Another British invasion--Victorian influence on American Christmas Traditions

by Kathleen L. Maher

In a previous post, I wrote about New York writers Washington Irving and Clement C. Moore, and how their literary works shaped modern lore surrounding Santa Claus and stockings hung by the chimney... etc. But a significant influence on the way we celebrate Christmas today came from across the pond, and cemented many traditions still practiced. From Prince Albert's trees at Buckingham Palace to the decorations that made them twinkle and shine, to Christmas greeting cards, caroling and gift giving, we owe much of our festivity and merry-making to the Victorians.

The Victorians loved their music. Before the Victorian Age, the cost of pianos and organs would have been prohibitive in the home, but among the middle and upper classes a new opportunity arose to gather around parlor instruments and sing. Both secular and sacred, a new form of song arose in carols. The ancient English custom of the waits, traveling house to house singing for one's supper, transformed into a new and lighter-hearted wassail. Secular tunes were recomposed with sacred lyrics and sung in church as Christmas hymns. Silent Night, O Little Town of Bethlehem and Away in a Manger for example, retold the story of the first Christmas in song. But just as popular were songs like Jingle Bells and O Christmas Tree which celebrate the simple joys of the season.

Queen Victoria may not have originated such iconic associations as mistletoe or Father Christmas, but there was a remarkable renaissance of these charming legends during her reign. Gone were the days of Cromwell who choked out every reference to Catholicism with an iron fist, including gift giving, holiday feasts, and reverence for Saint Nicholas. Victoria and Albert seemed to relax old taboos and usher in an era of simplicity and celebration, particularly where it concerned the joys of children. Maybe this renewal was as much due to writers such as Charles Dickens, whose Pickwick Papers and later work A Christmas Carol depicted charity, dancing, banquet tables, family gatherings, and renouncing curmudgeonly behavior. 

The Kissing Ball, an arrangement involving mistletoe, holly, ivy, and berries, symbolizes the return of pagan evergreen symbols of hope of spring and life, and made its reappearance in the Pickwick Papers. One version of this charming tradition that had its roots in fertility rites, has couples picking a berry from the arrangement each time they kissed beneath it, leaving it eventually empty of fruit. Father Christmas' return from the ban imposed during the Commonwealth period came in A Christmas Carol. The Spirit of Christmas Present would have been easily recognized by any man, woman or child of England as Father Christmas, with his wreath crown, his fur robe, and his merry persona. Between Dickens' writings in England and Moore's in New York, the idea of Santa Claus and Father Christmas started to meld. Father Christmas changed his cloak from green to red somewhere in the mid-century and started placing gifts in stockings.

Yet another Christmas tradition came during the early years of Victoria's reign. The first Christmas greeting card was ordered in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole who commissioned artist John Calcott Horsley. His work was reproduced into 1000 prints and distributed to business associates and friends to wish them good fortune. 

In my Victorian Christmas novella, "Love Brick by Brick", English traditions collide with American folklore in 1857 New York. The aristocrat and the lowborn square off. Romance emerges amid music, popular literature, charity, and leaving aside pride and the failings of the past. Two people of vastly differing backgrounds find they are drawn to build a future together, tying the threads of the old in with new possibilities.

To celebrate the launch of my first traditionally published story this month, I am offering one of Barbour Books' gorgeous paperback copies of Victorian Christmas Brides to one lucky visitor. Random (dot) org will draw one winner on Monday, Sept 10. Be sure to leave your email so I can notify you. (US residents only)

To enter, answer this question:
What is your favorite Christmas carol or song, and what memories does it evoke when you hear it?

Kathleen L. Maher has had an infatuation with books and fictional heroes ever since her preschool crush, Peter Rabbit. Her novella "Love Brick by Brick", released in the 2018 Victorian Christmas Brides Collection, featuring her hometown of Elmira, New York. She won the ACFW Genesis contest in 2012 for her Civil War story The Abolitionist’s Daughter. Kathleen shares an old farmhouse in upstate New York with her husband, children, and a small zoo of rescued animals.
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New York and Creating Santa Claus

New Amsterdam’s Dutch settlers brought the tradition of Saint Nicholas, whose feast day is Dec 6^th. Saint Nicholas is said to be the patron saint of New York, and his veneration held influence over Dutch, German and Scandinavian immigrants who settled in New York, Pennsylvania and the Great Lakes region. Clogs and shoes might be filled with goodies such as oranges and nuts, if one was truly faithful. The Protestant Reformation had a chilling effect on saint veneration, and this tradition largely went underground in Europe. America proved a friendly environment for a more secularized Christmas tradition to flourish.

Legend has it that the first ship that docked in New York was the Goede Vrowe, which according to Washington Irving’s 1809 satirical Knickerbocker’s History of New York, had as its prow carving “a goodly image of St. Nicholas, equipped with a low brimmed hat, huge pair of Flemish hose and a pipe that reached to the end of the bowsprit." This image was more working-class Dutch than the proud image of the revered Bishop of history. This Saint Nick appealed to the common man, and after the patriotic fervor of the Revolution, inspired people to return to their ancestral roots.

Saint Nick had planted a foothold in the creative minds of New York writers. Washington Irving in particular is credited with the most imaginative early descriptions of what was to become our modern Santa Claus. He describes Saint Nicholas not only as having a broad hat and long pipe, but of driving a sleigh over the rooftops, filled with presents which he drops down the chimney. At first, it is to all good and unworldly Dutch he comes, on random nights throughout the year, but as tradition and devotion fade, only the children with the purest hearts receive, and only on The Eve of the Feast of Saint Nicholas.

The Children's Friend

In 1821 the first lithographed book in America was published, naturally by a New York publisher, celebrating Sante Claus as “The Children’s Friend.” The images and anonymous poems depict a plump man in red, driving a sleigh pulled by reindeer to deliver his gifts for the first time on December 24th.

Two years later, 1823, and another New York writer, Clement C. Moore, took this iconic image of an impish old man and expounded on it to bring us the famous elf of his poem, A Visit from Saint Nicholas, later better known as T’was the Night Before Christmas.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

This Saint Nick came down the chimney and filled stockings for good girls and boys. For it wasn’t until the 1840’s after Prince Albert presented Queen Victoria with decorated trees at her palaces that the Christmas tree came into vogue in the United States.

Both Irving and Moore use a curious phrase in describing Saint Nick’s mannerisms—"laying a finger aside of his nose.” It is the equivalent of our modern-day wink and nod, assuring us that this is real, and not just the stuff of childhood fantasy. Ask Virginia, she knows there really is a Santa Claus.

Kathleen Maher is a 21st Century girl with an old soul. She has a novella coming out in 2018 with Barbour's collection Victorian Christmas Brides. Her debut novella Bachelor Buttons, released in 2013 through Helping Hands Press, incorporates both her Irish heritage and love of Civil War history. She won the ACFW Genesis Contest for unpublished writers, historical category, in 2012. Kathleen and her husband share an old farmhouse in upstate NY with their children and a small zoo of rescued animals.