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Colonial Christmas customs

Posted December 14, 2015 10:00 pm

John Meacham Lewis & Clark SAR Chapter

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is a submitted story on colonial Christmas customs, the political situation in December 1774 and the colonists' attitudes toward British and American rebels.

Christmastide was the most blessed of seasons in the colonial South, Kevin Monroe recently told members of the Lewis & Clark Chapter of the Illinois Society of Sons of the American Revolution.

"I delight in this time, said Monroe, portraying a plantation owner in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on December 24, 1774. "It is a time of great gaiety and enjoyment. We are on the eve of Christmastide. As you know, from December the 25until Epiphany on January 6.

"It is a time of great gaiety, of joyous dancing, of balls, of feasting and fellowship."

Monroe has master's degrees in history, political science and divinity and has taught U.S. history and the history of religion at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville for 20 years.

In his program, he described Christmas customs of the time and region.

Monroe's character said he was "giddy as a schoolboy" about the morning of the 25th.

"As we rise early in the morning, which will be a Saturday, we shall distribute to you good gentlemen firearms, and we shall fire them away and create such a racket," he said. "My servants and others of lesser means will take pots and pans and beat them as to wake the dead.

"What we shall do is welcome the King of Kings - Jesus, of course - with the greatest of noise."

That afternoon there would be games and a hunt for the gentlemen, Monroe continued.

"It is probably a good idea for you to keep a hand upon your purse, for there shall be a great deal of betting," he said. "It has been said that it is hard to find a Virginia gentleman without a deck of cards upon his person or dice within his pockets."

That evening there would be a ball featuring a huge, sumptuous cake.

"As the cake is passed out to the individuals, the person who finds a little relic that represents the king promises to host the ball next year," Monroe said.

The person who found the queen would promise to provide next year's cake. The feast would include goose, ham, oysters and fish, brandied peaches and plum pudding and the room would be decorated with greenery to supply the fragrance of cedar, bayberry and crushed roses.

"If you look underneath my doorway, you'll find the mistletoe there, and the mistletoe has plenty of berries," Monroe said. "You all know the meaning of berries.

"The mistletoe is hung in the doorway and if any young lady who may be unbethrothed is passing underneath, a gentleman may demand a kiss so long as there be berries."

The lady could refuse the kiss, but tradition said that if she did, she would not be wed during the coming year.

Christmastide was a time of love, with many marriages taking place during the season.

"George Washington is my near neighbor," Monroe said. "He was married on the sixth of January, on the Epiphany.

"Another of our great statesmen, Thomas Jefferson, was married on January 1."

The Virginian asked his northern guests if they were familiar with the custom of "barring out."

"If the youngsters can keep their teacher out of the schoolhouse for three successive days, the teacher must grant them the Christmastide holiday and not require any studies," he said, adding, "It is my contention that some schoolmasters do not work very hard to get in."

The plantation owner was surprised to hear about the northern custom of exchanging Christmas presents.

"I dare say that on the 25th in my household, or more likely on the first of January, I may distribute a few trinkets to my children, but for me to receive a gift from my children, or even my wife, would be dishonorable," Monroe said. "It is I, as master of the place, who should give out presents."

Monroe's character blamed George the First, a Germanic king, for "the troubling, vexing concept of cutting down perfectly good trees, bringing them into the home and decorating them with candles and other ornaments."

"I cannot imagine that such a thing will ever catch on. It is a wasteful thing, indeed, to drag a tree into the house," he said. "The risk of fire alone is a worrisome thing. Here we do not do such things on Christmas Day."

Charity was not lacking during Christmastide in the South, Monroe's character said. On December 26 - the Feast of St. Stephen - he would have a duty to perform.

"It is also rather rudely referred to as Boxing Day," he said. "On this day, those of lesser means will solicit coins from those who have been more prosperous.

"It falls to me, as the master of Monrovia, to visit individuals and deposit in their boxes coins."

The poor would also benefit from the proceeds of the subscription ball to be held on the 28.

"You are then allowed to dance and dance and dance with complete strangers," Monroe's character said. "If you are so rude as to spend the time dancing with your spouse, you are a rude sort, to be true!

"The point of the subscription ball is not to know your spouse better. I trust you already know that person."

"The idea is to have fellowship and enjoyment," Monroe continued. "You tip your hat to your spouse and then dance with all others so you may become better acquainted."

However, a gentleman would wear gloves, because to directly touch a female would be presumptuous and inappropriate.

Monroe said family records indicate that there were 153 guests at Monrovia during the 1774 Christmas season.

About 20 of these were overnight visitors, while the others were near neighbors. The host had a way to let his guests know when they'd overstayed their welcome, he said.

"The beds are made of ropes underneath a mattress," Monroe said. "Our mattresses are not made of cornshucks. Ours are of down.

"These lay on ropes. After one sleeps on them two, three or four nights, the ropes begin to bow a bit, and the bed begins to sink in the middle and swallow the individual.

"If we wish to communicate we want you here longer, we will order the servants to take a stick to the end of the bed to tighten the ropes, thus leading to 'sleep tight,'" Monroe said.

The Sons of the American Revolution is a national organization with state societies and local chapters. Its purposes are patriotic, historical and educational.

For details, visit www.sar.org.

Counties served by the Lewis & Clark Chapter are St. Clair, Monroe, Randolph, Washington, Clinton and Jefferson. Email jdc@htc.net or meacham@nwcable.net for information.

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