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Tangled Lights and Silent Nights

Christmas Traditions: Christmas Cards (1843)

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The very first Christmas card. Source: Wikimedia Commons

This is last in a series of 12 posts on historical Christmas traditions. The source is the Time magazine article linked below.

The Victoria Era saw many inventions, but for Christmas traditions, one of the most impactful was likely the Penny Post, which allowed people in England to send correspondence anywhere in the country for only a penny. This led to an influx of letter writing, and since social mores dictated that all mail must be answered, letter writing took up an increasing amount of time. Faced with a mountain of correspondence, a man named Henry Cole had an artist friend design a picture that could be printed on cardboard, quickly personalized, and sent through the mail. Within a few years, others were copying his idea, and by 1875, Christmas cards were being created in America as well. Check out this Time magazine article for more.

Do you still send Christmas cards? What’s the most memorable one you ever received?

I have to admit I don’t, not for years now. I do display a few cards each year. My favorite is one my parents gave me when I was maybe 10 that was “from” our dachshund, Gretchen. It has a picture if a dachshund in a Santa hat on the front and says “Merry Christmas from one of Santa’s little yelpers” on the inside. My dad put her paw print on it and signed her name.

This is my last post before Christmas, so Merry whatever you celebrate and if I don’t blog before then, Happy New Year, too!

Tangled Lights and Silent Nights

Christmas Traditions: Advent Calendars (1800s)

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This is the advent calendar-type graphic we made to advertise Tangled Lights and Silent Nights.

This is eleventh in a series of 12 posts on historical Christmas traditions. I didn’t note my sources, but please trust I did verify the information.

Believe it or not, Advent didn’t always exist in the Christian church.

It slowly evolved as the Church took shape and Christianity became legal. The earliest echoes are from fourth century Francem when the Church began to use the period before Epiphany as a time of preparation for Baptism. It was called “St. Martin’s Lent” for the 40 days that started on November 11, feast of St. Martin of Tours. Advent as we know it today began about 300 years later in Rome. Pope Gregory I composed many of the prayers, antiphons, and psalm responses.

Advent calendars began as a simple way to countdown to Christmas. In the 1800s, German Protestant families would count down the days until Christmas by making a mark with chalk each day in December on their front doors. In some locations, candles were used instead to mark the passage of time.

The first the use of chocolate as a gift each day of Advent seems to date to at least the 1880s when it was pinned on a board. The first printed calendar with doors that open dates to 1903 in Austria, but commercially available ones that combined chocolate and doors only date to the 1950s.

Do you have an advent calendar?

I haven’t for years. I tried to get the Aldi wine advent calendar this year, but they sold out in 10 minutes!  

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Christmas Traditions: Christmas Tree (1600s-1800s)

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My tree last year.

This is tenth in a series of 12 posts on historical Christmas traditions. I didn’t note my sources, but please trust I did verify the information.

As mentioned earlier, the Christmas tree has its origins in Germanic pagan tree worship. But the Christmas tree we think of today really dates back to German Lutherans in the 17th century and spread to Pennsylvania in the 1820s after they began to immigrate to the United States. When Germany’s Prince Albert came to England in 1840 to marry Queen Victoria, he brought the Christmas tree with him. The royal family decorated it with small gifts, toys, candles, candies and fancy cakes, giving rise to the modern ornament. Eight years later, a photograph of the royal tree appeared in a London newspaper, and displaying a Christmas tree became the height of holiday fashion in Europe and America.

When do you put up your tree? Colored lights or white?

I put mine up the day after thanksgiving. As a kid, I liked the colored lights, but now I prefer white lights (preferably the ones that look like candles) and rustic decorations that look like cranberries or fruit or things in nature.

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Christmas Traditions: Fruitcake (1500s)

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Fruitcake. Source: Wikimedia Commons

This is ninth in a series of 12 posts on historical Christmas traditions. I didn’t note my sources, but please trust I did verify the information.

Ah, the Christmas traditional everyone loves to hate. According to Time magazine, “fruitcake dates back to the 16th century, when it was discovered that fruit could be preserved by soaking it in large solutions of sugar. Since sugar was cheap, it was an effective and affordable way for the colonies to ensure their native plums and cherries would make the journey to Europe without spoiling. By the 19th century people were combining all sorts of candied fruits — pineapples, plums, dates, pears, cherries, orange peels and cheap nuts — into a cake-like form. In 1913, two of the most famous American bakeries of the time — Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana, Texas and The Claxton Bakery in Claxton, Georgia — began to ship mail order fruitcakes.”

Do you like fruitcake? What’s your favorite holiday dessert?

I have never had it and I am fine with that. My favorites are either chocolate chip cookies or homemade fudge!

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Christmas Traditions: Eggnog (1200s)

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Eggnog. Source: Wikimedia Commons

This is seventh in a series of 12 posts on historical Christmas traditions. I didn’t note my sources, but please trust I did verify the information.

In the Middle Ages in Britain, a drink called a posset – a warm, thick, milky drink of eggs or milk, alcohol (wine, ale, or sherry) and spices – was very popular. It became the eggnog of holiday tradition in the early days of American history. Some say Captain John Smith’s Jamestown colony was the first in the U.S. to make eggnog in 1607. Supposedly (and among many other theories) colonists called their mixture “egg and grog,” the latter being a then-common term for any drink made with rum (which was way cheaper than sherry). The name was eventually shortened to “egg’n’grog” and later, eggnog. Today eggnog is still very similar to the original posset (with the addition of sugar) with ingredients such as milk, sugar, beaten eggs, some kind of liquor (brandy, rum or whiskey) and spices such as ground cinnamon and nutmeg.

What’s your favorite holiday drink?

I don’t like eggnog, but I love me some hot chocolate spiked with Bailey’s!

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Christmas Traditions: Stockings (270-343 AD)

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My mantle last year.

This is fifth in a series of 12 posts on historical Christmas traditions. I didn’t note my sources, but please trust I did verify the information.

Did you know that hanging your stockings by the chimney with care actually ties into the story of St. Nicholas? Legend says the original St. Nicholas, a bishop in Myra, which was part of the Holy Roman Empire, was known for his generosity to the poor. One day, he found out about an impoverished widower who could not afford to provide a dowry for his three daughters, who likely would be forced into prostitution. Worried about the girls, but not wanting witnesses, he waited until dark and either tossed a bag of gold through the window for three nights (one for each daughter) or dropped some gold coins down the chimney, which landed in the girl’s stockings which were hung by the fireplace to dry. That is why we fill ours with gifts.

Do you celebrate St. Nicholas’ Day and/or do stockings by the fire?

St. Nick’s day is my name day, and to this day my parents still give me a stocking on December 6. And I’m almost 40! I put up stockings but my family stopped filling them years ago.

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Christmas Traditions: Yule Log

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This is my advent wreath. It’s not exactly log shaped, but I feel like it has the spirit.

This is fourth in a series of 12 posts on historical Christmas traditions. I didn’t note my sources, but please trust I did verify the information.

Many people burn a Yule log (or at least watch one burning on TV while listening to Christmas music) without knowing its origins. It has its beginnings in Germanic paganism practiced in areas like Scandinavia and Germany. It ties in with the pagan origins of the Christmas tree, which we’ll discuss later. The tradition began using a whole tree, which was ritually cut and brought indoors with great ceremony. The end would be placed in the hearth fire with the rest of the tree in the room. The remnants of last year’s log would be used to light the tree and would be added to the fire each day.

Different kinds of wood are used in different countries. Pine is traditional in Germany, while the English like their oak (which is plentiful there and ties back to Druid belief that oak is sacred). In Scotland, they use birch and in France they use cherry wood sprinkled with wine before it is burned so that it smells good when it is lit.

In the 1600s, the Yule log even transformed into a type of rolled cake that was made popular by Parisian bakers in the 1800s. They may taste good, but take it from me, they are difficult to bake.

Yule log cake. Image purchased from Adobe Stock.

Have you ever lit a Yule log? How about baked the eponymous cake?

I’m scared of fire (plus I have cats and cats like to try to light themselves on fire) so I have an advent wreath that kind of resembles a Yule log. I also try every few years to bake a Yule log cake, but always end up with a cake that falls apart rather than rolls.

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Christmas Traditions: Mistletoe

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Purchased from Adobe Stock

This is third in a series of 12 posts on historical Christmas traditions. I didn’t note my sources, but please trust I did verify the information.

We can thank the Celts this one, who revered mistletoe for its healing and fertility properties and believed it could bring luck and ward off evil. It grows at the top of many trees, including the Celts’ beloved apple and sacred oak. (It also is a symbol of peace and could be used to broker a truce during war.)

Some say the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe began with the Greeks, who also held it sacred, while others say we do it because the Norse associated it with love and friendship (it was sacred to the goddess Freya). I’ve also seen claims that the tradition really dates to the Victorian era and was once believed to be a promise of marriage.

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Christmas Traditions: December 25 – Winter Solstice

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Source: Wikimedia Commons

Back in November when we launched the anthology Tangled Lights and Silent Nights, we had a Facebook Party. For my hour, I shared a bunch of short posts about historical Christmas traditions. So for the next 12 days as we count down toward Christmas, I’d like to share one with you each day.  A few are repeats of really old posts I’ve done here, but most of you weren’t around for the originals, so they will be new to you. Hope you enjoy!

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Did you know Jesus isn’t the only deity believed to be born on December 25? In fact, that date (or close to it) has been considered sacred for millennia.

The Winter Solstice (December 21-23 depending on the year) marks the longest night of the year.  In the Celtic world (and in some modern neo-paganism today), Yule marks the rebirth of the god who died at Samhain (October 31) on the Celtic calendar. This child of light (Lugh, Mabon or various other gods) is symbolized by the sun, which will continue to gain strength until the Summer Solstice. In some versions of Celtic mythology, the young god is kidnapped or stolen away in precarious circumstances, much like the Christian story of the flight into Egypt and the Arthurian tale of Arthur’s fostering by Sir Ector at Merlin’s command. Many sites associated with the Druids, such as Newgrange and Stonehenge, are aligned to the Winter Solstice sunrise or sunset.

Have you ever celebrated the Solstice?

I do every year. I use it as an extension of Christmas and meditate on both the cold and dormancy of the winter (and how we should use it as a fallow time as well) and on the divine child and the miracle of his conception and birth.