This year I thought I would
give you the history of some of the Holiday traditions.
The pictures are of some of the holiday cards I received
and the music is the Cherish the Ladies Christmas album
called "ON CHRISTMAS NIGHT". I converted the MP3
into a wav and compressed it, to allow for easy download, thus the quality
is not very good. Buy the album here, it is great!
The
Cherish The Ladies ON CHRISTMAS NIGHT
At the bottom of
the Holiday Page is a picture of my Granddaughter with
her new Christmas pup, COCOBEAN, nicknamed Cocopuff. I hope everyone has a wonderful
holiday season and wishing you health and happiness for
the New Year.
Merry Christmas and Happy
Holidays from Carolyn
The
Chronological History of the Christmas Tree
St. Boniface Story
Why do we have a decorated Christmas Tree? In the 7th
century a monk from Crediton, Devonshire, went to Germany
to teach the Word of God. He did many good works there,
and spent much time in Thuringia, an area which was to
become the cradle of the Christmas Decoration Industry.
Legend has it that he used the triangular shape of the
Fir Tree to describe the Holy Trinity of God the Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. The converted people began to revere
the Fir tree as God's Tree, as they had previously
revered the Oak. By the 12th century it was being hung,
upside-down, from ceilings at Christmastime in Central
Europe, as a symbol of Christianity.
The first decorated tree was at Riga in Latvia, in 1510.
In the early 16th century, Martin Luther is said to have
decorated a small Christmas Tree with candles, to show
his children how the stars twinkled through the dark
night.
Christmas Markets
In the mid 16th century, Christmas markets were set up in
German towns, to provide everything from gifts, food and
more practical things such as a knife grinder to sharpen
the knife to carve the Christmas Goose! At these fairs,
bakers made shaped gingerbreads and wax ornaments for
people to buy as souvenirs of the fair, and take home to
hang on their Christmas Trees.
The best record we have is that of a visitor to
Strasbourg in 1601. He records a tree decorated with
"wafers and golden sugar-twists (Barleysugar) and
paper flowers of all colours". The early trees were
biblically symbolic of the Paradise Tree in the Garden of
Eden. The many food items were symbols of Plenty, the
flowers, originally only red (for Knowledge) and White
(for Innocence).
Tinsel
Tinsel was invented in Germany around 1610. At that time
real silver was used, and machines were invented which
pulled the silver out into the wafer thin strips for
tinsel. Silver was durable, but tarnished quickly,
especially with candlelight. Attempts were made to use a
mixture of lead and tin, but this was heavy and tended to
break under its own weight so was not so practical. So
silver was used for tinsel right up to the mid-20th
century.
The First English Trees
The Christmas Tree first came to England with the
Georgian Kings who came from Germany. At this time also,
German Merchants living in England decorated their homes
with a Christmas Tree. The British public were not fond
of the German Monarchy, so did not copy the fashions at
Court, which is why the Christmas Tree did not establish
in Britain at that time. A few families did have
Christmas trees however, probably more from the influence
of their German neighbours than from the Royal Court.
The decorations were Tinsels, silver wire ornaments,
candles and small beads. All these had been manufactured
in Germany and East Europe since the 17th century. The
custom was to have several small trees on tables, one for
each member of the family, with that persons gifts
stacked on the table under the tree.
The Victorian and Albert Tree
In 1846, the popular Royals, Queen Victoria and her
German Prince, Albert, were illustrated in the
Illustrated London News. They were standing with their
children around a Christmas Tree. Unlike the previous
Royal family, Victoria was very popular with her
subjects, and what was done at Court immediately became
fashionable - not only in Britain, but with
fashion-conscious East Coast American Society. The
English Christmas Tree had arrived!
Decorations were still of a 'home-made' variety. Young
Ladies spent hours at Christmas Crafts, quilling
snowflakes and stars, sewing little pouches for secret
gifts and paper baskets with sugared almonds in them.
Small bead decorations, fine drawn out silver tinsel came
from Germany together with beautiful Angels to sit at the
top of the tree. Candles were often placed into wooden
hoops for safety.
Mid-Victorian Tree
In 1850's Lauscha began to produce fancy shaped glass
bead garlands for the trees, and short garlands made from
necklace 'bugles' and beads. These were readily available
in Germany but not produced in sufficient quantities to
export to Britain. The Rauschgoldengel was a common
sight. Literally, 'Tingled-angel', bought from the
Thuringian Christmas markets, and dressed in pure gilded
tin.
The 1860's English Tree had become more innovative than
the delicate trees of earlier decades. Small toys were
popularly hung on the branches, but still most gifts were
placed on the table under the tree.
Around this time, the Christmas tree was spreading into
other parts of Europe. The Mediterranean countries were
not too interested in the tree, preferring to display
only a Creche scene. Italy had a wooden triangle platform
tree called as 'CEPPO'. This had a Creche scene as well
as decorations.
The German tree was beginning to suffer from mass
destruction! It had become the fashion to lop off the tip
off a large tree to use as a Christmas Tree, which
prevented the tree from growing further. Statutes were
made to prevent people having more than one tree.
Just as the first trees introduced into Britain did not
immediately take off, the early trees introduced into
America by the Hessian soldiers were not recorded in any
particular quantity. The Pennsylvanian German settlements
had community trees as early as 1747.
America being so large, tended to have 'pockets' of
customs relating to the immigrants who had settled in a
particular area, and it was not until the communications
really got going in the 19th century, that such customs
began to spread. Thus references to decorated trees in
America before about the middle of the 19th century are
very rare.
By the 1870's, Glass ornaments were being imported into
Britain from Lauscha, in Thuringia. It became a status
symbol to have glass ornaments on the tree, the more one
had, the better ones status! Still many home-made things
were seen. The Empire was growing, and the popular tree
topper was the Nation's Flag, sometimes there were flags
of the Empire and flags of the allied countries. Trees
got very patriotic.
They were imported into America around 1880, where they
were sold through stores such as FW Woolworth. They were
quickly followed by American patents for electric lights
(1882), and metal hooks for safer hanging of decorations
onto the trees (1892)
High Victorian Trees
The 1880's saw a rise of the Aesthetic Movement. At this
time Christmas Trees became a glorious hotchpotch of
everything one could cram on; or by complete contrast the
aesthetic trees which were delicately balanced trees,
with delicate colours, shapes and style. they also grew
to floor standing trees. The limited availability of
decorations in earlier decades had kept trees by
necessity to, usually table trees. Now with decorations
as well as crafts more popular than ever, there was no
excuse. Still a status symbol, the larger the tree - the
more affluent the family which sported it.
The High Victorian of the 1890's was a child's joy to
behold! As tall as the room, and crammed with glitter and
tinsel and toys galore. Even the 'middleclasses' managed
to over-decorate their trees. It was a case of 'anything
goes'. Everything that could possibly go on a tree went
onto it.
By 1900 themed trees were popular. A colour theme set in
ribbons or balls, a topical idea such as an Oriental
Tree, or an Egyptian Tree. They were to be the last of
the great Christmas Trees for some time. With the death
of Victoria in 1901, the Nation went into mourning and
fine trees were not really in evidence until the
nostalgia of the Dickensian fashion of the 1930's.
The American Tree
In America, Christmas Trees were introduced into several
pockets - the German Hessian Soldiers took their tree
customs in the 18th century. In Texas, Cattle Barons from
Britain took their customs in the 19th century, and the
East Coast Society copied the English Court tree customs.
Settlers from all over Europe took their customs also in
the 19th century. Decorations were not easy to find in
the shanty towns of the West, and people began to make
their own decorations. Tin was pierced to create lights
and lanterns to hold candles which could shine through
the holes. Decorations of all kinds were cutout, stitched
and glued. The General Stores were hunting grounds for
old magazines with pictures, rolls of Cotton Batting
(Cotton Wool), and tinsel, which was occasionally sent
from Germany or brought in from the Eastern States. The
Paper 'Putz' or Christmas Crib was a popular feature
under the tree, especially in the Moravian Dutch
communities which settled in Pennsylvania.
The British tree in the 20th
century
After Queen Victoria died, the country went into
mourning, and the tree somehow died with her for a while
in many homes. While some families and community groups
still had large tinsel strewn trees, many opted for the
more convenient table top tree. These were available in a
variety of sizes, and the artificial tree, particularly
the Goose Feather Tree, became popular. These were
originally invented in the 1880's in Germany, to combat
some of the damage being done to Fir trees in the name of
Christmas.
In America, the Addis Brush Company created the first
brush trees, using the same machinery which made their
toilet brushes! These had an advantage over the feather
tree in that they would take heavier decorations.
After 1918, because of licensing and export problems,
Germany was not able to export its decorations easily.
The market was quickly taken up by Japan and America,
especially in Christmas Tree lights.
Britain's Tom Smith Cracker Company which has exported
Christmas goods for over three decades, began to
manufacture trees themselves for a short while.
In the 1930's There was a revival of Dickensian
nostalgia, particularly in Britain. Christmas cards all
sported Crinoline ladies with muffs and bonnets popular
in the 1840's. Christmas Trees became large, and real
again, and were decorated with many bells, balls and
tinsels, and with a beautiful golden haired angel at the
top. But wartime England put a stop to many of these
trees. It was forbidden to cut trees down for decoration,
and with so many raids, many people preferred to keep
their most precious heirloom Christmas tree decorations
carefully stored away in metal boxes, and decorated only
a small tabletop tree with home-made decorations, which
could be taken down into the shelters for a little
Christmas cheer, when the air-raid sirens went.
Large trees were erected however in public places to give
moral to the people at this time.
Postwar Britain saw a revival of the nostalgic again.
people needed the security of Christmas, which is so
unchanging in a changing world, as one of the symbols to
set them back on their feet. Trees were as large as
people could afford. Many poorer families still used the
tabletop Goosefeather trees, Americas Addis Brush Trees
were being imported into Britain, and these became
immensely popular for a time. But the favourites were
still real trees. The popular decorations were all
produced by a British manufacturer, Swanbrand. and sold
by FW Woolworth in Britain. Translucent plastic lock
together shapes, Honeycomb paper Angels, 'glow-in the
-dark icicles; also Polish glass balls and birds In South
Wales, where real trees were often difficult to find in
the rural areas, Holly Bushes were decorated.
The mid-1960's saw another change. A new world was on the
horizon, and modernist ideas were everywhere. Silver
aluminium trees were imported from America. The 'Silver
Pine' tree, patented in the 1950's, was designed to have
a revolving light source under it, with coloured gelatine
'windows, which allowed the light to shine in different
shades as it revolved under the tree. No decorations were
needed for this tree.
Decorations became sparse. Glass balls and lametta
created an 'elegant' modern tree. Of course, many
families ignored fashion and carried on putting their own
well loved decorations on their trees!
America made a return to Victorian nostalgia in the
1970's, and it was a good decade later that Britain
followed the fashion. By the at first this was a
refreshing look, and manufacturers realising the
potential created more and more fantastic decorations.
Some American companies specialised in antique replicas,
actually finding the original makers in Europe to
recreate wonderful glass ornaments, real silver tinsels
and pressed foil 'Dresdens'.
Real Christmas Trees were popular, but many housewives
preferred the convenience of the authentic looking
artificial trees which were being manufactured. If your
room was big enough, you could have a 14 foot artificial
Spruce right there in your living room, without a single
dropped needle - and so good that it fooled everyone at
first glance. There are even pine scented sprays to put
on the tree for that 'real tree smell'!
The late 1990's tree has taken the Victorian idea, but
with new themes and conceptual designs. The Starry Starry
Night Tree, The Twilight Tree, The Snow Queen Tree.....
Celtic Mythology and Kissing
Under the Mistletoe
We are all familiar with at least a portion of this
mysterious plant's story: namely, that a lot of kissing
under the mistletoe has been going on for ages. Few,
however, realize that the plant's botanical story earns
it the classification of "parasite." Fewer
still are privy to the convoluted history behind the
tradition of kissing under the mistletoe. And its
literary history is a forgotten footnote for all but the
most scholarly.
"Here were kept up the old games of hoodman blind,
shoe the wild mare, hot cockles, steal the white loaf,
bob apple, and snap dragon; the Yule-clog and Christmas
candle were regularly burnt, and the mistletoe with its
white berries hung up, to the imminent peril of all the
pretty housemaids."
So Washington Irving, in "Christmas Eve,"
relates the typical festivities surrounding the Twelve
Days of Christmas, including kissing under the mistletoe
(Washington Irving, "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey
Crayon, Gent." Note that Yule-clog is not a typo:
"Yule-log" is a later abbreviation of the
original "Yule-clog."). Irving continues his
Christmas passage with a footnote:
"The mistletoe is still hung up in farm-houses and
kitchens at Christmas, and the young men have the
privilege of kissing the girls under it, plucking each
time a berry from the bush. When the berries are all
plucked the privilege ceases." We moderns have
conveniently forgotten the part about plucking the
berries, and then desisting from kissing under the
mistletoe when the berries run out!
Along with the Christmas holly, laurel, rosemary, and
boxwood bushes and, of course, the Christmas tree, this
plant is an evergreen displayed during the Christmas
season and symbolic of the eventual rebirth of vegetation
that will occur in spring. But perhaps more than any
other of the Christmas evergreens, it is a plant of which
we are conscious only during the holidays. One day we're
kissing under the mistletoe, and next day we've forgotten
all about it (the plant, that is, not the kisses).
When the Christmas decorations come down, the little
evergreen fades from our minds for another year, receding
into the mists of mythology, rituals and enigma.
Particularly in regions where the plant is not native (or
is rare), most people do not even realize that the plant
does not grow on the ground, but rather on trees as a
parasitic shrub. That's right: as unromantic as it
sounds, kissing under the mistletoe means embracing under
a parasite....
The variety common in Europe was imbued with religious
significance by its ancient denizens. We find the source
of "kissing under the mistletoe" in Celtic
rituals and Norse mythology. In Gaul, the land of the
Celts, for instance, the Druids considered it a sacred
plant. It was believed to have medicinal qualities and
mysterious supernatural powers. The following reflections
from the Roman natural historian Pliny the Elder is part
of a longer Latin passage on the subject, dealing with a
Druidic religious ritual:
"Here we must mention the reverence felt for this
plant by the Gauls. The Druids -- for thusly are their
priests named - hold nothing more sacred than the
mistletoe and the tree that bears it, as long as that
tree be an oak.... Mistletoe is very rarely encountered;
but when they do find some, they gather it, in a solemn
ritual....
"After preparing for a sacrifice and a feast under
the oak, they hail the mistletoe as a cure-all and bring
two white bulls there, whose horns have never been bound
before. A priest dressed in a white robe climbs the oak
and with a golden sickle cuts the mistletoe, which is
caught in a white cloak. Then they sacrifice the victims,
begging the god, who gave them the mistletoe as a gift,
to make it propitious for them. They believe that a
potion prepared from mistletoe will make sterile animals
fertile, and that the plant is an antidote for any
poison. Such is the supernatural power with which peoples
often invest even the most trifling things"
("Natural History," XVI, 249-251; translation
by David Beaulieu).
Eggnog
Written by Nanna Rognvaldardottir of Iceland
Eggnog literally means eggs inside a small cup. It is
used as a toast to ones health. Nog is an old English
dialect word (from East Anglia) of obscure origins that
was used to describe a kind of strong beer (hence
noggin). It is first recorded in the seventeenth century.
Eggnog, however, is first mentioned in the early
nineteenth century but seems to have been popular on both
sides of the Atlantic at that time. An alternative
British name was egg flip.
It all began in England, where eggnog was the trademark
drink of the upper class. "You have to remember, the
average Londoner rarely saw a glass of milk," says
author/historian James Humes (July 1997, "To Humes
It May Concern"), former speech writer and adviser
to four presidents. "There was no refrigeration, and
the farms belonged to the big estates. Those who could
get milk and eggs to make eggnog mixed it with brandy or
Madeira or even sherry." But it became most popular
in America, where farms and dairy products were
plentiful, as was rum. Rum came to these shores via the
Triangular Trade from the Caribbean; thus it was far more
affordable than the heavily taxed brandy or other
European spirits that it replaced at our forefather's
holiday revels."
An English creation, it descended from a hot British
drink called posset, which consists of eggs, milk, and
ale or wine. The recipe for eggnog (eggs beaten with
sugar, milk or cream, and some kind of spirit) has
traveled well, adapting to local tastes wherever it has
landed. In the American South, bourbon replaced ale
(though nog, the British slang for strong ale, stuck).
Rich, strong eggnog — the richer and stronger, the
better — is no stranger to holiday celebrations in
New Orleans, and at this time of year the drink takes its
place alongside syllabubs on the traditional southern
table. (Syllabub is a less potent mixture than eggnog but
just as rich. Made with milk, sugar and wine, it
straddles the line between drink and liquid dessert.)
Eggnog goes by the name coquito in Puerto Rico, where,
not surprisingly, rum is the liquor of choice (as it is
these days for many eggnog lovers in the U.S.). There the
drink has the added appeal of being made with fresh
coconut juice or coconut milk. Mexican eggnog, known as
rompope, was created in the convent of Santa Clara in the
state of Puebla. The basic recipe is augmented with a
heavy dose of Mexican cinnamon and rum or grain alcohol,
and the resulting drink is sipped as a liqueur. In Peru,
holidays are celebrated with a biblia con pisco, an
eggnog made with the Peruvian pomace brandy called pisco.
Jamie
and CocoPuff 2004
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