Now that Christmas Day is almost upon us and we are approaching the twelve days of Christmas, it is the time to discuss New Year's Day celebrations. Over the past few years, nineteenth century celebrations of Christmas have been discussed, but New Year's Day has often been overlooked.

In looking through several period publications and secondary sources on holiday celebrations, I was able to find some general information on New Year's Day celebrations. In some cases, it was difficult to distinguish the end of Christmas and the celebration of New Year's so a great many of the activities were either the same or very similar.

From the time America was settled, familiar celebrations from particular areas of Europe were introduced in the United States. In Puritan New England, Christmas and New Year's were largely ignored as either pagan or papist celebrations. The Quakers in Pennsylvania also did not celebrate Christmas. In New York and some areas of Pennsylvania, the practice of "mumming" (rowdy men disguising themselves in masks and paying calls on the wealthy) was part of the holiday celebration. Mumming started to be looked upon with disfavor by the 1860's, but in some areas it is still a popular Christmas-time celebration (such as the Mummer's Parade in Philadelphia today). Also, in New York, men went from house to house firing guns and then were invited into the house for food and drink. In the southern colonies, the people tended to follow English manor customs. They participated in dancing, card playing, nine-pins, and horse racing during the holiday seasons.

Even though, some holiday celebrations were brought over from homelands, fifty years after the Revolution, holidays were not numerous in American life. The Fourth of July and Thanksgiving (celebrated at various times; refer to past articles on Thanksgiving), being typically American, were the only ones celebrated, with Christmas and New Year's being largely ignored. An English actress, Fanny Kemble, wrote in 1832, "Comparatively no observances of tides and times punctuated the American years. Christmas day is no religious day and hardly a holiday with them: New-year's day is perhaps a little, and only a little more so. For Twelfth-day, it is unknown; and the household private festivals of birthdays are almost universally passed by unserved from the rest of the toilsome days devoted to the curse of labor."

By the end of the 1830's Christmas and New Year's were beginning to be celebrated, but differed in the mode of celebration in the various parts of the country. Even the importance of the holiday might shift within a specific community over a few years. One thing that celebrations seemed to have common was rowdy behavior and the shooting of guns. Though this was a common thread throughout the nineteenth century as the years progressed, Christmas became more of a family holiday.

In 1821, there was a literary reference to an American Santa Claus and gift-filled stockings, in the book A New Year's Present. Edward Everett Hale, born in 1822, wrote in 1892, "The first present I ever had was a Noah's ark. ....It was explained to me that he [Hale's uncle] was of Dutch family and had lived in New York, that his customs were therefore Dutch, and that this was the reason why he gave his presents on Christmas Day instead of New Year's."

By the mid-nineteenth century, holiday gifts were an integral part of both Christmas and New Year's. In the 1850's, holiday gifts were being advertised in newspapers, but gifts were not necessarily designated for Christmas. In some cases, presents were more a part of the New Year's ritual than for Christmas. In 1847, Philip Hone wrote about New Year's gifts, "This is the Parisian mode of celebrating le jour del'an, and we were getting into it very fast." He also wrote that the houses gave the "appearance of bazaars, where rich presents were displayed....."

Since Christmas was becoming more of a "family day." New Year's Day became a day of receptions and calls. In 1842, Lydia Maria Child wrote, "Every woman that is 'anybody' stays at home in her best. By the hostess' side is a table covered with cakes, preserves, wines, oysters, hot coffee, etc., and as every gentleman is in honor bound to call on every lady of his acquaintance he does not intend to cut [ignore], the amount of eating and drinking done by some fashionable beaus must of course be very considerable. The number of calls is a matter of boasting among ladies, and there is considerable rivalry in the magnificence and variety of eating tables." Women, especially those with eligible daughters, sent out invitations for a New Year's reception, and a great number were held on this day. Other ladies were often invited to received guests with the hostesses. Families of more modest means, would not issue invitations, but still would have an open house to receive New Year's callers. The houses were decorated and light refreshments were served. Gentlemen made the rounds of the receptions and open houses, sometimes making as many as fifty calls in a day. The calls were not lengthy and usually only lasted about fifteen minutes. Dress ranged from the formal to "Sunday best." Calling cards were left at each house by the gentlemen, and the eligible young ladies would vie for the greatest number of cards. By the 1890's, this custom had evolved into mostly family calls, and New Year's Eve parties became more popular.

If a New Year's dinner was served some or all of the following may have been included: Bouillon, Jellied Chicken, Boned Turkey, Pressed Tongue, Pickled Oysters, Lobster Mayonnaise, Crackers and Wafers, Fancy Pickles, Calf's Foot Jelly with Charlotte Russe, Chocolate with Whipped Cream, Ices, New Year's Cake, Fruit Cake, Small Cakes [cookies], Lemonade, Coffee, and Eggnog. (And this was only one week after the Christmas feast.)

In the South, the week between Christmas and New Year's was one of vacation for the slaves. Only the necessary work was required, so New Year's day was the last day of the holiday. Superstitions grew out of this final day, and many thought that food and actions on New Year's day would govern the next year. Black-eyed peas, ham hocks and sweet potatoes were served to the slaves. This meal was sure to bring good luck, health and wealth in the coming year. Other superstitions were: "No quarreling on New Year's Day, or you'll be arguing of all rest of the year;" "Don't cut that man's hair on New Year's Day or you'll cut his fortune by half."

I realize that some of the above descriptions and dates seem to contradict each other, but covering celebrations in different areas is the main cause of this discrepancy. People originated from different locations and the same nationalities seemed to settle together. The people from the various regions tended to bring some of the customs of the Old World, but as they became more assimilated, the people adopted customs from other areas or ones that they had heard of and liked, thus holiday celebrations have changed over the years. It would be interesting to see what our descendants will think of our celebrations, and how many of our customs will be looked upon as being nostalgic and be continued as family traditions. A great deal of information is obtained from letters and diaries describing family or local celebrations, but if we do not write down our family traditions how will future generations know how we celebrated our holidays today.

References

Breathnach, Sarah Ban. Mrs. Sharp's Traditions. Simon and Schuster: New York, 1990.

___________, Sarah Josepha Hale, editor. Godey's Ladies' Magazine. Louis Godey, publisher: Philadelphia, 1855 - 1870.

McKissack, Patricia and Frederick McKissack. Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters. Scholastic, Inc.: New York, 1994.

O'Neil, Sunny. The Gift of Christmas Past. The American Association for State and Local History: Nashville, TN, 1981.

_____________. Peterson's. Philadelphia, 1855 - 1870.

Restad, Penne L. Christmas in America. Oxford University Press. New York.

Snyder, Phillip. December 25th: The Joys of Christmas Past. Dodd, Mead & Company. New York: 1985.

Copyright ©1998 by Virginia Mescher. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced without permission.

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