Christmas morning, 1955. Photo from Cindy Jensen-Elliott
Over the last few decades it seems lots of people have been concerned about how Christmas is changing. On one hand, there is the so-called “War on Christmas,” and people taking issue with Starbucks cups and the greeting “Happy Holidays.” On the other hand, there are those who complain about the way in which the Christmas season seems to creep earlier and earlier in the year. Both of these complaints bemoan changing traditions. But that “classic” tradition of Christmas--Christmas trees, cookies, and toys toys toys--where did that come from?
Sources:
“Christmas,” Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, January 2, 1787. Accessed from America's Historical Newspapers.
“Confectionary, Fruit, &c.” (Advertisement), Poulson's American Daily Advertiser, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1814/12/10, Volume XLIII, issue 11874, page 2; Accessed from America's Historical Newspapers.
DuComb, Christian, “Mummers,” Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia.
Fox, Justin, “Christmas Was Invented in New York,” Bloomberg .
Hill, Richard S., “Not So Far Away In A Manger” Notes, December, 1945 (Second Series, Vol. III, No. 1) Music Library Association.
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, “Sixty Years of Holiday Cheer at Wanamaker’s,” Hidden City.
“John Burge” (Advertisement), Independent Gazetteer, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1792/12/15, issue 1423, page 3; Accessed from America's Historical Newspapers.
Krueger, David M., “Islam,” Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia.
Martínez, Victoria, “The festive feast that has stood the test of time,” The Local Sweden.
Mires, Charlene, “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia.
Sherry, Amanda, “Toy Manufacturing,” Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia.
Thompson, Mark L., “New Sweden,” Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia.
Wyman, Caroline, “Sweetzels and Ivins spiced wafers are the ‘original pumpkin spice latte,’ but only in Philly,” The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Full Transcript:
Ted Maust: Over the last few decades it seems lots of people have been concerned about how Christmas is changing. On one hand, there is the so-called “War on Christmas,” and people taking issue with Starbucks cups and the greeting “Happy Holidays.” On the other hand, there are those who complain about the way in which the Christmas season seems to creep earlier and earlier in the year. Both of these complaints bemoan changing traditions. But that “classic” tradition of Christmas--Christmas trees, cookies, and toys toys toys--where did that come from?
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Welcome to the Alley Cast, a podcast from the Elfreth’s Alley Museum in Philadelphia. We tell the stories of people who lived and/or worked on this street, which has been home to everyday Philadelphians for three centuries. While we start in this neighborhood, we will explore connections that take us across the city and around the globe.
Today, we bring you a special holiday episode of the Alley Cast, exploring the history of Christmas in Philadelphia: a history of immigrant and popular cultures, of piety and consumerism. There is continuity but more often the story of Christmas traditions has been a story of change.
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Many of the traditions that have become part of mainstream American Christmas originated in Northern Europe in what is now Germany, and were brought to our shores by immigrants. Christmas has changed and evolved, becoming not just a religious holiday but a cultural and commercial season. Really, Christmas has been mutating during most of the time it has been celebrated in Philadelphia, from the 17th century to 2020 when we are experiencing a Christmas season like no other.
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But when was Christmas first celebrated in what is, today, the city of Philadelphia? Probably in the 1630s or 1640s! The first European settlement on the western bank of the Delaware River was New Sweden, founded in 1638. Many of the Finns and Swedes who moved to the settlement likely lived in and around Fort Christina, located near modern-day Wilmington, Delaware. But those who came to New Sweden spread throughout the broader region. For instance, one of the earliest surviving log cabins in the nation was built in what is now Upper Darby township in the 1640s. So the first celebrants of Christmas in this area were likely Swedes or Finns. Their Christmas traditions would have been informed by their Lutheran faith as well as Old Norse winter feasts.
The Julbord is one of Sweden’s longest-lived Christmas traditions. Meaning “Christmas table,” the julbord is essentially a holiday version of the smorgasbord: an array of foods on a table, often heavily featuring fish, and often eaten as a family.
If the early settlers of the Philadelphia area were indeed Lutheran, they likely celebrated Christmas by singing hymns as well. Martin Luther himself is said to have composed several Christmas hymns, including “Away in a Manger,” though that one, it seems, was actually written much later and in America. Luther also is sometimes credited with popularizing the Christmas tree, so it’s possible that these early European settlers of the Delaware Valley brought trees, or at least evergreen boughs, into their homes.
Some of the Swedish and Finnish settlers remained in the Philadelphia area when William Penn chartered the colony of Pennsylvania and began planning out his new city. A smattering of Dutch and English settlers had made homes in the area as well by 1682, but the trickle of Europeans was about to become a flood. Within a year of Penn’s Charter, there were a few hundred Europeans living in the new city of Philadelphia. By 1700 there were 2000.
A relatively large portion of the early population of Philadelphia were Quakers. Early Quakers made a point of not celebrating “special days or seasons” with the rationale that each day should be sacred. For this reason, Christmases in Philadelphia’s first decades were probably somewhat subdued.
Of course some Philadelphians did not celebrate Christmas at all; there were still Lenni-Lenape living in the area, and by the mid 18th century there was at least one Jewish congregation in the city. Of the 500 enslaved people who were forcibly brought to the Delaware Valley in the mid-18th century from West Africa, some percentage were likely Muslim and others practiced traditional religions. In addition there were likely both Deists and Atheists in early Philadelphia.
For those who did choose to celebrate Christmas in 18th century Philadelphia, there was apparently some variety of tradition. An article in the Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser in 1787, for instance, had this to say:
“This season, perhaps, affords as great variety in this city as any other--some good people religiously observing it as a time set apart for a most sacred purpose--others reveling in prostitution, and paying their sincere devotions to merry Bacchus--others decently feasting with their friends and relatives--stores shut up--almost all kinds of business suspended.”
While the author was writing specifically about New York City, the piece’s inclusion in a Philadelphia paper suggests that it was at least somewhat descriptive of this city’s Christmas as well.
At least some of the bacchanalia was likely due to the tradition of “mummers.” The mummers were usually young working class men who would roam around during the evenings of the festive period, knocking on doors and performing antics for the occupants in return for food, drink, or tips -- Think a cross between Halloween trick or treating and improv comedy. This tradition continued into the 19th century, becoming more baudy and disruptive until civic leaders organized what we now know as the Mummers Parade as an attempt to formalize and control the chaos. By the late 19th century, Mummers had also adopted conventions of racist caricature, which despite being banned, at least in theory, in the 1960s, persist today.
Early Philadelphia had a sizeable German population--especially the Pennsylvania Dutch, who brought with them folk traditions such as the character of Belsnickel, who acted as a kind of counterweight to Saint Nicholas, offering well-behaved children some rewards but carrying the threat of corporal punishment for misbehaving kids.
The character of Saint Nicholas, Sinterklass, or Father Christmas was relatively ubiquitous in Europe, often a man dressed in red bishop’s garb with a white beard. While there are theories that the character originated in German pagan traditions, it spread through the Catholic Church when it was combined with the story of the actual Saint Nicholas.
Arriving in North America, this character mutated somewhat. Washington Irving, writing a satirical history of New York in the early 19th century, included a version of the Dutch settlers’ Christmas guest, Sinterklaas, which had him dressed as a sailor in a green coat and smoking a pipe. Irving’s depiction coincided with a burst of interest in the character of Santa Claus and an outpouring of stories and images which shaped Santa into the one we know today. In 1821, several references were made to Santa driving a wagon full of presents, and an illustration made that wagon into a sleigh pulled by one reindeer. In 1823, Clement Clarke Moore wrote his famous poem, “A Visit From St. Nicholas”--it’s the one that starts “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”--and further fleshed out this character of Santa Claus. Some of these details may have been present in earlier depictions of the gift-giving character, but by the 1820s, they proliferated throughout the United States.
The 19th century brought a new kind of popular culture to the States that hadn’t previously existed, as newspapers not only increased in circulation but freely copied from each other so that a story or poem could spread across the country, like a tweet going viral. Philadelphia was not only an industrial powerhouse and the nation’s 2nd most-populous city, but also a center of publishing. The things that were printed and manufactured here spread throughout the nation and Philadelphia played an active role in Christmas’s evolution in this period.
For instance, Godey’s Lady’s Book, a popular women’s magazine was published in Philadelphia from 1830 to 1878. The magazine included poetry, essays, and often engraved images and was a great success, reaching 150,000 Americans each year by 1860.
Godey’s Lady’s Book is often credited with popularizing the decorated Christmas Tree. Though trees and evergreen boughs had long been part of yuletide celebrations--probably originating in Norse pagan traditions, in the late 19th century the tree became central. For more on the history of Christmas trees in Philadelphia, check out the documentary short that Emily Taggart Schricker put together for our Deck the Alley campaign--you can find it on our website or on our YouTube page.
Yet not everyone wanted to haul a large tree into their home to drop needles everywhere--around the time that the Christmas tree was becoming ubiquitous in this country, Germans began to make artificial trees. The first of these used dyed feathers to approximate the evergreen, affixed to dowels or wire in the shape of a tree. By the early 20th century, feather trees had arrived in America and quickly became popular especially in areas with sizable German-American populations.
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As the Christmas tree became a key part of American Christmas, so did the presents below it!
While gift giving had long been a part of Christmas, the 19th century saw an increasing connection between consumerism and Christmas. In 1841, J. W. Parkinson had a costumed Santa climb down the chimney of his delicatessen on Chestnut Street in what is believed to be the first appearance of a live Santa at a store.
Philadelphia’s factories ramped up production of toys in the late 19th century, in part because of the proliferation of department stores.
The Francis, Field, and Francis company, also known as the Philadelphia Tin Toy Manufactory, opened in 1838 on 2nd Street just a block North of Elfreth’s Alley, one of the first toy factories in the nation. It imported toys from Europe but also began to produce its own toys, including a horse-drawn fire apparatus--possibly the first toy manufactured in America. Other prominent early toys made in the city included mechanical banks--cast metal contraptions which incentivized saving by executing automated movements whenever coins were inserted. These banks came in various shapes, including Independence Hall.
As with many other Christmas traditions in Philadelphia, German immigrants were key contributors to the toy industry in the city. In 1866, John Wanamaker, who operated one of the largest department stores in the city, hired a German piano repairman named Albert Schoenhut to repair toy pianos in his store. Schoenhut would go on to open his own toy piano factory and expand into other toys.
Around the same time, four brothers, Henry, Gustav, Richard, and Frederick Schwartz also of Germany, emigrated to Baltimore and began producing toys. They would eventually each open stores in cities along the east coast, with Gustav settling in Philadelphia. Frederick’s store in New York would come to be known as F. A. O. Schwartz.
Wanamaker’s Store, now Macy’s, established itself as a center of Christmas shopping in Philadelphia, embracing elaborate displays. During John Wanamaker’s tenure at the store depictions of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ towered over holiday shoppers, but later displays turned the store into a winter wonderland, including props such as model penguins. The massive organ in the building--the largest playable organ in the world--has been the site of elaborate Christmas light displays since 1956.
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Philadelphia’s publishing industry not only proliferated secular Christmas traditions such as the Christmas tree and presents below it, but also was a central hub for spreading hymns we now recognize as Christmas carols. At least one popular Christmas hymn was written and composed here! Phillips Brooks, rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity on Rittenhouse Square wrote the poem “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and the tune was composed by Lewis H. Redner, the church organist.
Since those first Christmases in the Philadelphia area, with Swedes and Finns and their julbords, food has been an essential component of Philadelphia Christmas. Along with many other Germanic traditions brought by the Pennsylvania Dutch and later German immigrants were those of cookies and candies.
German-Americans brought the tradition of springerle cookies with them. Springerle are cookies embossed with elaborate designs made by wooden molds. The oldest Springerle molds typically depicted religious scenes but by the 19th century, they were likely more varied. While the dough of Springerle cookies is largely just eggs, flour, and a bit of sugar, these cookies are spiced by the addition of anise, which is dusted on the baking sheet under the cookies.
Other spiced cookies, such as gingerbread and peppernuts also became popular Christmas treats, perhaps in part due to the German tradition of hanging cookies on the Christmas tree. To this day, the greater Philadelphia area is famous for its love of spiced cookies in the fall and winter. Sweetzel’s and Ivins are both spiced wafer brands that date from the early 20th century, and I have to think that the prevalence of Springerle, gingerbread, and peppernuts in earlier times might have had something to do with their current popularity.
Candy has also been a Christmas tradition, with confectioners in Philadelphia advertising their wares in the newspaper since at least 1792. John Burge, from Bristol, England, sold clear toy candy from his headquarters first on Race Street and then on North 4th street. In 1814, clear toy candy and other confections were offered for sale by Charles Samson at 11 North 2nd Street, right across from Christ Church and a mere block and a half from Elfreth’s Alley. Several sugar refineries--then called sugar houses--were located in Philadelphia’s Old City, possibly contributing to a greater concentration of confectioners hereabouts.
Many of these traditions, of food, decor, and gift-giving have their roots in religious practice, but in the 19th and 20th centuries, American popular culture developed a Christmas tradition that was largely untied to Christianity itself. While there are certainly many Americans who do not celebrate Christmas today, this more secular version of the holiday has become pretty ubiquitous, especially when it comes to consumer culture.
We have little evidence of whether residents of Elfreth’s Alley participated in the various Christmas traditions celebrated elsewhere in Philadelphia, however it seems likely that many would have participated in the popular culture of the time. Many Alley residents in the 19th century were immigrants from what is now Germany, and likely made spiced cookies and perhaps even brought in a Christmas tree or owned a feather tree. Immigrants from Ireland and Russia likely brought their own Christmas traditions as the century drew to a close. In the 20th century, however, Christmas became not only a time for celebration with family and friends, but also a time to invite visitors to the Alley. Beginning in 1934, the Elfreth’s Alley Association made a tradition of public Christmas trees, displayed outside in Bladen’s Court or inside the Hearthstone, Dolly Ottey’s restaurant at #115. This public display, along with the Open House day in June, was a way for the Association to draw visitors to the historic street and build the street’s name recognition as a way to advocate for its preservation. Since the 1980s, the Association has hosted an open house in December, Deck the Alley, which has become a Christmas tradition for many in the greater Philadelphia area. It has also become a significant fundraiser for the Elfreth’s Alley Association.
Since the 1930s and the days of Dolly Ottey, the holidays on Elfreth’s Alley have been part of our preservation story--an annual opportunity to showcase the beauty and history of the street and fund our ongoing efforts. This year, of course, we have had to shift to a virtual format, offering a weekly video or--this week--this podcast episode. You can check out our other Deck the Alley offerings at elfrethsalley.org/deckthealley.
So where does digging up the history of Christmas in Philadelphia leave us? Did our idea of this somewhat secular Christmas crystallize in the late 19th century and just stay that way? On some things, yes! The vision of Santa, in his red suit and hat with white trim, flying in a sleigh pulled by reindeer has been pretty static. The basic set of traditions around the Christmas tree hasn’t changed all that much.
On the other hand, popular culture has continued to play with the Santa story, and strides in artificial tree technology have mostly left the feather tree behind. More importantly, cultural norms about Christmas, both as a religious celebration and as a secular season, have continued to change. And they haven’t only changed in America--many of the same countries from which our traditions come have had significant changes in their own traditions over the same period of time. When I started researching Swedish Christmas traditions, I had in my mind the version of Christmas described in Kirsten’s Surprise--a book in the American Girl series which depicts a Swedish immigrant family’s first Christmas in America. The book, set in 1854, has Kirsten donning the white robe, red sash, and candle crown of the Lucia Queen for St. Lucia day and serving breakfast to her family. It turns out, however, that this particular tradition seems to date from later in the 19th century and was adopted at least in part to replace an older, more boisterous tradition much like the mumming we had here in Philadelphia. It is likely that many of the traditions developed in the United States have been adopted in the very countries from which we drew so many trademark holiday elements.
I mention this changing Swedish tradition only as a reminder that holiday celebrations have often changed and will certainly change again. This Christmas, precautions taken to prevent the spread of our current pandemic will mean that even the most long-standing Christmas traditions may need to change. We may return to Christmas “as usual” in 2021, or some of the new traditions might stick. I hope however you plan on spending December 25th, you have a lovely day. I, for one, am excited to eat some gingerbread with my partner and giving our cat some presents!
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History is a group effort! This episode was researched and written by Ted Maust, but would not have existed without the research done by Emily Taggart Schricker, Patricia Silverman, and many others.
Check out the episode page at elfrethsalley.org/podcast for a transcript and a complete list of sources.
Our theme music is the song “Open Flames” by Blue Dot Sessions from the album Aeronaut, used under Creative Commons license.
Special music for this episode was “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” performed by Kevin MacLeod, used under Creative Commons license.
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