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An American Christmas
How We Came to Celebrate
Christmas as a National Holiday
We
Americans take our holidays for granted. We celebrate President’s Day,
Independence Day and a handful of other days each year, but we give
little thought to the origin and history of these celebrations.
Of
special importance is our celebration of Christmas - a day that has
become preeminent on our yearly calendars. How did our celebration come
about? The Hoover Presidential Library Museum tells the story.
Christmas
wasn’t always celebrated the way it is today. In |
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| fact,
the Puritans of Massachusetts banned any observance of Christmas, and
anyone caught observing the holiday had to pay a fine. Connecticut had a
law forbidding the celebration of Christmas and the baking of mincemeat
pies! A few of the earliest settlers did celebrate Christmas, but it was
far from a common holiday in the colonial era. |
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It
is hard to pinpoint the first decorated Christmas trees in America. Some
say the tradition began with the Moravians of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
who decorated trees in the very early 1800s. Others say the first
American Christmas tree was set up by Hessian soldiers at Trenton, New
Jersey, in 1776. We do know that by the early 1800s there were numerous
decorated trees throughout our country, but the term "Christmas
tree" was not in common use until 1830.
The
Christmas tree tradition was spread |
| across
America by German immigrants beginning in the early 1800s. The Germans
baked fancy ornaments for their trees and then ate the ornaments when
the trees came down. After Christmas, these frugal people would strip
the needles and wrap the branches in cotton to extend the tree’s life
for several Christmases to come. |
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Before
the Civil War, the North and South were divided on the issue of
Christmas, as well as on the question of slavery. Many Northerners saw
sin in the celebration of Christmas; to these people the celebration of
Thanksgiving was more appropriate.
But
in the South, Christmas was an important part of the social season. Not
surprisingly, the |
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first
three states to make Christmas a legal holiday were in the South:
Alabama in 1836, Louisiana and Arkansas in 1838.
In
the years after the Civil War, Christmas traditions spread across the
country. Children’s books played an important role in spreading the
customs of celebrating Christmas, especially the tradition of trimmed
trees and gifts delivered by Santa Claus. Sunday school classes
encouraged the celebration of Christmas. Women’s magazines were also
very important in suggesting ways to decorate for the holidays, as well
as how to make these decorations.
By
the last quarter of the nineteenth century, America eagerly decorated
trees, caroled, baked, and shopped for the Christmas season. Since that
time, materialism, media, advertising, and mass marketing has made
Christmas what it is today. The traditions that we enjoy at Christmas
today were invented by blending together customs from many different
countries into what is considered by many to be our national holiday. |
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