[HN Gopher] Christmas in 19th-Century America (1995)
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Christmas in 19th-Century America (1995)
Author : samizdis
Score : 36 points
Date : 2021-12-14 14:42 UTC (8 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.historytoday.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.historytoday.com)
| Manuel_D wrote:
| It's interesting to see how Christmas and all sorts of regional
| solstice holidays get mixed together by various cultures across
| the world. Funny tangent: in Catalonia (Barcelona and the
| surrounding region) people set up a log with legs and a painted
| on face [1] and then smack it with sticks saying, essentially,
| "crap out candy for me!"
|
| 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ti%C3%B3_de_Nadal
| [deleted]
| bumbledraven wrote:
| (1995)
|
| I was a bit confused at first because it says:
|
| > Americans did not even begin to conceive of Christmas as a
| national holiday until the middle of the last century.
|
| I thought at first that "the last century" referred to the 1900s.
| wrp wrote:
| For the evolution of holidays, 19th century America is a
| particularly interesting case. The mixing of various European
| cultures created some dramatic changes. Second, these changes
| happened relatively quickly. For example, Halloween evolved from
| an ancient Celtic harvest festival to the modern spooks & treats
| celebration between the 1850s and 1890s. Finally, the force of
| American culture after WW2 spread these recently created
| traditions around the world.
|
| While Christmas in the USA has an interesting history, the most
| dramatic is with Halloween. The major thematic development
| occurred from the 1850s to 1930s, with heightened
| commercialization coming in the post-WW2 boom. Then there was the
| rise of adult oriented horror in the 1970s. There are a few good
| histories on the subject.
| brundolf wrote:
| Might need a (1995) in the title, so phrases like "the middle of
| the last century" make more sense
| dang wrote:
| Added. Thanks!
| BitwiseFool wrote:
| I am not a Christian, nor do I think there is a "War on
| Christmas", but I do find it fascinating that Christmas in
| America has transformed into an increasingly secularized and
| commercialized event.
|
| When you think of Christmas, you're probably thinking about Santa
| Claus and presents, not Jesus. In fact, most Christmastime movies
| and songs are about Santa rather than Christ, the namesake of the
| holiday. We also have this lore built up around Santa that was
| created by film studios and retailers hoping to sell more
| products. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was originally made as a
| coloring book but now it's themes and imagery _is_ what children
| think of when they imagine the North Pole. To use a wild analogy,
| it 's sort of like how Dante's Inferno became what people think
| of as "Hell".
|
| Does anyone know of any other religious holidays that have been
| so thoroughly transformed over time? I'm curious if this has
| happened to other holidays or if it is just a unique product of
| American culture and consumerism.
| brundolf wrote:
| Don't Christmas and Easter both take quite a bit from pagan
| traditions? I don't think the secular side is a modern
| invention; they've been mixed for a long time
|
| Of course, the _commercial_ side is a modern invention. But I
| see that as a separate phenomenon
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| Winter solstice celebrations predate Christmas. Jesus and co.
| crashed the party.
| trasz wrote:
| Christmas - differently named of course - existed long before
| Christianity repurposed it. Now it'a the same process once
| again: a franchise change.
| irrational wrote:
| Also, Easter to a large extent. Easter used to be a bigger deal
| than Christmas. But the commercialization of Christmas has
| caused it to overshadow Easter. Now Easter is all about rabbits
| and ducks and eggs and candy and baskets and that green fake
| grass and pastel colors and etc. It is even farther removed
| from celebrating the atonement of Christ than Christmas is of
| celebrating his birth. Even for Christians. I asked a friend
| why he thought that was and his response is Christmas has a
| baby, animals, angels singing, shepherds, stars, and all sorts
| of cute child friendly stuff. Easter has blood coming from
| every pore, false trials, mocking and scourging, crucifixion,
| etc. Not exactly cute and child friendly. All the Easter
| secular stuff (candy and cute animals) could be seen as an
| attempt to make Easter palatable and fun like Christmas.
| pstuart wrote:
| Christmas absorbed pagan celebration, so this isn't really a
| transformation, just a return to the original celebration
| (winter solstice).
| watwut wrote:
| Imo, it is something new and different.
|
| We are not celebrating winter solstice. Most people dont even
| know there is winter solstice and dont care. And I doubt
| pagans did tree, santa claus, snowman and gifts.
| jbay808 wrote:
| I bet that the pagans _did_ do a tree and gifts, probably
| did snowmen too (which is more of a winter thing than a
| Christmas thing anyway), and they probably did have an
| associated folk character of some sort, even though it
| probably wasn 't Santa Claus.
| handrous wrote:
| Most people barely even experience seasonality now that
| nearly everything's available in the grocery store year-
| round (thanks to international shipping) and we have
| excellent central heating and cooling in our houses and
| offices. Plus extremely cheap lighting, for that matter,
| which strongly affects our experience of the Winter months.
| No smells of burning oil, no rationing the candles
| carefully, no fires to tend through the night.
| simplicio wrote:
| Modern (or even 17th century) Valentines Day seems pretty
| detatched from the Feast Day of St Valentine.
| jetrink wrote:
| I think Christmas should be regarded as two separate holidays
| that happen to have the same name and occur on the same date.
| There is the secular/pagan celebration, which gives everyone an
| excuse to put up lights, bring green things into our homes,
| visit friends and family and generally brighten up a dark time
| of year. Then there's the religious holiday, which has its own
| customs and traditions. If anything, the commercialization of
| Christmas is ruining the secular holiday, by changing its focus
| to consumerism, when it should be about merry-making. The
| religious traditions, which take place in churches and in
| homes, are well-insulated from the other Christmas taking place
| outside.
| samizdis wrote:
| A slight tangent, but the commercialisation of Christmas was a
| source of annoyance back in the 1930s and 40s. Louis MacNeice
| wrote about it in his epic work Autumn Journal (which he wrote
| while travelling through Europe just as fascism was taking
| hold); the excerpt is titled _A Week to Christmas_. Note: I 've
| substituted the word "logs" in place of the original here,
| which was an abbreviation of golliwogs.
|
| A week to Christmas, cards of snow and holly,
|
| Gimcracks in the shops,
|
| Wishes and memories wrapped in tissue paper,
|
| Trinkets, gadgets and lollipops
|
| And as if through coloured glasses
|
| We remember our childhood's thrill
|
| Waking in the morning to the rustling of paper,
|
| The eiderdown heaped in a hill
|
| Of logs and dogs and bears and bricks and apples
|
| And the feeling that Christmas Day
|
| Was a coral island in time where we land and eat our lotus
|
| But where we can never stay.
|
| There was a star in the East, the magi in their turbans
|
| Brought their luxury toys
|
| In homage to a child born to capsize their values
|
| And wreck their equipoise.
|
| A smell of hay like peace in the dark stable -
|
| Not peace however but a sword
|
| To cut the Gordian knot of logical self-interest,
|
| The fool-proof golden cord;
|
| For Christ walked in where no philosopher treads
|
| But armed with more than folly,
|
| Making the smooth place rough and knocking the heads
|
| Of Church and State together.
|
| In honour of whom we have taken over the pagan
|
| Saturnalia for our annual treat
|
| Letting the belly have its say, ignoring
|
| The spirit while we eat.
|
| And Conscience still goes crying through the desert
|
| With sackcloth round his loins:
|
| A week to Christmas - hark the herald angels
|
| Beg for copper coins.
| LarryDarrell wrote:
| See also Tom Lehrer's Christmas Carol (1959):
|
| Christmas time is here, by golly.
|
| Disapproval would be folly.
|
| Deck the halls with hunks of holly.
|
| Fill the cup and don't say when.
|
| Kill the turkeys, ducks, and chickens,
|
| Mix the punch, drag out the Dickens.
|
| Even though the prospect sickens,
|
| Brother, here we go again.
|
| On Christmas Day you can't get sore.
|
| Your fellow man you must adore.
|
| There's time to rob him all the more
|
| The other three hundred and sixty-four.
|
| Relations, sparing no expense, 'll
|
| Send some useless old utensil
|
| Or a matching pen and pencil.
|
| ("Just the thing I need! How nice!")
|
| It doesn't matter how sincere it
|
| Is, nor how heartfelt the spirit,
|
| Sentiment will not endear it.
|
| What's important is the price.
|
| Hark, the Herald Tribune sings,
|
| Advertising wondrous things.
|
| God rest you merry, merchants,
|
| May you make the Yuletide pay.
|
| Angels we have heard on high
|
| Tell us to go out and buy!
|
| So let the raucous sleighbells jingle.
|
| Hail our dear old friend Kriss Kringle,
|
| Driving his reindeer across the sky.
|
| Don't stand underneath when they fly by.
| mason240 wrote:
| >Hark, the Herald Tribune sings,
|
| >Advertising wondrous things.
|
| This line bangs
| samuelizdat wrote:
| What kind of a Grinch would write such a hideous song. I'm
| willing to bet they weren't Christian.
| ghaff wrote:
| He hasn't written anything for decades, but Tom Lehrer
| wrote satirical songs about any number of topics.
| ksdale wrote:
| The song is a bit cynical for my tastes, but it seems
| willfully obtuse to not be able to fathom why someone
| would be very frustrated with many aspects of modern
| Christmas.
| soco wrote:
| Christmas Carol, Chemically Cleaned by Eric Kastner (1927)
| here in a not-so-ideal translation (from
| https://lyricstranslate.com/en/weihnachtslied-chemisch-
| gerei...):
|
| But you must not get sad!
|
| Rich people love poverty
|
| A fried goose upsets people's stomachs
|
| Dolls are not fashionable any more
|
| Tomorrow Santa Claus will come
|
| Just, only next door.
| smhenderson wrote:
| I'd say the one that comes to mind most after Christmas is
| Halloween in America. It went from being All Hallows Eve, a
| time to celebrate the dead, especially saints past, to becoming
| a commercial holiday to sell costumes to kids and candy to
| parents.
|
| I can't think of anyone I've ever met or heard of close to me
| celebrating the religious aspect of this day, just the "fun"
| part. Not nearly as big a deal as Christmas but still a
| religious festival that became highly commercial and
| secularized over time.
| monocasa wrote:
| Interestingly, like Christmas was, the religious aspects of
| Halloween were specifically de-emphasized by the dominant
| religious orders of the time, leading to (re?)seculrization
| of the holiday. The protestants weren't a big fan of
| venerating saints, or some of the underlying ideas of the the
| group of holidays (like the idea of souls resting in
| purgatory until those days) as those ideas were based in some
| of the philosophical differences they had with Catholics.
|
| Good luck taking a feast and dress up day from the people
| though once you remove the religion out of a holiday.
| ido wrote:
| I think it's interesting to note Christmas itself didn't used
| to be "that big a deal" - the major holiday of the year was
| Easter.
| irrational wrote:
| Halloween. November 1 is All Saints Day (Catholic Holiday).
| Saint comes from Latin. The Germanic version is Holy One. So
| Nov 1 could be All Holy Ones Day. The evening before All Holy
| One's Day is Holy Evening or Holy Eve or Hallowed Eve or
| Halloweve or Halloween. Just like Christmas Eve is the evening
| before Christmas.
|
| I think we are all familiar with how commercialized Holy
| Evening has become. Candy and Slutty Nuns anyone? LOL
| dragonwriter wrote:
| > most Christmastime movies and songs are about Santa rather
| than Christ,
|
| Most are about neither.
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