Christmas in America
Around the same time Christmas was receiving a beating in Europe, newcomers to North America were expressing their opinions on the subject as well. The Pilgrims of Massachusetts were even more stringent in their Puritan thinking than Cromwell and were not in favor of the Christmas celebration. From 1659-1681, Christmas was outlawed in Boston by New England Puritans and anyone caught celebrating was fined five shillings. But other settlers to America weren’t as eager to extinguish the Christmas spirit. It appears Christians in Virginia and New York enthusiastically celebrated Christmas. In fact, Captain John Smith (a founder of Jamestown) wrote the first report of a Christmas celebration in America; describing a merry time had by all, complete with a plentiful feast of shellfish, wild foul, and bread. German settlers to Pennsylvania and the Wachovia settlers of North Carolina were also pro-Christmas.
While the majority of young American colonies favored Christmas, the holiday again received a bad rap when it was cast as an English custom in light of the American Revolution. In a new country trying desperately to create an identity separate from that of England, holding an annual celebration deemed an ole favorite of the English was not the most popular thing to do in America. But things began to look up for the sidelined American Christmas in the 1820’s when tensions eased and an effort was made to revive and re-invent a troubled celebration.
Washington Irving’s short stories about Christmas published in the 1820’s, and Clement Clarke Moore’s 1822 poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas” (aka “Twas the Night Before Christmas”) helped rekindle interest in the holiday in America. Charles Dickens, with the 1843 publishing of his book “A Christmas Carol”, is credited with playing a large role in reinventing the holiday as well. The image of the celebration was transformed from a sort of block party with wild excess to a holiday where family and togetherness, along with feelings of peace, goodwill, and compassion were emphasized. Harriet Beecher Stowe helped codify what was to be the essence of Christmas with her 1850 book “The First Christmas in New England” that eludes to the “true meaning” of Christmas and how that meaning was lost in what was becoming a holiday focused on shopping sprees and elaborate decorations.
Whatever it had become or was supposed to mean, the overwhelming popularity gained by the Christmas celebration meant the holiday was here to stay. The revitalization of Christmas in America had worked and Christmas became official when it was declared a federal holiday on June 26, 1870.
