Christmas & New Years on the Frontier

[Marge Smith]

Juliette Kinzie says in Wau-bun that at Fort Winnebago the Indian women came for gifts in 1831 having learned the custom from the French. She gave them pastries dipped in sugar.

The gal indexing all the Galena newspapers says that Xmas was not celebrated until the Germans came.

Any thoughts?

Marge

[mary]

Yes... Chapter 11 of Mrs. Kinzie's Wau-bun reads:

The arrival of Christmas and New Year's brought us our Indian friends again. They had learned something of the observation of these holidays from their French neighbors, and I had been forewarned that I should see the squaws kissing every white man they met. Although not crediting this to its full extent, I could readily believe that they would each expect a present, as a "compliment of the season," so I duly prepared myself with a supply of beads, ribbons, combs, and other trinkets. Knowing them to be fond of dainties, I had also a quantity of crullers and doughnuts made ready the day before, as a treat to them.

To my great surprise and annoyance, only a moderate share of the cakes, the frying of which had been entrusted to Louisa, were brought up to be placed in the "Davis."

"Where are the rest of the cakes, Louisa?"

"That great fellow, Hancock, came in with the fatigue party to fill the water-barrels, and while I had just stepped into the store-room to get some more flour, he carried off all I had got cooked."

And Louisa made a face and whined, as if she had not herself treated every soldier who had set his foot in the premises.

At an early hour the next morning I had quite a levee of the Ho-tshung-rah matrons. They seated themselves in a circle on the floor, and I was sorry to observe that the application of a little soap and water to their blankets had formed no part of their holiday preparations. There being no one to interpret, I thought I would begin the conversation in away intelligible to themselves, so I brought out of the sideboard a china dish, filled with the nice brown crullers, over which I had grated, according to custom, a goodly quantity of white sugar. I handed it to the first of the circle. She took the dish from my hand, and deliberately pouring all the cakes into the corner of her blanket, returned it to me empty. "She must be a most voracious person," thought I, "but I will manage better the next time." I refilled the dish, and approached the next one, taking care to keep a fast hold of it as I offered the contents, of which I supposed she would modestly take one. Not so, however. She scooped out the whole with her two hands, and, like the former, bestowed them in her blanket. My sense of politeness revolted at handing them out one by one, as we do to children, so I sat down to deliberate what was to be done, for evidently the supply would not long answer such an ample demand, and there would be more visitors anon.

While I was thus perplexed those who had received the cakes commenced a distribution, and the whole number was equitably divided among the company. But I observed they did not eat them. They passed their fingers over the grated sugar, looked in each other's faces, and muttered in low tones -- there was evidently something they did not understand. Presently one more adventurous than the rest wet her fingers, and taking up a few grains of the sugar put it cautiously to her mouth.

"Tah-nee-zhoo-rah!" (Sugar!) was her delighted exclamation, and they all broke out into a hearty laugh; it is needless to say that the cakes disappeared with all the celerity they deemed compatible with good-breeding. Never having seen any sugar but the brown or yellow maple, they had supposed the white substance to be salt, and for that reason had hesitated to taste it.

I learned that Juliette Kinzie was a well-bred Connecticut Yankee. Some of my sources are telling me that Christmas was less observed in New England than a kind of "Thanksgiving" holiday, usually "celebrated" in December. The Indians mentioned in Mrs. Kinzie's account appear to have learned of the traditions from their French Catholic neighbors.

[Robert Braun]

Marge, with respect to your associate who is searching the Galena newspapers, she might wish to search for specific clues that MAY be indicative of some observance of Christmas or New Year's by some segments of the Lead Region population. These clues may include:

1. Increases in ad copy around October-November--either in size or quantity. Look for some clues within the ad copy, as while the actual words "Christmas" and "New Year" may not be used, other words like "holyday," "year-end," "carnival," "festivities," "special time," "thanksgiving," "gift," etc. In particular, the arrival of goods not normally associated with trade throughout the year. Also look for combinations of ads: molassas in association with sugar, flour, fruits, etc.

2. Mentions of items like, or relating to "gift books,"

3. Mentions in December or January (late) editions of revelry, noisy marches, vandalism, late night disturbances, inordinant or unusual damage caused to property, particularly property of of wealthier or more well-to-do citizenry, and almosy invariably associated with drink;

4. Letters to the editor or editorial opinions condemning seasonal excesses, particularly drink.

5. Any mention of the word "wassail,"

6. Any mention of religious observances that seem more than usual;

7. Editorial "reminders" or actuals ads, sometimes in verse, to remember in a monetary way the newspaper boy, the cart driver, and other persons of "lesser" or "rude" or "mean" stature that might be ordinarily encountered on a regular basis, and whom provide services or goods throughout the year.

[mary]

It is interesting to note that our modern perception is that Christmas was not celebrated nationally until after the Civil War. Certainly, the celebration of this holiday occurred earlier, but often depended on your background, religion and experiences.

I found it fascinating that the terms Bob mentioned in his post do reflect a much earlier celebration of this holiday, but in terms we are not used to using.

An example of this was the popular English celebration of 'wassailing'. I, up to recently, thought of it as a sharing of the ' holiday spirit' with friends and neighbors. It is in fact, more of a trick or treat activity that young men in particular played on their betters, and employer.

I encourage anyone interested in learning more to do so as we begin to celebrate this blessed holiday season.

[Robert Braun]

With the various peoples that inhabited the Lead Region, there was likely numerous observances based on religion or national origin. Or none at all!

Those of New England "Yankee" origins or Puritan extraction would be the least inclined to a Christmas observance, finding no bibical reference to the actual day of the birth of Christ. Generally speaking, such folks observed that December 25 was a day of work like any other day (unless it fell on the Sabbath.) Accounts point to settlers slaughtering hogs and dipping tallow candles during this time, as the chilly weather prevented the meat from rapidly spoiling. While early Puritans actually outlawed Christmas observances in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, these restrictions gradually relaxed over time. There was a strong New England tradition of observing a kind of "thanksgiving" or gathering in commemoration of the harvest, usually in early December;

Those of French derivation may well have followed the traditions of their Catholic upbringing. We have already seen from Juliette Kinzie's account that native people MAY have adopted some traditions from close association with the French;

Pennsylvanians might employ greenery and gingerbread figures as interior decoration, and bring stories of the Belsnickle.. a large costumed figure who brought switches for bad children and fruit and nuts for good ones;

Those from New York may present the closest observance to what we "moderns" would consider "traditional" Christmas, following the prescriptions of John Pintard, and those of fellow Knickerbockers Washington Irving (who published his Bracebridge Hall stories of traditional Christmas observances in his 1819 The Sketch Book), and Clement Clark Moore, who wrote "A Visit from St. Nicholas" in 1822. In these traditons, stockings were hung up, and the holiday was becoming more child-centered. There was also traditions of interior greenery decoration (but no Christmas trees yet!), feasting, and outdoor revelry;

The majority of the population--of highland Southern extraction-- would most probably follow the traditions of their English or Scots-Irish borderer ancestors. These included a blend of secular traditions that sometimes involved feasting, drinking, and revelry... led by a "Lord of Misrule" in a roystering series of visits to the local "well-to-do" known as "wassailing."

And, to be sure... there were folks in the Lead Region that weren't quite sure what to think, and either copied the traditions of their neighbors, or considered December 25th as just another work day in the diggings.

[Marge Smith]

I checked "The Galenian" for all the clues Robert suggested and found nothing for 1834 nor 1835 Christmas. I did find a poem on Jan. 6, 1835 which goes on for 20 some stanzas about the old year. One of these:

"It seems but as a week to scan
Since 18 Thirty 4 began
The interval quite short has been--
Eventful the result!
Now I'll review the last - its din -
Divine the year's tumult."

This appears to have been written locally.

The Editor of "The Galenian", Dr. Addison Philleo, of the "Seat of War" Black Hawk War columns, was a New Yorker. The Miners' Journal editor James Jones came from around Vandalia, IL, I believe, so don't know if southern or Yankee.

I also checked a biography of Rev. Aratus Kent, the Presbyterian missionary, a Yale graduate and found nothing. Same with the biography of Father Mazzuchelli.

Could be, as today, with local newspapers. Everyone on Main Street knows about it so there is no need to write about it.

[Robert Braun]

Very interesting material here.

I suspect that the wide dispersal of the inhabitants in the region, and the mix of persons living in and around Galena, and moving in and out of same, made for a less than uniform observance. Apparantly, there weren't the kind of December "goings on" in and around Galena that made the papers in Philadelphia, Boston, or New York.

Thanks for this insight, Marge!

[Chris Gordy]

The study of this holiday is both fun and fascinating. On December 15th, Apple River Fort will be having an event where the history of how this holiday was (or wasn't) celebrated in the early nineteenth century and how it came to be the type of holiday it is most known for today.

Also, The Galenian paper has another article in it for Friday, January 17, 1834 titled "Merry Christmas To You"

However, the poem Marge Smith found, pertaining to New Year's, is probably what one would find more of in the papers during this time. The celebration of the new year is still one of the biggest celebrations that can sometimes couple Christmas and New Year's together. (And then there's St. Nicholas Day and Twelfth Night which also influences the holiday but that's a story for later) By 1832 it has only been ten years since the first publication of Clement Moore's story of Old St. Nicholas. This story brings some new and old traditions into the mainstream and into how people celebrate today. However, it hasn't quite taken hold on all people and cultures of the U.S. by this time. A person researching the Christmas holiday of the early nineteenth century will, in time, find quite a variety of traditions in celebration and some in non-celebration. In time these various traditions will come together and give the people of today their tree, Santa, gifts, cards, Christmas dinner, nog, wassail and so on. (I would say Rudolph but that's a much later thing)

"Okay Chris . . . thanks for your extremely abbreviated cultural history of the Christmas celebration . . . but what is your point man?! Hasn't this been said enough?" My point is that it is going to be somewhat difficult to pinpoint any one kind of Christmas celebration or tradition out here in the west. It is equally difficult to find people talking about how they celebrate Christmas in the early nineteenth century in their writings. Interpretively speaking, it's a very cool subject to bring to the public.

Bob, you are correct in looking at the Upland Southerners as taking a more English stand with Christmas. Those that celebrated did so in a more wassailing sort of way while others just chose not to celebrate but to treat it as any other day. These rousing evenings of wassailing is what also made such a clatter to make a gentleman go to the window to see what is the matter. He might have thought that it could have been another one of those Callathumpian bands again (welcome to another evening of the L.A. Riots) where wassailing had taken on a more "looting" approach rather than thinly vailed threats. Those easterners with their newly found stories of Jolly Old St. Nick are indeed taking the tradition of "giving to all" to newer heights! Can you imagine actually receiving a gift (for free mind you!) from a lower class individual who isn't threatening you? And he came through the chimney?

As to gift books . . . I found an original 1836 book titled "The Gift" at the Macon County Historical Society in Decatur, Illinois. It was the third volume of that particular set.

Now that I've pretty much bounced all over the place with this subject, I'll end. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night.

[Robert Braun]

I think the Knickerbocker experience would be in the distinct minority in the Lead District. The combined tales of Irving, Moore, and other patrician New Yorkers was for a significant time circulating primarilyamong the upper crust of New York* society, while the lesser classes in the city delved into more of the wassailing and callithumpian "Lord of Misrule" observances... all heavily soaked in alcohol. It was these very "plebian" traditions that the patricians, yearning for more traditional observances of what they saw as "Old Dutch New York," argued against in their texts, poetry, and newspaper articles.

I heartily agree that there was no single defining holiday tradition in the mineral region. I think that the predominant observances in the Lead District would have been those of the highland Southerners, with some of the French tradions among those folks who held such observances over from their youth. Sprinkled among these would be single men and families that regarded December 25 as yet another work day.


*For purposes of clarity, in this time period, the term "New York" normally meant the city. If you meant the state, you said so specifically: "The state of New York;" or "New York State."

[Chris Gordy]

I think the Knickerbocker experience would be in the distinct minority in the Lead District. The combined tales of Irving, Moore, and other patrician New Yorkers was for a significant time circulating primarilyamong the upper crust of New York* society, while the lesser classes in the city delved into more of the wassailing and callithumpian "Lord of Misrule" observances... all heavily soaked in alcohol. It was these very "plebian" traditions that the patricians, yearning for more traditional observances of what they saw as "Old Dutch New York," argued against in their texts, poetry, and newspaper articles.

Agreed. Moore's "magic" of Old St. Nick, intended to stike a chord with the youth of all classes, can't seem to override the age-old tradition of "the world turned upside down". The early nineteenth century must wait a bit as the youth grows older and gives more to the stories and myths of the magical jolly fat man who brings gifts to everyone. Until then we will just have to stay with the varied cultural celebrations and upland southerners and the small handful of the more western states citizens who improvise the Holiday tree with such things as decorated sappling sassafrasses.

[Chris Gordy]

Fun quote from The Family Magazine, 1836, Vol 1. in an article titled "Snow".

"Nature has now shifted her scenery; snow falls, and, like magick, the face of the country is completely metamorphosed; the hills, the valleys, and the woodlands, the rich pastures and meadows, the cottages and the farmhouses, are all clothed in the white garments of winter, and present a uniform but beautiful appearance; while the heath blazing on the humble cottage hearth, or the more substantial log or fagot of the farmhouse fireside, with the mistletoe hanging above, bring together the association of ideas of Old England, "Roast beef, plum-pudding, and a merry Christmas;" and without, the dark smoke curling perpendicularly in the clear, frosty atmosphere, from the white chimneys of the well-thatched cottage, gives an idea of the real English comfort enjoyed by our rural population."

It is a fun quote but it should also be noted that this article segment is the only mention of the holiday in this volume. I should also note that this is an eastern publication. The "rural population" they mention is of the New England and Eastern areas.

[Robert Braun]

Looks like you can't keep the French out of a good party, either.

While highland Southerners partake in wassailing, and the streets of old New York, Boston, and Philadelphia reel under the nocturnal callithumpian bands, the French enjoy their own version of revelry, entitled "CHARIVARI."

[Chris Gordy]

Ah yes, the charivari! An event where cackles are called, items banged together, people yelling . . . it's a good time. The charivari is also used in what one might call small uprisings against employers, governments, wealthy land owners with lots of workers and weddings. Did I say weddings? Yes I did. The wedding charivari chases the bride and groom into their evening bed and will not cease in their noise making until some type of garment has been tossed down. This signifies the couples . . . you know . . .

I would say that the Callithumpian bands would have been a charivari gone bad. Others would argue, and they would have a point, that a callithumpian band is a charivari.

[Susan Gordy]

Charivari's are great fun and something the Upland Southerners in central and eastern Illinois plus Kentucky and Tennessee adapted to quite well. So much fun that they called 'em shivarees. While researching weddings and courting customs, I have found numerous references to "shivarees" and documented their continued occurrence until the 1940 - 1950s in Coles County, Illinois through oral histories recalling exact details of what occurred.

It is great fun to study these customs and see how they have filtered down into how we celebrate today. Chris referred to Sassafrass saplings. When pines and fir trees are not native to an area one must improvise and you get decorated sassafrass trees.

Now who can say history ain't fun?

[Laurel]

When Lances cousin in Mt. Sterling, Illinois got married about 10 years ago, there was talk of giving them a shivaree. Mt. Sterling is a small community in west central Illinois and this custom was still alive and well just 10 years ago!

Laurel ;D