1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:03,000 Speaker 1: Christmas is based on the story of the birth of Jesus, 2 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:06,840 Speaker 1: which historians say was anywhere from two to four BC. 3 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:10,960 Speaker 1: But then, where did Santa Claus, Christmas trees and Christmas 4 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:15,080 Speaker 1: cards and the extra festive eggnog come from? I'm Patty 5 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:19,040 Speaker 1: Steele the evolution of our very festive Christmas next on 6 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: the backstory. The backstory is back when you plunge deep 7 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:30,280 Speaker 1: into the Christmas season, you probably have a bunch of 8 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 1: traditions you trot out just because it's what you've done 9 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:36,360 Speaker 1: every year and your family before you. Right, But where 10 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:39,800 Speaker 1: did all those traditions come from? Christmas is based on 11 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:42,960 Speaker 1: the two thousand year old story of Jesus's birth. But 12 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:47,080 Speaker 1: Santa Claus, Christmas trees, Christmas cards and stockings, not to 13 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:50,159 Speaker 1: mention Black Friday? What's all that about? And why does 14 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 1: it happen on December twenty fifth when historians agree Jesus 15 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,440 Speaker 1: was most likely born sometime between April and September in 16 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: four BC. Well, the celebration of Christmas on December twenty 17 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:06,280 Speaker 1: fifth actually began in the fourth century, on the tail 18 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:10,080 Speaker 1: end of Roman and other European pagan festivals, marking the 19 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:13,000 Speaker 1: end of the harvest as well as the winter solstice. 20 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 1: The Roman emperor Constantine thought it would weaken those pagan holidays, 21 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 1: and he nailed it. It eventually did. It wasn't until 22 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:23,880 Speaker 1: ten thirty eight, though, that the holiday was given the 23 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:27,800 Speaker 1: name Christ's Mass or Christmas. In Europe. Right up through 24 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:30,960 Speaker 1: medieval times and into the Renaissance, it was a twelve 25 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: day celebration filled with too much drinking, food, gift giving, 26 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:39,200 Speaker 1: and partying. There were wild dances in plays, which is 27 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:43,360 Speaker 1: where Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night actually originated. And there were 28 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:48,520 Speaker 1: crazy Christmas games, including one called hot Cockles, where blindfolded 29 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:52,400 Speaker 1: victims had to guess who slapped them from behind. If 30 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 1: the guests was right, the slapper became the next victim. 31 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:58,920 Speaker 1: It was so not a holiday for kids. Queen Elizabeth 32 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:03,240 Speaker 1: the First loved wild dancing so much at Christmas she 33 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 1: held dance parties in her private dancing chamber at one 34 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,480 Speaker 1: of her castles. That would be quite an invite. All 35 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:13,799 Speaker 1: this was Christmas in Europe for hundreds of years, right 36 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:16,880 Speaker 1: up through the seventeen hundreds. But it's a whole different 37 00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: scene once we get to Colonial America. In the early days, 38 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:26,480 Speaker 1: there were no holidays here, no Christmas or Easter or 39 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:30,720 Speaker 1: anything else. It was a stuffy conservative place. In fact, 40 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:34,519 Speaker 1: in New England, where the Puritans called the Shots, celebrating 41 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:38,920 Speaker 1: Christmas was illegal for decades. In Massachusetts, they had a 42 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:42,560 Speaker 1: law called the Penalty for Keeping Christmas. You would be 43 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:46,760 Speaker 1: fined if you celebrated, because they said festivals dishonored God 44 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:50,120 Speaker 1: and were offensive. They felt they were only for commoners. 45 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:56,000 Speaker 1: Excuse me now. As that attitude began to ease, Christmas 46 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:59,600 Speaker 1: still wasn't a family or kid centric celebration. It was 47 00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:02,680 Speaker 1: actually a big time for weddings. Both George Washington and 48 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:07,440 Speaker 1: Thomas Jefferson got married during the Christmas season. The eighteen hundreds, 49 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: though changes everything. Christmas is no longer illegal, but it 50 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:15,080 Speaker 1: still wasn't about family or kids are giving presents. There 51 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:18,680 Speaker 1: were no Christmas trees, no cards, no Santa Claus, and 52 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:21,880 Speaker 1: no kissing under the missiletoe. But there were some really 53 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:25,960 Speaker 1: raucous sort of street festivals, almost similar to Marti Gras. 54 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:30,800 Speaker 1: Lots of drinking, brawling, vandalism, even public sex. In fact, 55 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:33,839 Speaker 1: a Christmas celebration, as they called it in New York 56 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 1: City in eighteen twenty eight, got so violent it led 57 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:41,560 Speaker 1: to the formation of the city's first professional police force. 58 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:45,400 Speaker 1: Now Around the same time, England's Queen Victoria, along with 59 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 1: evangelical Protestants in New York, decided Christmas should be a shorter, 60 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 1: more refined, more family centric celebration. At the same time, 61 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: Christmas trees, which were first popular in Germany, became a 62 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:03,040 Speaker 1: thing decorated with ens and candles with gifts piled underneath. 63 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 1: Before that, greenery in the form of wreaths and garlands 64 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:09,600 Speaker 1: was popular since in the midst of winter it symbolized 65 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 1: eternal life, and that went back to Greek and Roman times. 66 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: Also helping to invent our modern day Christmas was Washington Irving, 67 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 1: who wrote Rip van Winkle and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. 68 00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:24,360 Speaker 1: Irving also came up with a story that Columbus discovered 69 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:27,480 Speaker 1: the earth was round, and he was also the inventor 70 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:30,920 Speaker 1: of Santa Claus, which he based on the Dutch Saint Nicholas. 71 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 1: But in eighteen twenty two, the author Clement Clark Moore 72 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:38,560 Speaker 1: gave us the first definitive description of Santa Claus that 73 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:42,599 Speaker 1: we know today. His poem, written for his children, begins 74 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:46,280 Speaker 1: with the words twas the night before Christmas, when all 75 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:49,760 Speaker 1: through the house. Not a creature was stirring, not even 76 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:54,080 Speaker 1: a mouse. He turned Saint Nicholas into jolly Santa Claus, 77 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:57,120 Speaker 1: a plump, sweet guy with a sleigh full of toys 78 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:02,240 Speaker 1: and eight flying reindeer. He also, December twenty fourth, Christmas Eve, 79 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:05,280 Speaker 1: as the knights said, had brought toys to children by 80 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:09,200 Speaker 1: dropping down their chimneys and tucking presents into stockings hung 81 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:12,320 Speaker 1: on the mantle. He borrowed all of those traditions from 82 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:17,000 Speaker 1: various European legends. How funny enough, someone published the poem 83 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:20,280 Speaker 1: without telling him, and Moore claimed he was embarrassed by it. 84 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:23,520 Speaker 1: He didn't publish it under his own name until eighteen 85 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:27,920 Speaker 1: forty four, over twenty years later. Finally, in eighteen sixty three, 86 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:32,000 Speaker 1: the political cartoonist Thomas Nast gave us the visual image 87 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:34,719 Speaker 1: of the Santa Claus we know today, although it wasn't 88 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:38,640 Speaker 1: till the eighteen eighties somebody dressed him in a red suit. Nast, though, 89 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:41,839 Speaker 1: gave us his chubby cheeks and fluffy white beard with 90 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 1: a twinkling smile. He drew Santa Claus arriving at a 91 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:48,799 Speaker 1: camp of Union soldiers in his sleigh, bringing a little 92 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:51,520 Speaker 1: joy to the guys during the heat of the Civil War. 93 00:05:52,279 --> 00:05:56,039 Speaker 1: As Christmas began to commercialize, a store in Massachusetts introduced 94 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:58,960 Speaker 1: the first department store, Santa, in the eighteen eighties, and 95 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:02,440 Speaker 1: soon every big store had one. By the nineteen thirties, 96 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 1: the Coca Cola Company refined Santa's look into just what 97 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:10,360 Speaker 1: we see today. As for other traditions, Christmas cards arrived 98 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 1: in eighteen forty three but didn't fully catch on until 99 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:16,640 Speaker 1: the beginning of the twentieth century, and the Christmas carols 100 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:19,520 Speaker 1: we know and love today have only been around since 101 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:22,600 Speaker 1: the early to mid eighteen hundreds. Finally, one of our 102 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:27,000 Speaker 1: favorite traditions, eggnog, has a bit longer history, first appearing 103 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 1: in medieval times made with get this hot curdled milk 104 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:34,880 Speaker 1: and wine. Yuck, But it got really popular in America 105 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:38,479 Speaker 1: when colonists made it with eggs, cream and rum. That's 106 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:43,039 Speaker 1: more like it. Even George Washington evolved the tradition with 107 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 1: his own special recipe. In George's words, mix one court cream, 108 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:52,920 Speaker 1: one court milk, a dozen tablespoons of sugar, one pint brandy, 109 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:57,240 Speaker 1: one pint rye whiskey, one pint Jamaica rum, and one 110 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:01,400 Speaker 1: pint sherry along with twelve eggs mix well, leaving a 111 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:05,679 Speaker 1: cool place tasting frequently Wow. George was a partier that'd 112 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 1: knock you out right. So, despite two thousand years of 113 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:13,160 Speaker 1: religious belief, the less religious Christmas as we know it 114 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:16,400 Speaker 1: is mostly less than two hundred years old. We realize 115 00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:20,160 Speaker 1: that traditions aren't carved in stone. We invent them. They're 116 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 1: an outgrowth of what we need and what we feel, 117 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:31,360 Speaker 1: and that joy is what we pass on to the future. 118 00:07:32,360 --> 00:08:02,200 Speaker 1: SIS we frame SIS. I'm Patty The Backstories a production 119 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:06,360 Speaker 1: of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group and Steel 120 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:10,920 Speaker 1: Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. 121 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,680 Speaker 1: We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free 122 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:17,040 Speaker 1: to reach out to me with comments and even story 123 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:21,160 Speaker 1: suggestions on Instagram at real Patty Steele and on Facebook 124 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:24,160 Speaker 1: at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the Backstory with 125 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:27,680 Speaker 1: Patty Steele. The pieces of history you didn't know you 126 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 1: needed to know.