In most of Colonial New England, Christmas wasn’t a popular holiday. Boston Divine Cotton Mather wrote in 1712 that the “Feast of Christ’s Nativity is spent in Reveling, Dicing, Carding, Masking, and in all Licentious Liberty …by Mad Mirth, by long eating, by hard Drinking, by lewd Gaming, and by rude Reveling…”
Christmas celebrations were frowned on, and caroling was condemned. But the town of Marblehead carried on, known for particularly notorious celebrations, despite officials’ best efforts to quash Christmas observances throughout the colony.
In 173, a battle over the celebration of Christmas developed in Marblehead. Parson John Barnard of the First Congregational Church was opposed to Christmas celebrations, considering them to be designed only for the conversion of pagans to Christianity. He also claimed that there was no reason to assume that Dec. 25 was Jesus’ birth date. St. Michael’s Rev. George Pigot took the view that there was every reason to follow the tradition of Dec. 25, based on Jewish holidays and writings. He published a pamphlet, “A Vindication of the Practice of the Antient Christian…,” in the Observation of Christmas-Day.” Dueling sermons and writings continued in Marblehead for several years, but so did Christmas celebrations in many homes.
Many of the customs and traditions we celebrate over the holidays are the same as those that were celebrated in early Marblehead — at least the reveling and feasting. Though most people no longer shoot their own geese or raise their own pigs for Christmas dinner, the menus remain quite similar. Ham, goose, turkey or beef remain traditional Christmas dinner fare, and certainly cranberries, and cakes and cookies will never go out of style.
Gingerbread is one of the constants for holiday celebrations, then and now. Martha Washington’s gingerbread recipe, which she served to the Marquis de Lafayette, calls for West India molasses, brown sugar and ground ginger. The tradition of decorating gingerbread houses is not Colonial, however, and it is thought that gingerbread houses first became popular after the Brothers Grimm published their story of Hansel and Gretel in 1812.
One tradition that really conjures up the colonial season is candles in house windows. If you walk through town on a winter evening, these candles in the windows are a cheerful reminder of our past. The lights in early times would have been lit just long enough to welcome family and visitors, sitting in the window in a dish of water to keep them safe.
Decorations such as wreaths and boughs of evergreens and holly were seen in the 18th century, and apples and cranberries were often used because of their color and the fact that they kept so well. Some of the decorations seen at Williamsburg, Virginia, and at many Colonial homes, are in the spirit of the period, but are much more elaborate than what would have been available at the time, except to the wealthiest few. Pineapples and oranges were rare, imported treasures, meant to be displayed.
Lavender, rose petals and pungent herbs such as rosemary and bay were scattered throughout the churches, providing a pleasant holiday scent. These flowers and herbs were chosen because they were aromatic, considered to be an acceptable alternative to incense, which was not approved of in early Protestant churches.
Gathering together with family and friends remains our favorite holiday tradition now, as it was in the past. Best wishes for a happy season to all our friends and visitors in Marblehead.
