LANSING, Ill. (December 26, 2023) – Many holiday traditions have an origin story, and some started for a completely different reason than the way we celebrate them today. The Lansing Public Library presented the unique origins behind a number of traditional Christmas customs on December 21 from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
The event took place in the library’s community room and was offered virtually for those who could not attend in person.
“I wanted to incorporate the idea of the holidays but also incorporate history,” said Daniel Cuthbert, Information Services Associate at the Lansing Public Library.
“The one thing about history is that everybody thinks of it as a very boring subject, but in fact, there are so many different funny stories related to history,” he continued.
Cuthbert narrated the slideshow using a mix of sarcasm and satire. His aim to bring a “humorous twist” to the presentation was a success as the room continuously erupted into laughter throughout the hour-long event.
“I thought it was well delivered, very interesting, very humorous. I was back there giggling,” said Mary Max, a Lansing native who attended the event. “I enjoyed it. It was very informative.”
Banishing Christmas
In 1659, Christmas was banished from the Massachusetts Bay colony due to people using the holiday as an excuse to party, drink to excess, and not attend church services.
The holiday was labeled a “drunken free-for-all” so the government issued a decree to ban the holiday. Anyone who broke this law was subject to pay a fine of five-shilling which would equate to around $50 today.
The ban was in effect for 22 years until it was lifted in 1681.
Santa Claus
The jolly Saint Nick we know and love today did not start that way. The original idea of Santa Claus was to permit parents to punish their naughty children.
Two men changed the original concept of Santa to make him less mean.
Thomas Nast, a political cartoonist, designed the image popularly recognized as Santa Claus. His version of Santa was smaller in size with a long white beard, wearing a stars and striped top and pants.
Author and professor Clement Moore wrote the poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” also known as “’Twas the Night before Christmas.” The poem starts the story of Santa visiting kids in the night on his sleigh with eight reindeer. It is said that Moore possibly stole the poem from someone else.
Christmas Trees
The concept of Christmas trees was originally started in Germany but was later brought to England in the 1800s by Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert.
Trees were lit with candles before electric Christmas lights were created in 1882 by Hibberd Johnson, a worker at the Edison Electric company. In the early 1900s, the company started selling a pack of lights for $12.
With this, Christmas trees in the home and town squares became an American tradition.
Other Christmas facts:
- Christmas caroling started with people going door to door asking for food and alcoholic beverages as payment for singing Christmas carols.
- John Calcott created the design for the first Christmas card at the request of Sir Henry Cole. Cole received a large amount of holiday cards from friends and family and he was too busy to respond to each person individually. He wanted to have multiple copies of one card to respond to those who wished him a happy holiday.
- Haddon Sundblom created the image for the Coca-Cola Santa Claus.
- The first artificial Christmas tree was made of the same material as toilet brushes. The toilet brushes were dyed green to replicate the color of a pine tree.
- The story of Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was created by Robert L. May, a copywriter for the department store Montgomery Ward, in 1939.
- Johnny D. Marks, the cousin to Robert L. May, wrote the Christmas hits Holly Jolly Christmas, Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
