcorn and berries, as well as paper flowers, flags, lace bags, and foil tinsel.  Ornate, glass ornaments, first produced in Germany in the 1860s, became commercially available in the United States by the 1880s.  These early glass ornaments are now very collectable and expensive. Fragile too, as you may have discovered over the years.

In earlier – and more dangerous – times, burning candles were used to illuminate the tree.  These small, tapered candles were clipped or wired to the tree branches. The candles were lit only once, usually on Christmas Eve. The ever-present parlor companions would be the buckets of water or sand in case of a fiery emergency. Electric tree lights – thankfully – were introduced in 1882, but they were quite expensive. One string of 19th century lights cost about $12, an amount about equal to the average worker’s weekly wage back then.  No wonder candles sold well.

Another Christmas tradition casts Santa as a jolly old man who makes toys for all the good children. He is known around the world by many names, most of them printable, thankfully.

He’s called St. Nicholas, Kris Kringle, Father Christmas, and Old Man Christmas.  Clement Moore immortalized the big guy in his poem The Night Before Christmas, written in 1822. In 1862, Thomas Nast drew his version of Santa Claus for Harper's Weekly, choosing to portray Santa as a jovial, heavyset man. In the 1890s, other magazines first informed children that Santa has a workshop at the North Pole. In 1899, Mrs. Claus appeared, thanks to the investigative work of American poet Katherine Lee Bates. Finally Santa had a wife to help keep the bed warm on those long winter nights.

In 1843 Stillwater was founded and the first Christmas card was created and sent in jolly old England.  It was also the year English writer Charles Dickens wrote one of his most well-known stories, A Christmas Carol.

Celebrating Christmas in America during the Victorian era included many special events: concerts, masquerade balls, shooting matches, turkey hunts, taffy pulls, skating, sledding, and sleigh ride gatherings.

Today, Christmas in America is much different. We enjoy outings to the mall, spectacular church services, houses adorned with lights from the basement to the rooftop, and a holiday hustle and bustle that is without historic equal. However, Christmas is still celebrated for the same reason, the birth of Jesus Christ, and that will remains unchanged  throughout our shared history.

From all of us at the Washington County Historical Society, have a very happy and safe holiday season.

Brent Peterson is executive director of the Washington County Historical Society. For more information, please visit www.wchsmn.org.