19th Century Christmas Customs

 By Kimberly Grist

Many English traditions were forgotten after the Revolution, as Americans sought to establish their own beliefs and ways of doing things that fit with their unique identity. It was only after the first half of the 19^th century when Christmas customs were reinvented. Ancient traditions from previous generations were combined with modern American influences and slowly shaped Christmas into a unifying holiday 

Interesting Facts:

• Congress was in session on December 25, 1789.
• Christmas wasn't decalred a federal holiday unil June 26, 1870.

Christmas Trees

In 1834, Britain’s Queen Victoria brought her German husband, Prince Albert, into Windsor Castle, introducing the tradition of the Christmas tree and carols that were held in Europe to the British Empire. 

Courtesy of Old Sturbridge Village

Influenced by German immigrants, Americans began setting up an evergreen tree in their house for the holiday and putting small candles, sweets, and toys on its branches. 
Christmas Trees were first sold commercially in the United States in 1851 and were randomly cut down from the forests. Approximately 30-35 million real (living) Christmas trees are sold each year in the United States

Saint Nicholas

The story of Saint Nicholas, a Christian holy person in the third century was known as a protector of children. In 1860, American illustrator Thomas Nast borrowed from the European stories about Saint Nicholas, to create Father Christmas aka Santa Claus.

Nast, who created images for the United States Democratic and Republican parties, drew his version of Santa Claus for Harper's Weekly magazine in 1860. Until the 1880s, Nast added more details to his version legend including a home-workshop at the North Pole and the Naughty and Nice list.

Candy Canes

Another traditon with origins in Germany and date back to 1670 in Cologne, One popular account is that a choirmaster wished to quiet the children in church and commissioned a candy maker to design the candy in the shape of a crook to remind them of the shepherds who came to visit baby Jesus at his birth. The candy was handed out to children as they watched plays concerning the nativity.

The first reference in America to the candy cane was in 1847. A German immigrant from Wooster, Ohio decorated his Christmas tree with candy canes. 

The earliest patent for a candy cane was filed by the Bunte Brothers of Chicago, Illinois in 1920.

Superstitions and Folklore 

While researching traditions in the 19th century for my new release, Emma's Dream, I discovered some superstitions steeped in tradition about Christmas and marriage. 

Listen for the crow

From the land who introduced the Christmas tree, an old German superstition stated should a maiden wish to know if she'll be married in the year, she should go out to the chicken coop on Christmas Eve and knock on the door. If she hears a rooster crow, she will. But if she hears a hen instead she won't.

A piece of cake

In the 19th century Christmas cakes were often part of the celebration, although it was considered unlucky to cut into one before that day. A portion also had to be preserved until Christmas Day 

Speaking of cake, as I researched pioneer life in the late 19^th century for my new release, Emma's Dream, I found that superstitions were widely practiced as immigrants migrated and cultures blended One folktale was to have suggested that if you place a piece of wedding cake under your pillow you will dream of your future spouse. 

One of my goals writing s a historical inspirational romance, was to give an accurate account of the time period. I specifically chose to expand on old wives tales and superstitions to expose the inaccuracy in the quotes and beliefs in a humorous way.  

 Combining history, humor, and romance with an emphasis on faith, friends, and good clean fun, Emma’s Dream is a delightful tale that reminds us how God uses adversity to strengthen us and draw us closer to Him.

Emma's Dream

Eighteen-year-old, Emma Brady, loves nothing better than working in the garden, but her cooking skills leave a lot to be desired. While other young women in the late nineteenth century are reading about proper housekeeping, she studies herd improvement. 

This is a story of love that's being tested by distance and has the perfect combo of love, faith and humor. A delightful read.

Connect with Kimberly:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/FaithFunandFriends/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GristKimberly

Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/authorkimberlygrist

Website: https://kimberlygrist.com/

MOLASSES AND CHRISTMAS

To seek inspiration for today’s post, I turned to Museum Memories, Volume 1, one of the lesson books published by a lineage organization to which I belong, Daughters of Utah Pioneers. I found some gems in the December lesson, including the molasses cookie recipe from pioneer times the instructor passed out and which I have been using since 2009 to make my Christmas molasses gingerbread cookies. Since molasses gingerbread cookies are one of my top five favorite Christmas cookies, I decided to focus today on molasses.

A pioneer Christmas story involving molasses:

The lesson from the above-mentioned book started with the insightful pioneer story, “Christmas on the Homestead Farm” by Ellen Jacklin Tracy. I am sharing an excerpt which relates to molasses:

Winter came early that fall. All along the bench in American Fork, where the families lived on land they were homesteading, parents and children had worked hard every day, but many of their crops were still in the ground. In our home, father had been sick most of the summer and toward fall have been taken to a hospital in Salt Lake City for an operation. Trips mother had made to the city by horse and buggy to see father had delayed the harvesting of the crops. Father was now at home but unable to work. The apples had been picked, potatoes dug and stored in the cellar, but the sugar beets, our only cash crop, were still in the ground. Taxes must be paid as well as hospital and doctor bills, and there was very little money.

...Warmer days finally came, melting most of the snow and ice so our family could work to complete the sugar beet harvest. Mother and the older children worked hard to get the beets out of the cold ground. The beets were then topped and loaded on the big beet dump wagon. Only one load could be harvested each day. The beets were then taken to the Lehi Sugar Factory or to the Wing dump to be unloaded into train cars.

Life went on in that cozy little house. Thanksgiving came and went, and Christmas was hurrying towards us. Our parents were thankful for their children, the two warm rooms in the little cabin, and the food that had been raised on the farm. Since I was the oldest daughter, mother confided her worries to me. There was no money for Christmas, which would soon be coming. We couldn't even afford to go to the store and buy material to make new clothing. Finally, mother and I decided to hunt out some scraps of cloth and hem a handkerchief for each family member. Father kept a few stands of bees, so we had honey, and the sugar cane that we had could be made into molasses. We would make some candy, and there were plenty of apples stored in the cellar. These plans, meager as they seemed, brought some comfort to our parents, and the days and weeks hurried by towards Christmas....

What exactly is molasses?

Molasses is a viscous product resulting from refining sugarcane or sugar beets into sugar. Molasses varies by amount of sugar, method of extraction, and age of the plant. Sugarcane molasses is primarily used for sweetening and flavoring foods in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere. Molasses is a defining component of fine commercial brown sugar.

Due to the presence of many salts in sugar beet molasses, it is foul-smelling and unpalatable, so it is mostly used as an animal feed additive.

In other words, sugar beet molasses smells and tastes nasty. We only want to use molasses made from sugar cane.

Sugar beets closer to home.

They grow sugar beets in the San Joaquin Valley where I live. In among the almond and peach orchards we can find a variety of row crops grown, including sugar beets.

I remember decades ago as a young mother I sat in on a conversation taking place between some older men who jokingly lamented they had been born too early. By the time of their discussion, machines had been developed to harvest sugar beets and prepare them for the sugar-processing plants. However, in their youth, harvesting was done by hand. They were paid small sums for wages to work all day at the back-breaking task of pulling the beets out of the ground, shaking off the loose soil, “topping” them (cutting off the stems and leaves), and then tossing the beets  into to the bins.

Processing sugar beets stinks to high heaven. When I first moved to the San Joaquin Valley, I lived in a city about a twenty minute drive from Manteca where a sugar beet processing plant used to operate. Since the prevailing winds tend to blow from the west, the plant was built on the east side of Manteca. Unfortunately, the freeway was built immediately to the east of the plant. When driving north on Highway 99, we always knew when we were passing Manteca.

Several decades ago they built the Highway 120 bypass. My husband worked on that job. The builder needed more dirt, so he struck a deal with the sugar beet plant. His construction guys would dig out their holding ponds in exchange for some of the dirt on the plant’s property.

My husband operated a scraper. He said as bad as it smelled driving past that area, nothing compared to the stink that hit them when they first skimmed the tops of those ponds. The concentrated sugar beet waste was so sticky, the treads of the scrapers (scrapers are HUGH pieces of equipment with pretty powerful engines) stuck in it and bulldozers were needed to pull them free. The men could not eat on site during that job; they had to escape elsewhere far away because the smell made their food taste too foul to eat. He was glad when that job was over.

Yet, out of the stink and mess of processing sugar beets comes much of the sugar we enjoy.

The sugar beet plant in Manteca was dismantled years ago. It took some time, but we can now drive past the former location without having to hold our breath.

  Uses for molasses:

In dark rye breads or other whole grain breads

In some cookies and pies

In gingerbread (particularly in the Americas)

In barbeque sauces

In beer styles such as stouts and porters

To stabilize emulsification of home-made vinaigrette

The principal ingredient in the distillation of rum

As a humectant in jerky processing

A source for yeast production

And now, the good part…

The following is the cookie recipe I have been using these past several years from the above-mentioned book. Keep in mind the recipe does not call for a set amount of flour, only enough to make a stiff dough [as in, the dough no longer sticks to your mixing spoon and fingers like the worst goo you've ever tangled with]. This makes a lot of cookie dough, so you may want to refrigerate half of it to bake later, or cut the recipe in half until you decide whether or not it is one of your favorites like it is mine.

GRANDMA’S SOFT GINGER SNAPS

1 cup sugar                                         4 level teaspoons soda

1 cup molasses                                   1 teaspoon cloves (I tend to short this)

1 teaspoon ginger                              2/3 cup shortening

2 eggs                                                   pinch of salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon                       Water and flour

Use enough water to dissolve soda. [Add ingredients, flour last.] Stir until dough is stiff with flour. Pinch off pieces the size of a walnut. Roll into balls. [I sometimes like to roll my dough balls into granulated sugar.] Place one inch apart on a cookie sheet. [If you have not yet discovered the wonder of parchment paper, try it.] Bake in a moderate oven [if still using the oven on a wood-burning stove, otherwise, try about 350-375 degrees farenheit.] (Watch carefully as these cookies burn easily!)

[If you don't roll them in granulated sugar before baking, try dusting the tops with powdered sugar after baking but while they are still warm. Or, if you are really creative, frost them with a sugar glaze.] 

Chewy Ginger Cookies (not mine) ctsy Alcineo

I do not have a new Christmas story for this year, but I have three from previous years if you have not yet read them. Please CLICK HERE to reach my Amazon Author Page for book descriptions and links.

To sweeten the deal, I will send by Book Funnel one ebook copy of Too Old for Christmas to one person chosen at random who leaves a comment about their favorite Christmas cookies in the comments section ON THIS BLOG.  A winner will be chosen the evening of Tuesday, December 11th.

(As long as they were not baked too long, the cookies featured in the above recipe were probably soft enough for even Sean and Ona to eat.)

Source:

Wikipedia

International Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Museum Memories; Salt Lake City, USA:2009, pgs 153-54, 157; (originally taken from Anderson, Patricia Ellie, The Secret of a Pioneer Christmas; A Precious Children Publication, pgs 24, 39.)

Curing Colds, 1881 to 1901

by Kristin Holt

USA Today Bestselling Author

It’s December, and cold-and-flu season is here. “Flu”, the common, household term seldom means influenza in common use. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), influenza strikes harder in October and reaches its peak each year between December and February, and new cases strike as late as May. The great pandemic of 1918 to 1919 killed an estimated 20 million people. Earlier, in the 19th century, twelve epidemics (some were pandemics) struck.

COLDS: SERIOUS BUSINESS IN THE 19TH CENTURY

A newspaper article titled “Colds” was published in various United States newspapers in the early months of 1881, including The Little River News of Little River, Kansas (January 19, 1881) and The Times Herald of Port Huron, Michigan (January 29, 1881). The article’s termination indicates the post originated with the New York Tribune.

The opening paragraph of this article, based on scientific comprehension and trusted wisdom of the day, opens with the following paragraph:

“Thousands of people died last year from colds. They were said to die of pneumonia, of consumption, of pleurisy, of catarrhal fever, of various inflammations, every one of which originated in a cold. It may have been, and probably was, a slight cold these people had at first, but was neglected and neglected till it became a more and more serious matter, resulting in severe illness and finally in death.”

Definition of catarrhal fever: old term for the group of respiratory tract diseases including the common cold, influenza, and lobular and lobar pneumonia.

Medicines and medical treatment weren’t nearly what we have now. Understandably, people panicked and did everything they could to manage their environments before they became ill (“Come inside! You’ll catch your death of cold.”). This article contains late-nineteenth century newspaper publications containing common wisdom of the day. Keep in mind that scientists had yet to discover rhinovirus as the contagion for the common cold—a 1956 triumph of the UK’s Common Cold Unit by the Medical Research Council (begun in 1946).

CAUSE OF COLDS

From “Colds,” 1881:

“What is a cold? It is an obstruction of some one or more of the excretory organs of the body, by which effete matters, being prevented from passing off, clog the system, producing poison and consequent inflammation and distress. The pores of the body are estimated at 7,000,000. Each pore is the outlet of a tube one-fourth of an inch long. This makes the whole length of tubing in the skin for purposes of sewerage nearly twenty-eight miles. The lungs also serve as excretories [sic], as do the bowels and the kidneys. Now, when any part of the pores are closed, as those of the feet by chill or dampness, the exuviæ [sic] which should have been thrown off through these pores are retained within the body until some one or other of the excretories can throw it off. Upon whatever part of the body is weakest it will settle. With some a cold goes at once to the bowels, with others to the kidneys, with others to the lungs, with others to the mucous lining of the head and bronchial tubes producing catarrh and bronchitis, with others to the nerves, causing neuralgia. When the poison gets well settled on any one of these organs there is trouble.

TO AVOID COLDS

The following article, snipped from the Marshal County News of Marysville, Kansas of February 15, 1895, includes the “one very simple way of avoiding colds—keep your mouth shut while out of doors. The man or woman who comes out of an overheated room, especially late at night, and breathes through the mouth, will either catch a bad cold or irritate the lungs...” In the second paragraph, “Chills are often the result of people talking freely while out of doors just after leaving a room full of hot air, and theater goers who discuss and laugh over the play on their way home are inviting illness.”

To Avoid Colds: Marshall County News of Marysville, Kansas on February 15, 1895.

“Colds,” 1881, offers instructions to prevent a cold:

“... clothing should be changed twice in twenty-four hours, and the air in the room should be constantly renewed. Friction and aeration of the skin at night and in the morning is a great preventive of colds. Bathing should be restored to often enough to secure cleanliness; but each person must be a law to himself as to frequency of bathing and the temperature of the bath.”

TREAT A COLD

“Colds,” 1881, stated:

“Now, what shall one do who has a cold? He should at once take measures to open the pores that have been closed, and so to stimulate the various excretory organs that the poison shut back into the body may be at once removed before it has had time to settle on any vital organ. A hot foot-bath, succeeded by hot libations of sage tea, pennyroyal tea, or other sudatories [sic] commonly used in families, will soon throw one into a perspiration and begin the process of healing. This should be followed by a copious use of a fruit diet, which is the best cathartic in the world. If the lungs seem to be affected, such remedies as will help throw them off obstruction should be used. A mild mustard plaster will generally give immediate relief. The patient should remain in a uniform temperature till his trouble is over, and gradually accustom himself to change of temperature.” (emphasis added)

In an article titled “Curing a Cold,” published on May 16, 1891 in The Pittsburg Daily Headlight of Pittsburg, Kansas, specific instructions from The Ladies’ Home Journal are relayed:

“To get rid of a cold, says The Ladies’ Home Journal, send to the druggist for a mixture containing sulphate of atropia [sic] one two hundred and fortieth of a grain; bi-sulphate [sic] of quinine two grains, and Fowler’s solution, five drops, to each dose. Take a dose once in two hours for three or four times, or until the throat begins to feel slightly dry. If this does not entirely relieve the symptoms, repeat the treatment the next day. Copy this prescription carefully, and use it with care as some of the ingredients are poisonous. There is no danger in using it if the directions are followed exactly. Before going to bed take a warm bath. The next morning sponge the body rapidly with tepid water, rubbing it hard until the blood circulates quickly and the skin is in a glow. Take more exercise than usual, and do not sit in a hot room with the windows shut. Mix a teaspoonful of cream of tartar in a tumblerful [sic] of water and drink it during the day. If there is constipation take a gentle laxative, as a rhubarb pill. It is very important that all the avenues of the body for carrying off waste matter should be wide open.”

Curing a Cold: The Pittsburg Daily Headlight of Pittsburg, Kansas on May 16, 1891.

TURKISH BATHS

The following advertisement was published on February 10, 1899 in the Altoona Mirror of Altoona, Pennsylvania. “A Turkish bath at home. Cures colds and grippe. No after effects from the grippe if you use a Robinson Cabinet. Sole agency at H. W. TURNER’S NEW DRUG STORE, 1120 Eleventh avenue.’ [sic]”

 Robinson's Thermal Bath Cabinets: Altoona Mirror of Altoona, Pennsylvania on February 10, 1899.

DON’T TAKE A TURKISH BATH

“How to Cure a Cold.

Don’t go to bed. Don’t stop work. Don’t take a Turkish bath and render yourself liable to an attack of pneumonia. Krause’s Cold Cure, in convenient capsule form, will cure you in 24 hours. They are pleasant to take and cause no ringing in your head or other disagreeable sensations. Price 25c.”

Source: The Arlington Enterprise of Arlington, Kansas on March 1, 1901.

How to Cure a Cold: The Arlington Enterprise of Arlington, Kansas on March 1, 1901.

QUININE

“Take Laxative Bromo Quinine Tablets. All druggists refund the money if it fails to cure. 25c.”

Source: The Capital Journal of Salem, Oregon on January 7, 1898.

Laxative Bromo Quinine Tablets: The Capital Journal of Salem, Oregon on January 7, 1898.

WARNER’S WHITE WINE OF TAR SYRUP

Advertised in The Evening Herald of Ottawa, Kansas on March 16, 1899:

“To Cure a Cold in One Day.

Take Warner’s White Wine of Tar Syrup, the best cough remedy on earth. 25 and 50 cents. For sale by H. B. Brombacher.”

 

The Evening Herald of Ottawa, Kansas on March 16, 1899.

For aches and pains associated with colds? Try coca wine, laudanum, or morphine.

And whatever you do, don’t leave home without a clean handkerchief.

Kristin Holt, USA Today Bestselling Author, writes Sweet Victorian Romance set in the American West. She writes frequently about Old West history and contributes monthly to Sweet Americana Sweethearts.

Sweet Romance Appropriate for All Audiences

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