By the Revolutionary period, Christmas celebrations were considered to be a British holiday by New Englanders, and therefore, still looked upon with disfavor. As for the abundance of Christmas trees, they stayed rooted in the ground until after the Revolutionary War when the Hessian soldiers who remained in this country began practicing their homeland tradition of putting up and decorating the Christmas tree. Actually, immigrants other than the Puritans brought all of the Christmas traditions commonly celebrated today to this country! For instance, the Scandinavians brought the custom of hanging a wreath on the door and the Irish brought the custom of placing a lighted candle in the window.
Gradually, New Englanders followed the rest of the country and embraced the holiday. New Hampshire's native son, Franklin Pierce, was the first president to put up a Christmas tree in the White House in 1856.* The New Hampshire RSA that lists all the legal holidays in the state, references an 1899 law for the Christmas holiday. By the close of the nineteenth century, Christmas was a legal holiday in all the states and widely celebrated with a wealth of traditions created over time by a nation of immigrants.
As I close out this Christmas article, it seems fitting to turn to Mr. Dickens again:
"God bless Us, Every One!"
* Or did he? Presidents and First Ladies editor, John Cooper has found evidence that Pierce was not the first President to bring a Christmas Tree into the White House. Read about it in this post: http://www.suite101.com/discussion.cfm/n... If you have any information, please share it with us!
References:
Anderson, Leon W. To This Day. Caanan, NH: Phoenix Publishing, 1981.
Christmas in the United States, 1700s - 1900s
http://www.umkc.edu/imc/christmas.htm
Christmas in United States from Hampton Library
http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/referenc/La...
NH RSA - TITLE XXV Holidays, Chapter 288 Section 288:1
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html...
Clipart:
*The link to the free graphics page where
I found the undecorated trees no longer exists.
It was titled - ImagindeSarbatori
A. Cole's Christmas ClipArt
Free Original Christmas ClipArt
Decorated tree and Merry Christmas
http://inreality3D.pair.com/
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