Colonial and Modern Williamsburg Christmas
Christmas at Colonial Williamsburg Reflects New as Much as Old
Nov 4, 2009
The hustle and bustle of the holidays can be fun, and also stressful. Today’s celebration demands much time and attention be paid to buying Christmas gifts for family and friends, sending holiday cards, hosting holiday parties, attending holiday parties, and watching our bank account balance and energy levels decline. Who wouldn’t welcome a day trip of vacation to Colonial Williamsburg as an escape to a long ago and simpler time?
What was Christmas Like in Colonial Virginia?
The natural decoration used to fashion the iconic Williamsburg wreaths, roping, and trees that decorate the historic buildings and nearby hotels and shops vaguely recall colonial times, but they were largely made up by decorators in the late 1930s who wanted to attract more visitors to Colonial Williamsburg. Today’s Grand Illumination as well in a colonial notion of celebrating the King's birth night on steroids.
Actually, Christmas in colonial Virginia focused on attending church, visiting friends, enjoying meals, and decorating with a touch of fresh evergreen. No one would have wasted rare and expensive fruit, which was not available or in season locally, by pinning it to a wreath for the animals and birds to eat!
Williamsburg’s European Legacy
In the United States, Christmas traditions come from many cultures, brought to the new world from the old. In Williamsburg, where most colonial residents considered themselves Englishmen, customs were derived from Christians who wished to subdue the traditional revelry of the ancient mid-winter celebration. It wasn’t until the Victorian period that Christmas began to be recognized as an American holiday that centered on the family at home. And it wasn’t until the post-World War II years that gift-giving grew in importance.
Christmas Gift and Cards
Williamsburg’s colonial shopkeepers ran ads in the Virginia Gazette suggesting items for holiday season gifts, but these weren’t meant for giving only on December 25. Tokens like small books and sweets were given by masters or parents to slaves, servants, apprentices, or children during the twelve days of Christmas. There was no peer to peer gift-giving or gift-giving to elders or superiors. Post-World War II affluence and marketing has made two-way and increase amount of gift giving the norm.
According to a Colonial Williamsburg research historian, London printers created pages with seasonal borders for schoolboys to fill in as penmanship exercises, which were called "Christmas pieces." But the Christmas card per se was a nineteenth-century English invention.
No Santa
In the twentieth century, Santa Claus was adapted as an icon by American retailers. The English Christmas was not a children’s holiday. Philip Vickers Fithian's much-recited (in Williamsburg) December 18, 1773, diary entry mentions "the Balls, the Fox-hunts, the fine entertainments. . . ," not activities for kids. Ideas about Saint Nicholas, who filled children's wooden shoes with fruit and candy in Amsterdam, brought the emphasis on children. In nineteenth-century America, Christmas stocking replaced wooden shoes. Clement Clark Moore’s 1823 poem, "A Visit from Saint Nicholas," created the new role for Santa as Christmas gift-giver and an 1860s cartoon by Thomas Nast provided the long-lasting look of Santa.
Decorations
Natural greens that could be found nearby were all that brightened the celebration. These too were a holdover from early Roman midwinter celebrations. Again, Colonial Williamsburg’s researchers tell us that no early Virginia sources tell if or how colonists decorated. The museum’s decorations rely upon a few English prints that show sprigs of holly in windows or other use of evergreen during the season.
A candle-lighted tree is mentioned by period visitors to Germany, but there is not mention of one in Williamsburg until a German professor at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg brought the tradition of a decorated tree to children at the St. George Tucker House in the mid-nineteenth century.
Christmas Feasts
Although a traditional menu was not followed, Williamsburg’s citizens did enjoy gatherings to eat and drink. Livestock was slaughtered and cider was made once temperatures became cool, so the time for celebration was right. There were no fresh fruits and vegetables at holiday time, but items like brandied fruit and cake made with dried fruits were enjoyed.
Why Celebrate a Williamsburg Christmas?
In spite of the fact that Christmas was a rather low-key celebration, it was a primary celebration and a midwinter tradition passed from pagans to Christians and the world. Today at Colonial Williamsburg visitors celebrate in a more modern fashion but with an accent on the memory of the earlier age. Those who travel to Williamsburg can enjoy caroling, fireworks, shopping … and programs that explain the difference between the way we celebrate and our colonial ancestors celebrated the ancient midwinter holiday.
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