[Heeplist] Christmas in the USA

Thu Dec 26 22:22:18 EST 2013

Hi Mark,

Yes, my wife and I have been to Biltmore at Christmas. Also once we were there during a storm in which everyone left. We parked our van right in front of the house and took pictures as if it were our house. We through with nobody in the rooms except us.

I'm from Rockingham.  There are at least 5 people on the list from NC. By the way, my wife's sister who was on this list was born in New Bern.

Heep On, Lannis

-----Original Message-----
From: "Mark Layel" [marklayel at gmail.com]
Date: 12/26/2013 12:04 AM
To: "Heepsters Mailing List (Travellers in Time)" <heeplist at travellersintime.com>
Subject: Re: [Heeplist] Christmas in the USA

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 responseto 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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