The Christmas season was embraced and celebrated mainly by the Church of England and the Roman Catholics, and primarily in the southern colonies. (One exception is the Dutch in New York who celebrated Christmas with religious services.) The celebration of the Christmas season in the southern colonies consisted of parties, hunts, visiting, feasts and church services. Christmas decorations generally consisted of holly and ivy strung throughout the house, with a sprig of mistletoe prominently displayed. A great effort was made to decorate the churches with laurel, holly, and other garlands. The traditional feast varied from household to household (depending on how wealthy the family was), but generally consisted of wines, rum punches, hams, beef, goose, turkey, oysters, mincemeat pies, and various other treats. The season was considered a grown-up celebration, but presents would generally be given to children. Irena Chalmers notes that in 1759, George Washington gave the following presents to his children: a bird on Bellows; a Cuckoo; a turnabout Parrot; a Grocers Shop; An Aviary; A Prussian Dragoon; A Man Smoakg; A Tunbridge Tea Sett; 3 Neat Book fash Tea Chest; A box best Household Stuff; A straw Parch box w. a Glass and a neat dress'd Wax Baby. Southern families usually supplied rum and presents (often candy) to their slaves on the first of the year.
Traditional Christmas Symbols
A colonial Christmas, when it was celebrated, did not resemble a modern Christmas celebration. The Christmas tree originated in Germany in the 16th century, but did not gain popularity in America until after 1842 (when it was introduced in Williamsburg). The first Christmas card did not appear in about 1846 in England. Christmas carols were sung during the holidays, but most of the popular carols of today had not been written before the late 1700's. The most enduring hymn that was popular in colonial America was Joy to the World, written by Isaac Watts of Virginia during the 1760s.
For further reading:
Christmas Questions and Answers (18th Century)
Symbols, Customs and Traditions of Christmas
Barnett, James H. The American Christmas, Ayer Company, Publishers, Inc., Salem, NH. c. 1954
Chalmers, Irena The Great American Christmas Almanac, The Penguin Group, New York. c. 1988
Weiser, Francis X. The Christmas Book, Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc. New York. c. 1952
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