The Development of Christmas

[Virtual_Burlesque]

How we celebrate Christmas now developed slowly over the years. I thought it might be interesting to post all the sites with information and/or images about how Christmas developed through the years, here, to share with other Liters.

Haddon Sundblom's Coca-Cola Santa Claus


The Santa we all know and love was created for Coca-Cola in 1931 by Haddon Sundblom. Click on the Santa Picture for just a few more examples of the Santa Claus ads used throughout the 35 years of Haddon Sundblom's Santa paintings.


http://www.fortunecity.com/millennium/hibiscus/121/santa64.gif

 

[Guest]

Nochebuena - Poinsettia

http://www.bel-a-bel.freeserve.co.uk/1658%20poinsettia.jpg Nochebuena, the Mexican name of the flower English-speakers call poinsettia, was discovered in Taxco and the valleys surrounding Cuernavaca. Known by the Aztecs in their native Nahuatl language as cuetlaxochitl, it is believed that they brought the plant from the tropical climate of Cuernavaca to their Aztec highlands for cultivation in special nurseries. Prized in the prehispanic era for the curative properties of the milk that dripped from the leaves, stems and flowers when cut, the pigment from the red leaves was also used to dye cotton fibers.

After the Conquest, the Spanish Franciscan priests posted to the Taxco area used the plants to decorate their Christian nativity scenes, creating its first link to the Christmas season. The nochebuena gained further attention when Hernando Ruiz de Alarcon, a resident of Taxco and the brother of a famous Spanish writer, Juan Ruiz de Alarcon, wrote poetically about the flower and later, when it captured the attention of the Spanish botanist Don Juan Balme.

Its greatest promoter, however, was Joel Roberto Poinsett (1770-1851), who served as the U.S.’s ambassador to Mexico following Mexico´s Independence from Spain. Although his record as an ambassador is generally agreed to be mediocre, he cherished Mexico and fell in love with the plant when he first saw it in 1823 adorning the churches of Taxco. He sent plants to decorate his mansion in Charlestonville, South Carolina, one Christmas, and upon his return home several years later he was astonished to find the entire town growing the Christmas flower, or "poinsettia".

Poinsett began propagating the plant and dedicated the last years of his life to making the "poinsettia" the Mexican symbol of Christmas throughout the world. His dedication earned him a fortune even though the plant´s translated Nahuatl name (flor que se marchita or the flower that wilts) correctly described one of its drawbacks. (Every Mexican gardener knows that the nochebuena wilts within a few minutes after it is cut, making it unsuitable for bouquets.) The former ambassador gained a greater success, however, when its original Latin name euphorbia pulcherrima was changed to poinsettia pulcherrima. Today, millions of dollars of poinsettias are sold each year throughout the world to herald the Christmas season. source

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

Another illustrator important in the development of the modern image of Santa Claus was Thomas Nast. His first wood engravings appeared in Harper's Weekly for Christmas of 1862. His Christmas drawings mark the first appearance of Santa Claus as we know him today. Prior to this, Santa had passed through a series of stages beginning with a more religious-type figure.

http://www.philaprintshop.com/images/nast123071.jpg

http://www.philaprintshop.com/images/nast1176.jpg

http://www.philaprintshop.com/images/nast122481.jpg

For the duration of the war, Nast spent his time illustrating many battles and scenes from the Civil War illustrator for Harpers Weekly.

 

[R. Richard]

Re: Nochebuena - Poinsettia

http://www.bel-a-bel.freeserve.co.uk/1658%20poinsettia.jpg Nochebuena, the Mexican name of the flower English-speakers call poinsettia, was discovered in Taxco and the valleys surrounding Cuernavaca. Known by the Aztecs in their native Nahuatl language as cuetlaxochitl, it is believed that they brought the plant from the tropical climate of Cuernavaca to their Aztec highlands for cultivation in special nurseries. Prized in the prehispanic era for the curative properties of the milk that dripped from the leaves, stems and flowers when cut, the pigment from the red leaves was also used to dye cotton fibers.

After the Conquest, the Spanish Franciscan priests posted to the Taxco area used the plants to decorate their Christian nativity scenes, creating its first link to the Christmas season. The nochebuena gained further attention when Hernando Ruiz de Alarcon, a resident of Taxco and the brother of a famous Spanish writer, Juan Ruiz de Alarcon, wrote poetically about the flower and later, when it captured the attention of the Spanish botanist Don Juan Balme.

Its greatest promoter, however, was Joel Roberto Poinsett (1770-1851), who served as the U.S.’s ambassador to Mexico following Mexico´s Independence from Spain. Although his record as an ambassador is generally agreed to be mediocre, he cherished Mexico and fell in love with the plant when he first saw it in 1823 adorning the churches of Taxco. He sent plants to decorate his mansion in Charlestonville, South Carolina, one Christmas, and upon his return home several years later he was astonished to find the entire town growing the Christmas flower, or "poinsettia".

Poinsett began propagating the plant and dedicated the last years of his life to making the "poinsettia" the Mexican symbol of Christmas throughout the world. His dedication earned him a fortune even though the plant´s translated Nahuatl name (flor que se marchita or the flower that wilts) correctly described one of its drawbacks. (Every Mexican gardener knows that the nochebuena wilts within a few minutes after it is cut, making it unsuitable for bouquets.) The former ambassador gained a greater success, however, when its original Latin name euphorbia pulcherrima was changed to poinsettia pulcherrima. Today, millions of dollars of poinsettias are sold each year throughout the world to herald the Christmas season. source

Perdita:
Thank you for the poinsettia info. I lived in South Carolina some years back and I heard the story of Poinsett from the SC viewpoint. The rest of the story is interesting because of my knowledge of half of the story.

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

http://www.ivcc.edu/perez/images/perfect%20christmas%20tree%20copy.gif


All about the Christmas Tree

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

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Image links to Victorian Christmas Cards.


186 Years of "Silent Night" 1818-2004


The world's most famous Christmas song, "Silent Night," comes to us from Austria (Österreich in German). Called "Stille Nacht" in its original German, this beautiful Christmas carol is now sung and enjoyed around the world in hundreds of languages.

On a cold Christmas Eve in 1818 pastor Joseph Franz Mohr (1792-1848) walked the three kilometers from his home in the Austrian village of Oberndorf bei Salzburg to visit his friend Franz Xaver Gruber (1787-1863) in the neighboring town of Arnsdorf bei Laufen. Mohr brought with him a poem he had written some two years earlier. He desperately needed a carol for the Christmas Eve midnight mass that was only hours away. He hoped his friend, a school teacher who also served as the church's choir master and organist, could set his poem to music. And one of the many amazing things about this carol is that Franz Gruber composed the "Stille Nacht" melody for Mohr in just a few hours on that December 24, 1818.

Recent flooding of the nearby Salzach river had put the church organ out of commission, so Gruber composed the music for guitar accompaniment. A few hours after Gruber finished his composition, he and Mohr stood before the altar of the St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf to perform their own work. A local choir group backed them up as the sounds of the brand new carol broke the silence of that "Stille Nacht."

For many years in the later half of the 19th century, when the carol was beginning to become more popular, people who knew anything about "Stille Nacht" assumed the melody must have been composed by a more famous composer, possibly Beethoven, Haydn, or even Mozart. Although Gruber had made a written claim as the composer prior to his death in 1863, doubts lingered on into the 20th century. The question was officially settled only several years ago when an arrangement of "Stille Nacht" in Joseph Mohr's hand was authenticated. In the upper right hand corner of the arrangement Mohr had written the words, "Melodie von Fr. Xav. Gruber."

Around 1832, when Gruber's melody was performed by folk singers from Austria's Ziller Valley (Zillertal), several musical notes were altered, and the "Silent Night" melody became what we know today. But Austria's Stille Nacht Gesellschaft (Silent Night Society) not only works to protect the Mohr-Gruber legacy—it encourages the use of the original notes that Gruber composed.


The Austrian Stille-Nacht-Gedächtniskapelle (memorial chapel) in Oberndorf bei Salzburg is visited annually by an estimated 150,000 visitors from all over the world. A nearby museum is devoted to the historical aspects of "Silent Night."

In Austria "Stille Nacht" is considered a national treasure. Traditionally the song may not be played publicly before Christmas Eve, and any commercial use of the 180-year-old carol is verboten. Contrast that with the situation in most other countries, where you are likely to hear "Silent Night" playing in the local shopping mall or even as part of a radio or TV commercial. Nevertheless, "Silent Night" enjoys a revered position among Christmas carols all over the world, no matter what it may be called or in which language it may be performed.

The first known performance of "Stille Nacht" in the United States took place near New York City's Trinity Church. In 1839 the Rainer family singers of Austria included the German version of "Stille Nacht" in their repertoire during an appearance at the Alexander Hamilton Monument near the church, some 24 years before an English version of the carol would be published.

The "Silent Night" translation that we sing today in English first appeared in 1863—the year of Franz Gruber's death, and some 45 years after the song's initial performance in Austria. The English-language author was unknown until 1959, when it was determined to have been the Episcopal priest John Freeman Young, assigned at the time of his work to the same Trinity Church associated with the 1839 performance of "Stille Nacht." Reverend Young apparently enjoyed translating European hymns and carols into English, and it is his 135-year-old "Silent Night" text that is found today in most hymnals and Christmas carol collections published in the English-speaking world.


Link

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

Dickens began writing his "Little Carol" in October, 1843 finishing it by the end of November in time to be published for Christmas with illustrations by John Leech.

Feuding with his publishers, Dickens financed the publishing of the book himself, ordering lavish binding, gilt edging, and hand-colored illustrations and then setting the price at 5 shillings so that everyone could afford it.

This combination resulted in disappointingly low profits despite high sales. In the first few days of its release the book sold six thousand copies and its popularity continued to grow.

The first and best of his Christmas Books, A Christmas Carol has become a Christmas tradition and easily Dickens' best known book.


http://faculty.gvsu.edu/websterm/Marley.jpg


A Christmas Carol is published in several editions,
as well as being available for reading on-line:


A Christmas Carol

as well as through

Project Gutenberg

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

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How many pieces of mince pie must you eat to have good fortune?

What goes into making a Scottish Black Bun?

How does one make a Calenigg?

What does a candle in the window mean?


Find out in the

The Great British Christmas!

 

[ABSTRUSE]

La bump

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

The First Christmas Card


http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/images/Image129.gif


Credit for designing the Christmas card is given to John Callcott Horsley (1817-1903), a Royal Academician. He was a well-known painter who designed the first Christmas card in December 1843 at the request of his friend Sir Henry Cole (1808-1882), founding director of the South Kensington Museum (renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1899) and closely associated with the Great Exhibition of 1851. The first Christmas card appeared in the same year that Charles Dickens penned The Christmas Carol.

Sir Henry Cole was an assistant at the Public Records Office and a writer and publisher of books and journals. He wrote books on art collections and architecture under the pseudonym Felix Summerly, and founded The Journal of Design. Cole's Summerly's Home Treasury published children's book, which he sometimes edited.

At Christmas time Sir Henry -- as was the custom among his peers -- would hand write greetings and best wishes to his family, friends, and acquaintances (the origin of the "Christmas Letter."). But with all his ventures, Cole had little time to inscribe countless personal Christmas greetings. He and other well wishers could buy sheets of paper decorated with Christmas themes or generic holiday cards to which the specific holiday could be added. This got to be a cumbersome task, so he asked Horsley to produce for him a Christmas card with a single message that could be duplicated and sent to all on his list.

The first edition of cards was lithographed and hand colored and shows a family party and with the legend "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You." They were printed on stiff cardboard, 5 1/8 by 3 1/4 inches, by Jobbins of Warwick Court, Holborn, London. Each was then hand-colored in dark sepia by a professional "colourer" named Mason. It also states that is was "Published at Summerly's Home Treasury Office, 12 Old Bond Street, London," by his friend and associate Joseph Cundall; the publishing firm was owned by Cole. Those he didn't use were sold from Summerly's for one shilling each. According to Cundall, "many copies were sold, but possibly not more than 1,000." Only a dozen of the originals are known to exist today. One of these went to auction on Saturday, November 24, 2001; it sold for a record £22,500 (US$ 32,337 as of January 3, 2002). It was sent by Sir Henry to his "Granny and Auntie Char" and was signed by Sir Henry, which makes it exceptionally rare. Ordinarily, one of these cards is expected to go from between £3,000 and £6,000.


http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/images/Image165.gif Left: Sir Henry Cole with his little dog, from an 1871 Vanity Fair cartoon.


Cole's card is about the size of an ordinary postcard, 3 1/4 x 5 1/8. The card showed a family enjoying a Christmas feast as they all toast their absent friend (the addressee) during the festive season with glasses of red wine. It was set within a woody, rustic border hung with ivy, grapes and vine leaves (holly did not appear on Christmas cards until 1848 by William Maw Egley, Jr.). The oblong side pieces depict the charitable acts of "clothing the naked" and "feeding the hungry" However, the middle panel caused such a stir with the public that the cards were withdrawn from sale. Family, good works, and good eating and drinking, three elements of a classical Victorian Christmas made an appearance on the first Christmas card.

 

[Guest]

This is a great thread, Burley! Thanks so much for putting it together.

Lou

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

Traditional Holiday Wassail - A History of Merriment

Wassailing is one of our most enduring Christmas traditions, with reference to it made as early as the 1300’s! It's surprising that most of us think of it as a peculiar, if charming bit of history. But its role in family and community togetherness and merriment is one we could use today at least as much as our medieval ancestors. Like the best traditions, friends - new or old - provide its meaning, no matter what we’re drinking.

Like many lasting customs, wassailing is associated with an enchanting legend. A Saxon young woman named Rowena (Her beauty, of course, was unparalleled. But then we knew that, didn’t we?) offered Prince Vortigen a bowl of wine while toasting him with the phrase, “Waes hael,” which is an Anglo-Saxon phrase meaning "good health."

The story led to the tradition of shouting "Wassail!" before sipping from a cup. Then after taking a sip, the first person passes the cup to her neighbor. That person replies "Drinkhail," and accepts the cup, taking a sip. He shouts "Wassail!" to the next person, and passes the cup along, giving a kiss to the recipient who says, "Drinkhail!"

Another variation requires a scarf and coat, and calls for a group of caroling revelers to carry the bowl to houses where they sing and offer the homeowner a cup. At the home the group was likely to refill the bowl. Each cupboard surely held widely varied ingredients which may have been the start of the diversity of wassail recipes.

An ancient tradition and possibly the first use of wassailing, was to pour some of the drink on orchards and crops after harvest to bless them for the coming year and to protect them from evil. Though used to ward off evil, it was never a somber or dreary occasion, but a festive and communal activity. It continues to be.

Among those who carry on the custom of wassailing, much fanfare accompanies the tradition. The bowl, called “The Loving Cup” is often adorned with flowing ribbons and bows and is carried into a room with dramatic flourish and music. Everyone sings a traditional carol about the drink. Then all drink some according to the above toast-and-thanks ritual.

This recipe comes from an Irish friend and is a good introduction to Wassail. There are many variations and some recipes that are quite different. Explore and invent, and most of all, “Waes hael!”

Traditional Christmas Wassail

4 cups brown ale
1 cup dry sherry*
3 oz. brown sugar
4 apples
peel of ½ lemon
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground ginger

*You may use dry white wine.

Wash the apples and peel them just around their “equators.” Place the apples, brown sugar and 4 tbsp. of the brown ale into an ovenproof dish and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until the apples are tender. Remove the apples and add the remaining ale, sherry or wine, lemon peel, nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger. Simmer gently for a few minutes. Add the apples and serve with a toast of "Wael hael!"



This content was written by Cesca Waterfield. If you wish to use this content in any manner, you need written permission. Contact Cesca Waterfield for details.