Colonial Christmas Traditions

Christmas is one of the most celebrated festivals in the world. The festival brings hope, joy and happiness in each and everyone's life. The entire atmosphere is filled with gusto and festive fervor. People get a chance to enjoy the festival and spend quality time with friends and family. Family goes out together to buy a Christmas tree and then bring it home. Once the tree is brought home, it is decorated with paper flowers, tinsel and ornaments. Parties, feast and family reunion are integral parts of Christmas celebration. Traditions play an important role in celebration of Christmas. Every nation has different Christmas traditions.

Colonial Christmas traditions have their roots in England and Eastern Europe. The Christmas traditions of colonial America are influenced from Dutch settlers. The colonies had puritans, Catholics, Anglicans and so on. All these colonies celebrated Christmas in different styles and according to their customs. In seventeenth century, some puritans arrived in America. These people brought Christmas traditions with them. As the number of settlers arriving from Europe increased in colonial America, Christmas celebration started slowly. This happed in seventeenth and eighteenth century. People started decorating homes with evergreen twigs and wreaths. Christmas tree was seen in the houses.

The Dutch people arrived in New Amsterdam and established a colony in seventh century. They celebrated Christmas with great joy. St. Nicholas Day was celebrated with excitement and children got gifts on that day. Once the colony was taken over by British, Christmas celebration and Father Christmas reached to great heights. The Dutch version of Sinter Klass and Father Christmas together formed, the Santa Claus of today. Thus, the tradition of gift giving of Santa to children was established. The colonists organized parties and feast. The people came together and sang carols. The traditional Yule log was burnt in decorated houses. The traditional Christmas games were played.

The display of nativity scenes and candle light church services were the traditions brought by the immigrants of Bohemia and Moravia to the colonists. The Christmas banquets have wide range of delicacies. Beef, fish, goose, oysters, ham with brandied peaches and eggnog were the special dishes included in the Christmas feasts. The colonist just enjoyed the food and drinks during the festival of Christmas. Dance and music were an integral part of Christmas parties and banquets. People spend Christmas time in wine and dine with families. Gifts were exchanged between mentor and apprentice, employer and employees. The gifts were in form of cash and sweets. The elders and people of higher order gave gifts to younger and people working under them.

The colonial people attended church at the time of Christ's birth. They participated in the church services. The colonial traditions are an amalgamation of many customs from various parts of Europe.