WHO CELEBRATED AND WHO DIDN’T?
Architectural influences weren’t the only thing the colonists brought from the Old World to the New World…
Christmas custom, traditions, and festivities came with them too. And just like the architecture, Christmas in the Colonies looked different depending on where you were. Virginian Christmas celebrations were merry times with feasting, dancing, games, and plenty of leisure time to visit with friends and family – mimicking the Christmas traditions of those on the English Manors most of Virginian colonists were from.
“Christmases amongst the Salvages: where wee were never more merrie, nor fedde on more plenty of good oysters, fish, flesh, wild fowle, and good bbread, nor better fires in England then in the drie warme smokie houses of Kecoughtan.” -Captain John Smith, 1609
But Christmas wasn’t quite so merry everywhere in the Colonies. In fact, during the 1600’s in New England, the Puritans criminalized Christmas. So strong was the Puritan distaste of what they saw as the “idolatry” of the holiday, that even after Christmas became legal in New England in 1681, it’s merriment wouldn’t become widely accepted for nearly 200 more years.
WHAT ABOUT THE KIDS & THE GIFTS?
Contrary to today’s approach, Christmas in the Colonies wasn’t all about the kids… in fact, it wasn’t about the kids at all. Early Colonial Christmases all featured elegant, adult festivities until the strong Dutch and German influences of home and family made their mark on our blossoming country in the 1800’s.
Children weren’t completely left out when it came to Christmas in the Colonies – they, along with other dependents like slaves and apprentices – all received gifts for Christmas, but never gave them in return.
DID YOU KNOW…
Christmas was a 12-Day event during Colonial times. It started on December 25tth and ended on the “Twelfth Night” on January 6th.