{"id":7671,"date":"2015-12-25T10:45:29","date_gmt":"2015-12-25T17:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=7671"},"modified":"2015-12-25T10:45:29","modified_gmt":"2015-12-25T17:45:29","slug":"the-complicated-history-of-santa-claus-and-american-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=7671","title":{"rendered":"The Complicated History of Santa Claus and American Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ah, Christmas traditions. So complicated, so misunderstood.<\/p>\n

Take Santa Claus, American version. Not a survival of colonial New Amsterdam except in a literary sense, he was pretty well invented by the prolific writer Washington Irving in the early 19th century<\/a>. And he was connected with Dec. 6th, St. Nicholas’ Day, not Christmas. Let history blogger Patrick Browne take it from here: \u201cSanta Claus was Made by Washington Irving<\/a>\u201d:<\/p>\n

The quote that forms the title of this article\u00a0is taken from a paper by historian Charles W. Jones, \u201cKnickerbocker Santa Claus,\u201d published in the\u00a0New York Historical Society Quarterly<\/em>, in October 1954. Jones challenged the long-standing traditional view that Santa Claus owes his tremendous presence in our culture to Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam (New York). In fact, his research into early colonial New York newspapers, books, diaries and letters turned up no mention at all of St. Nicholas until the time of the Revolution. . . . .<\/p>\n

So, by satirically inventing a false tradition of Dutch settlers venerating St. Nicholas, Irving inadvertently gave rise to a very real tradition of Americans venerating St. Nick.\u00a0This was certainly not the last time in Irving\u2019s career that he would invent folklore which he ascribed to old Dutch settlers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In New England, meanwhile,\u00a0 there had been a long tradition of non-Christmas revelry, based on the Puritans’ belief that traditional celebrations were impious:<\/a><\/p>\n

For centuries, the holiday has served as a flashpoint between competing religious ideas. When the Puritans of New England famously made Christmas illegal during their first decades on this side of the Atlantic, it was not because they were killjoys\u2014or at least, not only because they were killjoys. Christmas was an existential threat to orderly society, a shorthand for the spiritual risks they encountered every day in the New World. The era\u2019s leading preacher, Cotton Mather<\/a>, even continued to rail against the \u201cheathen feast\u201d after the laws prohibiting Christmas were repealed.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you in your Conscience think, that our Holy Savior is honoured,\u201d he wrote, \u201cby Mad Mirth, by long Eating, by hard Drinking, by lewd Gaming, by rude Revelling; by a Mass fit for none but a Saturn, or a Bacchus, or the Night of a Mahometan Ramadam?\u201d<\/p>\n

From “Christmas’s War on America: The persistence and power of the December Holiday over Generations of Americans\u2014Whether They Liked it or Not<\/a>,” in The Atlantic.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mather was born in Boston of English parents, who probably told him about the “traditional English Christmas” of the early 17th century. Think of Hallowe’en with an edge: seasonally unemployed young agricultural workers, as drunk as they can manage, working the Yuletide version of “trick or treat” on their better-off neighbors:\u00a0 We will sing at your door, and if you don’t hand over some food and more ale, we might break something.
\n<\/em>Or the urban version as it continued:<\/p>\n

Rowdy men in colorful rags gather outside the city\u2019s nicer homes, demanding to be let in. Some have disguised themselves with mock-fancy outfits that ridicule their less-than-willing hosts, while others have blackened their faces or dressed up as animals. If you try to keep them out, they will shatter your windows, break down your door, and help themselves to food and drink. If instead you grant the rabble access, your costumed guests will drink your best booze and demand a cash \u201ctip\u201d for slurring a noisy song at your family.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That comes from “Is Capitalism the Reason for the Season?<\/a>” from B. K. Marcus, who is evidently shocked to discover that there are tensions and contradictions between the marketplace and the family gathered around the tree. He goes on:<\/p>\n

In a commercial age, where mom and dad head off to separate jobs while the kids are sent to school, it means spending the holiday together in leisure, practicing a form of mutual generosity that is ritualized to obscure its capitalist origins.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He seems to think, however, that evil capitalist lever-pullers are obscuring this contradiction from us, whereas I think that everyone is aware of it and that people deal with it in their own ways, some by being self-consciously anti-commercial and others by just shrugging their shoulders. Yeah, presents and booze cost money. Even if you make your own, you still need to acquire the materials.<\/p>\n

Irving had lived in England for a time, and he wrote of the Yuletide season<\/a>,<\/p>\n

Our thoughts are more concentrated; our friendly sympathies more aroused, we feel more sensibly the charm of each other\u2019s society, and are brought more closely together by dependence on each other for enjoyment. Heart calleth unto heart; and we draw our pleasures from the deep wells of living kindness, which lie in the quiet recesses of our bosoms\u2026Christmas is still a period of delightful excitement in England.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Back to Santa Claus \u2014 Isn’t that sequence familiar? Some genuine folk tradition exists but then dies out. A literary type revives it for his own purposes. It catches on to the point that its revived origins are forgotten and people run around talking about this “old tradition” that connects them with the past.<\/p>\n

Apparently that is the recipe for success!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ah, Christmas traditions. So complicated, so misunderstood. Take Santa Claus, American version. Not a survival of colonial New Amsterdam except in a literary sense, he was pretty well invented by the prolific writer Washington Irving in the early 19th century. And he was connected with Dec. 6th, St. Nicholas’ Day, not Christmas. Let history blogger […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[43],"class_list":["post-7671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-yule"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-1ZJ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1098,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1098","url_meta":{"origin":7671,"position":0},"title":"Yes, Hypatia, There is a Santa Claus","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This fellow -- Santa Claus, Father Christmas -- has joined the lineup of graven images on our polytheistic\/animistic mantel. That's Hermes' foot at the far left, followed by an ossuary jar of sharp-shinned hawk bones, and Hekate on the right.We all know that Santa's name derives from the Dutch form\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12059,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=12059","url_meta":{"origin":7671,"position":1},"title":"Christmas, When the Veil is Thin","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"In December (yeah, this is late) I was tapped by a public library in Oregon to give an hour's Zoom lecture on the \"Pagan origins of Christmas.\" I did it, but that format is still pretty weird. How many people are watching? Three? Thirty? Three hundred? And are they awake?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"ancestors\"","block_context":{"text":"ancestors","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=ancestors"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Christmas-eve-lantern-1-238x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1263,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1263","url_meta":{"origin":7671,"position":2},"title":"Father Christmas Works the Bar Crowd","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Father Christmas makes his way through the bar after a small-town Parade of Lights (of which more later). No, that was Santa on the fire engine. Different demigod.","rel":"","context":"In \"Yule\"","block_context":{"text":"Yule","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=yule"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12118,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=12118","url_meta":{"origin":7671,"position":3},"title":"“And even Wicca”: A Historical Study of Santa Muerte","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"An anthropologist and a historian examine the development of the cult of Santa Muerte (Holy Death) in this article, \"Syncretic Santa Muerte: Holy Death and Religious Bricolage,\" which currently is a free download. \"Bricolage\" is a term beloved by scholars of new religious movements. It means building something with available\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/santa_muerte-226x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12867,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=12867","url_meta":{"origin":7671,"position":4},"title":"“Cracow Monsters” Is Just “Weak Horror,” Says Polish Professor","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Cracow Monsters is a Netflix series about \"a young woman haunted by her past [who] joins a mysterious professor and his group of gifted students who investigate paranormal activity \u2014 and fight demons.\" Can you say \"TV trope\"?\u00a0 I knew you could. Maybe \"Cool teacher\" or possibly \"More than just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"academia\"","block_context":{"text":"academia","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=academia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/cracow-monsters-150x84.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":648,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=648","url_meta":{"origin":7671,"position":5},"title":"The encylopedic mind of J.\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The encylopedic mind of J. Gordon MeltonThe Los Angeles Times interviews J. Gordon Melton, a major figure in the study of new religious movements.It's often said of academics, but for J. Gordon Melton it's true: He really does have an encyclopedic mind.After all, Melton is the author of the Encyclopedia\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7671"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7676,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7671\/revisions\/7676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}