16. Origins of Christmas Traditions

Welcome to episode sixteen of A Proper DBE Podcast brought to you by Daughters of the British Empire. 

It's the last episode of the year and we're looking into the history of various Christmas traditions: Christmas trees, Christmas cards, and Christmas crackers. 

What other traditions have interesting historical roots?

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Theme music: https://megamusicmonkey.com/free-music-royal-tea-party-song-30-second-creative-commons/

Transcript

Good afternoon and welcome to episode 16! 

I have a history of Christmas traditions for you today so I hope as you go through the holiday season, you can share some fun facts with your families. 

I have two announcements to make before we get started:

First, we’ll have some big announcements coming on January 1st so keep an m, eye out for those on social media. 

Second, tune in on Christmas Eve, December 24, for a special reading of A Visit from Saint Nicholas or The Night Before Christmas. 

But for now, why not pour yourself a cup of tea and get comfortable…

Long before the introduction of Christianity, ancient peoples held celebrations of light over the winter solstice, the darkest time of the year, in order to look to spring and longer days ahead.

In the U.S., the U.K., and many Commonwealth countries, Christmas is celebrated as the mid-winter festival of light.

By the High Middle Ages, Christmastide was the most prominent religious celebration in Europe lasting twelve full days from December 24th to Epiphany on January 6th. Gifts were exchanged and feasts were had by both rich and poor alike. Peasants even got time off work as there was little agricultural work to be done anyway. 

A description of 12th century London reads: “Every man’s house, as also their parish churches, was decked with holly, ivy, bay, and whatsoever the season of the year afforded to be green.” 

Holly, ivy, mistletoe, and the like were brought indoors for winter decorations as far back as Ancient Celts and Romans. They were believed to protect the home from evil and symbolize goodwill. Yule logs were burned by all. Manor houses and monasteries held elaborate feasts and sometimes a few lucky serfs were invited to these affairs. Peasants that weren’t invited to the manor were still able to indulge in a little boiled meat and plenty of ale. 

There was much drinking, music, and games, as well as plays, pageants, and pantomimes. 

A time of indulgence - and this is precisely why Christmas was canceled in 1645 after Oliver Cromwell’s Puritan revolt ridding England of decadence. 

With even more strictly-Puritan values than Cromwell, the English separatists who came to America in 1620 did not bring any extravagant Christmas traditions with them. In fact, Christmas celebrations of any kind were banned in Boston between 1659-1681 and anyone showing Christmas spirit was fined five shillings. 

However, with the arrival of other European immigrants, Christmas traditions were soon introduced to the colonies, though any English customs fell out of favor during the Revolutionary War and that included Christmas celebrations. 

Meanwhile, in Europe, Christmas trees as we recognize them today were starting to arise. Originating as Paradise trees in Germany and decorated with apples and gingerbread, they were erected in front of churches to represent the Garden of Eden for Miracle Plays. Miracle Plays depicted popular stories from the Bible for people who couldn’t read. 

There is also a legend about Martin Luther who is credited for adding lights to Christmas trees. The story goes that he was walking home one night, thinking about his next sermon, when he looked up and noticed the stars twinkling through the trees. When he got home, he told his children that the sight reminded him of Jesus who left the stars to come to earth at Christmastime. Wanting to recreate the scene for his family, he brought in an evergreen tree and covered it in candles. 

In 1800, Queen Charlotte, the German wife of King George III, has been reported to have the first Christmas tree in the UK. It was a yew tree she had brought into the Queen’s Lodge at Windsor for a party, thus setting a trend for only the wealthiest families. 

Despite this, Prince Albert is largely credited with popularizing Christmas trees in Britain after a drawing titled, “The Queen’s Christmas Tree at Windsor Castle,” was published in the Illustrated London News in 1848. It depicted Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and their children around a decorated Christmas tree. 

Later, in 1850, this drawing was also published in the States which helped contribute to the popularization of Christmas trees on the American continent, first sparked by a series of short stories published in 1819. The collection was written by Washington Irving, most famous for the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and it featured Christmas celebrations at an English manor house. 

Christmas wasn’t declared as a national holiday in the States until 1870. 

Glass ornaments started being produced in the 1860s in the shape of apples, reminiscent of those hung on Paradise trees and likely a precursor to the traditional red baubles we use today.

Other traditions have their roots in the Victorian era. 

The first Christmas cards were printed in 1843. 

Henry Cole was a prominent figure in elite social circles of Victorian England and founder of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He was also a supporter of the postal system which was extremely busy after its recent introduction of the “penny post.” People were sending more written correspondence than ever before. Cole watched stacks of letters pile up and, worried about seeming impolite to leave them unanswered, he came up with an idea. He asked his friend and artist, J.C. Horsley, to produce an illustration which he then copied one thousand times. Within a few years, his friends had caught onto the idea and were sending cards of their own. 

The first American Christmas cards appeared in 1875 near Boston but became the folding versions we know today soon after 1915 when Joyce Hall and the company that would become Hallmark found that people needed a little more room for their Christmas greetings than postcards would allow. If you remember back to episode 4, we talked about Joyce Hall then as he helped with the placement of Churchill's statue on the Kansas City plaza. 

Christmas crackers followed soon after Cole’s Christmas cards. In 1847, a London confectioner named Tom Smith was visiting France and saw bon-bons in twists of paper displayed in a shop window. When bon-bon sales in his own shop started to decline, he wondered what he could do differently. First, he tried adding small mottos inside the paper wrapping but that didn’t do much to increase their popularity. One night, whilst sitting by his fire sparkling and cracking, when he thought to himself: what if my confections could be opened with a crack . This is likely another legend, but there is a record of Tom buying the recipe for a small bang from a fireworks company. 

The business was taken over by his three sons and it was one of them who introduced paper crowns to crackers, probably inspired by Epiphany cakes which often have paper crown decorations on top. Over time, the sweets were dropped and replaced by toys and trinkets. And what would a Christmas cracker be without a terrible joke? 

I want to leave you all with my favorite joke I’ve ever found in a cracker:

What’s white and goes up?

A confused snowflake!

That’s all for today. I know I learned a lot. 

This is the last episode that will come out this year so I hope you all have a very safe, peaceful, healthy, and happy holiday season. 

Don’t forget to tune in on Christmas Eve and keep up with all our news on social media - we’re on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube. 

So until next year… 
Not ourselves but the cause.