[Heeplist] Christmas in the USA

[Mark Layel]

to lethridge, what agreat read! haveyou ever been to Christmas at biltmore?
ashville,nc good Christmas history.
happy heepmas eeryone,and thanks for the welcom.
On Dec 25, 2013 9:37 AM, "lethridge at carolina.net ." <lethridge at carolina.net>
wrote:

>
> Christmas history in America
> In the early 17th century, a wave of religious reform changed the way
> Christmas was celebrated in Europe. When Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan
> forces took over England in 1645, they vowed to rid England of decadence
> and, as part of their effort, cancelled Christmas. By popular demand,
> Charles II was restored to the throne and, with him, came the return of the
> popular holiday.
> The pilgrims, English separatists that came to America in 1620, were even
> more orthodox in their Puritan beliefs than Cromwell. As a result,
> Christmas was not a holiday in early America. From 1659 to 1681, the
> celebration of Christmas was actually outlawed in Boston. Anyone exhibiting
> the Christmas spirit was fined five shillings. By contrast, in the
> Jamestown settlement, Captain John Smith reported that Christmas was
> enjoyed by all and passed without incident.
> After the American Revolution, English customs fell out of favor,
> including Christmas. In fact, Congress was in session on December 25, 1789,
> the first Christmas under America’s new constitution. Christmas wasn’t
> declared a federal holiday until June 26, 1870.
> Washington Irving reinvents Christmas
> It wasn’t until the 19th century that Americans began to embrace
> Christmas. Americans re-invented Christmas, and changed it from a raucous
> carnival holiday into a family-centered day of peace and nostalgia. But
> what about the 1800s peaked American interest in the holiday?
>
> The early 19th century was a period of class conflict and turmoil. During
> this time, unemployment was high and gang rioting by the disenchanted
> classes often occurred during the Christmas season. In 1828, the New York
> city council instituted the city’s first police force in response to a
> Christmas riot. This catalyzed certain members of the upper classes to
> begin to change the way Christmas was celebrated in America. In 1819,
> best-selling author Washington Irving wrote The Sketchbook of Geoffrey
> Crayon, gent., a series of stories about the celebration of Christmas in an
> English manor house. The sketches feature a squire who invited the peasants
> into his home for the holiday. In contrast to the problems faced in
> American society, the two groups mingled effortlessly. In Irving’s mind,
> Christmas should be a peaceful, warm-hearted holiday bringing groups
> together across lines of wealth or social status.
> Irving’s fictitious celebrants enjoyed “ancient customs,” including the
> crowning of a Lord of Misrule. Irving’s book, however, was not based on any
> holiday celebration he had attended—in fact, many historians say that
> Irving’s account actually “invented” tradition by implying that it
> described the true customs of the season.
>
> Before the Civil War
> The North and South were divided on the issue of Christmas, as well as on
> the question of slavery. Many Northerners saw sin in the celebration of
> Christmas; to these people the celebration of Thanksgiving was more
> appropriate. But in the South, Christmas was an important part of the
> social season. Not surprisingly, the first three states to make Christmas a
> legal holiday were in the South: Alabama in 1836, Louisiana and Arkansas in
> 1838.
>
> In the years after the Civil War, Christmas traditions spread across the
> country. Children's books played an important role in spreading the customs
> of celebrating Christmas, especially the tradition of trimmed trees and
> gifts delivered by Santa Claus. Sunday school classes encouraged the
> celebration of Christmas. Women's magazines were also very important in
> suggesting ways to decorate for the holidays, as well as how to make these
> decorations.
>
>
>
> It becomes an Official Holiday
> President Ulysses S. Grant declared Christmas a legal holiday in 1870. The
> bill to make Christmas a holiday was introduced into the House of
> Representatives by Rep. Burton Chauncey Cook (Illinois). It was approved
> and passed to the Senate on June 24, 1870. When both houses had agreed on
> the wording (below) it was passed on to President Grant, who signed it on
> June 28, 1870. Here is the wording of that act of Congress: An Act making
> the first Day of January, the twenty-fifth Day of December, the fourth Day
> of July, and Thanksgiving Day, Holidays, within the District of Columbia.
> Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
> States of America in Congress assembled, That the following days, to wit:
> The first day of January, commonly called New Year's day, the fourth day of
> July, the twenty-fifth day of December, commonly called Christmas Day, and
> any day appointed or recommended by the President of the United States as a
> day of public fast or thanksgiving, shall be holidays within the District
> of Columbia, and shall, for all purposes of presenting for payment or
> acceptance of the maturity and protest, and giving notice of the dishonor
> of bills of exchange, bank checks and promissory notes or other negotiable
> or commercial paper, be treated and considered as is the first day of the
> week, commonly called Sunday, and all notes, drafts, checks, or other
> commercial or negotiable paper falling due or maturing on either of said
> holidays shall be deemed as having matured on the day previous. APPROVED,
> June 28, 1870 by President Ulysses S. Grant.
>
> By the last quarter of the nineteenth century, America eagerly decorated
> trees, caroled, baked, and shopped for the Christmas season. Since that
> time, materialism, media, advertising, and mass marketing has made
> Christmas what it is today. The traditions that we enjoy at Christmas today
> were invented by blending together customs from many different countries
> into what is considered by many to be our national holiday.
>
>
>
>
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