| These days we read so many articles detailing the | | | | for Harper's Weekly around 1863. The billowing white |
| origins of various Christmas traditions - the placement | | | | beard, nose like a cherry, and wide-girthed figure |
| of a ornamental tree inside the home, egg nog and | | | | bearing a sack full of toys soon became synonymous |
| other culinary delights, and the Christian adoption of | | | | with the secular aspects of the holiday. These days, |
| the season to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Many | | | | contemporary depictions of St. Nick do not stray |
| would be surprised to know, however, that a number | | | | from Nast's original vision. |
| of seasonal traditions actually have their origins in the | | | | Christmas Carols |
| Civil War era. | | | | Did you know that many of the songs we sing during |
| During this tumultuous time of brother against | | | | this joyous occasion had originally been written during |
| brother, the holidays were still celebrated (mainly in | | | | the darkest time of our nation's history? Indeed, one |
| the South) with the hope of a swift conclusion to | | | | could argue that some Christmas carols are actually |
| the conflicts that divided our nation for many years. | | | | the forerunners of the modern day protest song, as |
| It is said, too, that the states were split on the issue | | | | some carols penned in this time were actually thinly |
| of celebrating the holiday as much as they were on | | | | veiled commentary on the war. "It Came Upon a |
| subjects that led to the war in the first place. Being | | | | Midnight Clear," written by minister Edmund Sears, |
| that the nation was young, this generation grew | | | | touches upon the desire for peace during this time, |
| from a Puritan time where celebrating Christmas was | | | | while Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "I Heard the |
| considered sinful, due to the roots of many traditions | | | | Bells on Christmas Day" contains strong anti-war |
| being steeped in paganism that the early Christians | | | | sentiment. Of course, one likely doesn't sense this |
| sought to suppress. It wasn't until the early | | | | because the more blatant verses of Longfellow's |
| nineteenth century when US states finally legalized | | | | poem are omitted in the traditional carol we sing |
| the holiday - the first three being Alabama, Lousiana, | | | | today. By contrast, Phillips Brooks' "O Little Town of |
| and Arkansas. | | | | Bethelem" touches on the hope for peace in the |
| These days, we might catch a glimpse of traditions | | | | aftermath of conflict. |
| we observe now in the Christmas scenes in Gone | | | | Care Packages |
| With the Wind and other movies depicting the time. | | | | While the troops were out to war, it was not |
| They, however, only tell part of a story. Here follows | | | | uncommon for a soldier to receive gifts while at |
| just a short list of Christmas mainstays and traditions | | | | battle. Barrels of food and drink, warm clothing, and |
| that evolved from this time in history. | | | | trinkets from home were especially prized and |
| Santa Claus | | | | brought a modicum of cheer to an otherwise dismal |
| While the legend of Santa Claus has its roots in a | | | | situation. One could easily liken these gestures to |
| much earlier time - reaching as far as the origins of | | | | traditions we hold today in sending care packages to |
| Christianity itself - it is the modern depiction of this | | | | our men and women overseas. |
| jolliest of elves that saw its creation in the | | | | From the songs we sing to the icons we identify, |
| mid-nineteenth century with Thomas Nast. Nast, a | | | | one would be surprised to know how the Civil War |
| widely-known cartoonist of the day (arguably | | | | influenced our contemporary observance of the |
| credited with being the father of the modern-day | | | | Christmas season. |
| political cartoon), created the visage of Santa Claus | | | | |