1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,960 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey, Brainstuff, Lauren 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,399 Speaker 1: Vogelbaum here. Oh. When you imagine a classic Christmas, you 3 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:16,440 Speaker 1: might think of things like Christmas trees, Santa Claus, and 4 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:20,640 Speaker 1: twinkling lights. Oh. While some traditions are descended from more 5 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:23,439 Speaker 1: ancient practices, Christmas as we know it here in the 6 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:26,680 Speaker 1: United States is pretty much a product of the nineteenth century. 7 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:30,240 Speaker 1: The eighteen hundreds were a time of remarkable change in 8 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:33,840 Speaker 1: the Western world, including the birth of many holiday customs. 9 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:37,919 Speaker 1: A For a long time before the mid eighteen hundreds, 10 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:41,280 Speaker 1: people in England and by extension, the United States, barely 11 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:45,519 Speaker 1: celebrated Christmas at all. For the article, this episode is 12 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:48,919 Speaker 1: based on How Stuff Works. Spoke with doctor Bruce David Forbes, 13 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:52,879 Speaker 1: Professor Emeritis of Religious Studies at Morningside University in Sioux City, Iowa. 14 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:57,560 Speaker 1: He said the Puritans opposed Christmas. They thought it was 15 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:00,360 Speaker 1: a Catholic thing and that people were partying too much. 16 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:03,400 Speaker 1: Even though the Puritan Revolution was in the sixteen hundreds 17 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:07,000 Speaker 1: and didn't last very long, the discouragement of Christmas lasted 18 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 1: like a century and a half. It's kind of like 19 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: Christmas disappeared. However, beginning around the middle of the eighteen hundreds, 20 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: forces began gathering around the holiday. We've already talked on 21 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:22,720 Speaker 1: the show about how gardening trends and successful marketing during 22 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:26,040 Speaker 1: that time made the poinsettia a Mexican winter plant and 23 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:31,040 Speaker 1: inner continental phenomenon. But let's talk about another plant mainstay, 24 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: the Christmas tree. It turns out we may have that 25 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 1: largely thanks to the young and fashionable British royal family 26 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:40,679 Speaker 1: of the mid eighteen hundreds, headed by Queen Victoria and 27 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 1: her husband Prince Albert. Forbes explained the Christmas tree we 28 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: usually credit was starting in Germany. It comes to England 29 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: because Victoria is of the House of Hanover and that's German. 30 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: Prince Albert is German. In eighteen forty eight, London newspapers 31 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: published a photo of Victoria and Albert, along with several 32 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:03,760 Speaker 1: of their children, gathered around a decorated Christmas tree on 33 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:08,720 Speaker 1: a table in England, and soon thereafter in America, families 34 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: everywhere began putting up their own Christmas trees. A Forbes 35 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:16,840 Speaker 1: said it took off immediately. In that image of Victoria 36 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:19,320 Speaker 1: and Albert, their Christmas tree is on a table and 37 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 1: the presents are hanging from the tree or on the table. 38 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 1: As the presidents get more and more crazy, of course, 39 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:27,320 Speaker 1: then we're going to need the bigger Christmas tree. And 40 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:31,880 Speaker 1: now we have Florida stealing trees in our houses. And 41 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:36,000 Speaker 1: then there's Santa While Saint Nicholas was probably a real 42 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:40,080 Speaker 1: person celebrated in certain religious circles for centuries, it was 43 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:45,280 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century that transformed him into Santa Claus. Forbes said, 44 00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:49,000 Speaker 1: what's Saint Nicholas. We don't know what's legend and what's historical. 45 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 1: He supposedly lived in the three hundreds in what's now Turkey, 46 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:57,240 Speaker 1: and he was a bishop. Nicholas had a reputation for 47 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:01,160 Speaker 1: generosity and was canonized a Forbes said, after that, he 48 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 1: kind of becomes the protector of everybody. He's like a 49 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:07,720 Speaker 1: guardian angel. His Saint's Day is December sixth, so it's 50 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:10,760 Speaker 1: not Christmas, but it's in that season leading up to Christmas. 51 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 1: Saint Nicholas was especially popular in the Netherlands, where he's 52 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:19,160 Speaker 1: known as Center Claus. It was the Dutch who imported 53 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: him to the Americas. Of Forbes said, Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Quakers, 54 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:28,640 Speaker 1: all those people did not do Christmas in early America. 55 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:32,200 Speaker 1: It was not a huge cultural thing. But in New 56 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:36,080 Speaker 1: York at the time New Amsterdam the Dutch continue these traditions. 57 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:38,600 Speaker 1: That's how Saint Nicholas gets his toe in the door 58 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 1: and the Dutch term Center Claus gets angelicized to Santa 59 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 1: Claus A. Saint Nicholas's transformation to the modern Santa comes 60 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:52,320 Speaker 1: partially courtesy of writers like Clement Moore, who published a 61 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:54,680 Speaker 1: Visit from Saint Nicholas, perhaps better known as Twas the 62 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:58,480 Speaker 1: Night Before Christmas in eighteen twenty three, and Washington Irving, 63 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: who wrote a number of as celebrating old English holiday 64 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:07,120 Speaker 1: festivities and the Christmas spirit. These works introduced Saint Nicholas 65 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:11,920 Speaker 1: to a wider audience, and then Santa morphed from a 66 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: jolly old elf with a miniature sleigh and eight tiny 67 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: reindeer to the figure with a fur lined coat, a 68 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:21,719 Speaker 1: bushy white beard, and rosy cheeks. Thanks to a political 69 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 1: cartoon from eighteen sixty two, inspired by tales of Saint 70 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:29,200 Speaker 1: Nicholas and folk art of elves from his native Germany, 71 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:33,320 Speaker 1: cartoonist Thomas Nast published the image of Santa bringing good, 72 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:36,760 Speaker 1: cheer and warm socks among other gifts to Union soldiers 73 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:42,960 Speaker 1: on the title page of Harper's Weekly. Meanwhile, electric Christmas 74 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:46,560 Speaker 1: lights didn't become common in American households until the nineteen thirties, 75 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 1: but like so many other Christmas traditions, they were born 76 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:55,480 Speaker 1: in the eighteen hundreds. In eighteen seventy one, businessman Edward 77 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:59,280 Speaker 1: Hibbert Johnson hired a young inventor named Thomas Edison at 78 00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 1: the Automatic Telegraph Company. When Edison left to form his 79 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 1: own company, Johnson went with him. Edison famously patented the 80 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:10,839 Speaker 1: electric light bulb in eighteen eighty, and Johnson invested some 81 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:15,920 Speaker 1: of his own money to start the Edison Lamp Company. Meanwhile, 82 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,719 Speaker 1: Christmas was candlelight, and that gave Johnson a great idea. 83 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 1: He wired together eighty multi color Edison bulbs and wrapped 84 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 1: them on a Christmas tree. The decoration got a lot 85 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:29,640 Speaker 1: of press, though they were still too expensive for most 86 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:34,560 Speaker 1: people to afford for another few decades. But okay, there 87 00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:37,359 Speaker 1: is one more part of the traditional Christmas season that 88 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:42,800 Speaker 1: we haven't discussed yet, commercialism. Okay. In eighteen forty three, 89 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:46,159 Speaker 1: English writer Charles Dickens published a story that would cement 90 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:49,840 Speaker 1: a particular form of Christmas cheer or should we say 91 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:55,680 Speaker 1: spirit in pop culture forever. In a Christmas Carol, grouchy 92 00:05:55,720 --> 00:06:01,280 Speaker 1: businessman Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by four ghosts. Marle accounts literally, 93 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:04,080 Speaker 1: it's what he does too much of anyway, and Scrooge 94 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:08,800 Speaker 1: winds up learning a lesson in humanity. But long before 95 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:12,240 Speaker 1: Christmas Carol was a December mainstay of local theaters and 96 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 1: singing muppets alike. Dickens was, in his own time, wildly popular. 97 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:20,760 Speaker 1: Forbes said he was a rock star. He toured the 98 00:06:20,839 --> 00:06:25,400 Speaker 1: United States and people lined up for tickets. Businesses that 99 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:29,479 Speaker 1: were open on Christmas Day saw themselves represented by Scrooge's attitude. 100 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:34,320 Speaker 1: Forbes said, businesses recalculate they're thinking about it and saying 101 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:38,239 Speaker 1: oh Christmas doesn't just equal lost business. There are business 102 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:45,720 Speaker 1: possibilities here. Businesses embraced the holiday, and suddenly it was commercialized, 103 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:49,320 Speaker 1: perhaps an ironic result for a story about the true 104 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: meaning of Christmas Thanks nineteenth century. Today's episode is based 105 00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:01,799 Speaker 1: on the article how the nineteenth century Invented Modern Christmas 106 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:05,240 Speaker 1: on how stuffworks dot com, written by Kate Morgan. Brainstuff 107 00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:07,720 Speaker 1: is production by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuffworks 108 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:10,480 Speaker 1: dot com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more 109 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:14,120 Speaker 1: podcasts from my Heart Radio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 110 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.