Where Do Our Christmas Traditions Come From?
Posted by Leif Palmer in Pigeon Forge
Whether you're celebrating Christmas in the Smokies or whether you're sharing the experience with family at your own home, you're probably partaking in any number of Christmas traditions, including essential ones like putting up a Christmas tree or waiting for Santa Claus to arrive with his reindeer in the middle of the night.
These days, we pretty much take these holiday components as a given, as if they'd always been around. But much of what we associate with the celebration of Christmas has actually only been a part of our American culture for the past century or so. Ever wonder how we wound up with the Christmas identity that we know today? This week, we'll be sharing a little background on how our modern-day holiday traditions – many of which originated in the 1800s – came to be.
Santa Claus was a concept borrowed from early Dutch settlers in America, who considered St. Nicholas a patron saint. They used to hang stockings in early December to receive presents from him on St. Nicholas Eve. Noted author Washington Irving made reference to him in a history book, mentioning how St. Nicholas would ride over the tops of trees in a wagon when he brought his annual presents to the children.
Further, the Dutch gave us the word “Sinterklaas,” which evolved into “Santa Claus thanks to a New York City printer who published a poem referring to “Santeclaus” in 1821. That poem was the first to mention the St. Nicholas character having a sleigh and being pulled by reindeer.
Of course, it was Clement Moore's famous poem “The Night Before Christmas” that cemented a lot of our modern-day visions of Christmas. However, before that poem, people would typically wait for St. Nicholas on the night before his holiday in early December. It was Moore's poem that first described these events happening on what we now call Christmas Eve, the day before Christmas. It was also the first time that Santa's reindeer were given the names that we know them by today.
Charles Dickens's work A Christmas Carol helped further cement Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as more prominent holidays, and in the 1860s, illustrator Thomas Nast gave us our first modern depiction of Santa Claus as we visualize him today. That first illustration, drawn at the request of President Lincoln, appeared on the cover of Harper's Weekly in 1863 and depicted Santa Claus in a red suit and riding on a sleigh. Nast also introduced the notion that Santa lived at the North Pole and had a workshop full of elves.
The idea of Christmas trees came from Germany, but they didn't become popular in America and Britain until Prince Albert had one installed in Windsor Castle in 1841. And did you know that most people lit their trees with small candles in the 1800s, although an associate of Thomas Edison invented electric Christmas tree lights in the 1880s?
A Christmas tree was first put up in the White House in 1889, during the presidency of Benjamin Harrison. Since then, the tradition has evolved into an essential activity of the sitting presidential family.
About Leif Palmer
Leif Palmer loves residing in the Smoky Mountains. He is an avid outdoorsman: rowing for exercise on the lake, trail hiking, and free climbing rocks in the mountains. He indulges his arty side by periodically beating up pieces of marble by sculpting. He is always frustrated by his inability to sink long putts, and hates his curly hair (but his wife loves it). Leif has been known to muster enough courage to change a diaper, and hopes his son will become a chip off the old block.
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