Christmas in Early New Hampshire

First of all, I want to apologize for the vast expanse of time between posts--- life has been crazy! And this blog requires a lot of research! Ok, enough excuses…

Well, given the time of year, I thought it might be a good time to write about something not quite so dark and sinister, though the celebration of Christmas in New Hampshire was not without controversy. While the general public might think that modern Christmas celebrations originated during the mid-nineteenth century heeded by Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol, the origins of holiday tradition we enjoy today actually began much earlier. And the typical stereotype about colonial New England is that the observance of Christmas was taboo because in the minds of the the Puritans, it was a holiday linked to the papacy and the pagan yuletide festival celebrating the winter solstice.  But in New Hampshire at least, this was far from the reality. 

The historical evidence reveals that Christmas was actually quite boisterous in Portsmouth before the American Revolution, much more so than the quaint, contrived tourist attraction it has become today. In the December 28, 1770 issue of the New Hampshire Gazette published in downtown Portsmouth, printer and editor Daniel Fowle commented that local celebrations of Christmas in fact reflected the “degeneracy of Christians…Why the evening preceeding and whole Night is spent by many in Rioting & Drunkeness, Tumult and Noise.”  But apparently early Christmas celebrations in New Hampshire had a much darker side than a bunch of noisy drunkards. Fowle was far more disturbed by the "cruel mode of Diversion of torturing the helpless Feathered Species, by throwing of them ‘till they are murdered disgraces our Religion and insults our Humanity.”  Despite their quest for authenticity, I don’t think we’ll be seeing that recreated at any historical holiday events such as the Candle Light Stroll at Strawbery Banke!

Anyway,  even in 1770, Fowle believed this custom to be a "vestige of Gothic Cruelty", and my research shows that he may well have been largely accurate about its origins. The practice of sacrifice around the winter solstice was a very ancient ancient one, and even the word "Yule" associated with Christmas for a very long time, is believed to have origins in the Norse word "jul" which translates as "cycle" or "sacrifice."  In Britain in particular, surviving letters of those who converted the island, such as St. Augustine, reveal that this pagan custom was allowed to continue under the veil of Christianity to ease the transition between the two belief systems.  While it certainly changed over the centuries and logically made it way across the Atlantic to the British colonies, even today in Britain the treatment of animals, particularly fowl, on Christmas is a topic of considerable controversy: 
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMPAIGNS/living/ALL/563/

 An early proponent of animal rights perhaps (though it is beyond doubt that Fowle participated in the slave trade via his newspaper), in 1770 he urged action to stop the abuse of animals on Christmas: “We can impute the Continuance of this brutal Custom to nothing but Inattention, for even out Select-men and others…by a law may put an effectual stop to such Cruelty.” And his compelling plea for reform did not fall on deaf ears. In fact, only two days before Christmas Day the following year in 1771, the provincial assembly of New Hampshire passed a law to “prevent and punish Disorders usually committed on the twenty-fifth Day of December, commonly called Christmas-Day, the Evening preceding and following said day.”  The language of this legislation provides further insight into how wild these colonial Christmas celebrations were. Specifically the authorities ordered that, “no person or persons, within the town of Portsmouth, shall on the evening or night next immediately preceding Christmas-Day, assemble with others, in a routerous and tumultuous manner…or travel though the streets with beating of drums, and firing guns, or hallowing and huzzaing…and any boys playing with balls in any streets, whereby there is danger of breaking the windows of any building, public or private, may be ordered to remove to any place where there will be no such danger.”  Those darn kids!

The potential penalty for anyone caught engaging in the above activities ranged from a fine not more than five shillings, imprisonment in the colony’s jail for not more than two days, or sitting in the stocks for up to two hours. Interestingly, the colonial authorities stipulated that “boys under twelve years of age, be excepted from suffering the penalties aforesaid.” This law suggests that the provincial authorities were primarily concerned that Christmas celebrations had dissolved into chaotic, unruly gatherings that could potentially ferment rebellious sentiment towards the Crown.  For Christmas 240 years ago, in 1774, colonial New Hampshire was teetering on the edge of outright rebellion. Portsmouth became the stage for the first armed assault against a royal military installation, when New Hampshire militiamen raided Fort William & Mary in New Castle for its valuable barrels of gunpowder and other provisions. Days after on December 17, the New Hampshire Gazette reported residents of nearby Greenland celebrated this event by raising "a Liberty-Pole" at Folsom's tavern to symbolize their "fix'd Determination to defend the Privilege of Americans with their lives and fortunes." To see what this event could have looked like, click here to visit the page of my living history unit, Cherry's Company, 2nd NH Regiment and see the photos: https://www.facebook.com/CherrysCompany.2ndNH


Once American independence was achieved after eight long grueling years of war, there is no doubt that all segments of New Hampshire's citizens definitely observed the Christmas holiday. On December 25, 1789, the New-Hampshire Spy in Portsmouth reported that “This day, being Christmas, His Excellency the President of this State, the Members of the Hon. Council, Senate and House of Representatives, attended divine service at the Episcopalian church in this town.” The “president” of New Hampshire at this time was my hometown of Rollinsford’s most famous son, General John Sullivan. Three years later in Concord, according to the editor of The Mirror, Christmas was “observed with grateful hearts--- In the evening, an ingenious…discourse, suited to the occasion, was delivered in the court house, to a crowded and respectable auditory.” Christmas also became a time for smaller, yet no less significant celebrations in everyday life; for example, on Christmas Eve 1805, the Political Observatory of Concord announced that on “Christmas evening” in Alstead, Mr. Anson Graves married Aceneth Slade.” One can only hope they lived happily ever after. 

Another revelation is that the tradition of using pine saplings to decorate homes in New Hampshire really did begin during the 18th century. As early as 1791, on July 2 in fact, the New-Hampshire Spy published an article that discussed ancient pagan British customs “as the reason of evergreens being used on Christmas Day,” which indicates this practice was already prevalent in New Hampshire before 1800. By the mid-nineteenth century, many New Hampshire homes were adorned with fresh cut hemlocks or pines from the nearby woods. In 1850, Joseph Cilley of Nottingham noted in his diary that his family had erected “a Christmas tree this eve-it looked well.” On January 3, 1852, the New-Hampshire Statesman in Concord mentioned that at the Christmas party at the Sunday school of St. Paul’s Church, “the chief charm of the occasion…was the Christmas Tree, which was loaded with some concealed gift, for each member of the school. The ceremony of plucking the tree and presenting to every scholar his own, was novel and interesting.”

 But how did folks actually put up a Christmas tree a century or two ago before modern stands were invented? An article which appeared in Godey’s Lady’s Book and Magazine in December 1860 indicated that large stone jars or crocks were used as a base and were filled with damp sand or earth to keep the tree upright and from drying out too quickly. According to the Farmer’s Cabinet of Amherst, in December 1855, the congregation of the First Church in Mason paid thanks to their pastor by putting up a Christmas Tree in his parlor and soon “its branches became the depository of a liberal sum of money, and many useful articles, which, together with hay, wood and provisions…amounted to upwards of $80.” New Hampshire’s strong holiday tradition also directly contributed to our national obsession with the Christmas tree. In December 1856, it is widely believed that New Hampshire native Franklin Pierce became the first President to put up a Christmas tree in the White House, establishing an annual tradition that continues today. So if you like Christmas today, you can in a large part thank the people of New Hampshire's past!

Sources

1. Medieval Celebrations, Daniel Diehl and Mark Donnelly, Stackpole Books: 2011. 

2. Christmas: A Candid History, Bruce David Forbes, Berkely: University of California               Press, 2007. 
3. Merry Christmas! Celebrating America's Greatest Holiday, Karal Ann Marling,                           Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000.