December 23, 2015

Washington Irving’s Christmas

Back before there was cable TV, Washington Irving won the war on Christmas. The great early American writer had an outsized role in giving us Christmas as we know it. A little background, according to “Christmas in America: a History,” by Penne Restad. Back in merry old England, Christmastime in the 17th century was merry indeed, a raucous affair that incurred the displeasure of the Puritans.

“In the depth of winter, when nature lies despoiled of every charm, and wrapped in her shroud of sheeted snow, we turn for our gratifications to moral sources.” —Washington Irving

Back before there was cable TV, Washington Irving won the war on Christmas. The great early American writer had an outsized role in giving us Christmas as we know it.

A little background, according to “Christmas in America: a History,” by Penne Restad. Back in merry old England, Christmastime in the 17th century was merry indeed, a raucous affair that incurred the displeasure of the Puritans.

When Oliver Cromwell took over, his Puritan parliament suppressed Christmas with a zeal that would made the American Civil Liberties Union blush (you were looking for trouble if you decorated your church, or closed your shop, or preached on the birth of Jesus).

Puritan distaste for the holiday traveled over the Atlantic. John Winthrop of Massachusetts Bay had no use for Christmas. Other settlers in other colonies, depending on their origin and their religion, had differing attitudes, and the celebration was a motley affair for much of early American history. In some places, it wasn’t celebrated at all.

Then, it steadily began to take hold, and Washington Irving, the literary genius who gave us “Rip van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” helped define it. Not only did Irving write about a pipe-smoking, wagon-riding, gift-dispensing St. Nicholas, he delineated a Christmas celebration of irresistible charm and enduring appeal.

In the early 1820s, Irving published five enormously popular Christmas stories about his visit to Bracebridge Hall in England that are, as journalists say, too good to check. The stories lament how “old games and customs” around the holiday have been lost, but they are preserved at Bracebridge. Through the haze of nostalgia — and despite the rustic, hierarchical setting of an English estate — a recognizable Christmas shimmers through.

There’s the rush of gift-laden travelers. Irving describes a stagecoach crowded with passengers who “seemed principally bound to the mansions of relations or friends to eat the Christmas dinner.” The coach “was loaded also with hampers of game, and baskets and boxes of delicacies; and hares hung dangling their long ears about the coachman’s box — presents from distant friends for the impending feast.”

There’s the anticipation of the kids. Irving delights in the “little rogues” who are “returning home for the holidays in high glee, and promising themselves a world of enjoyment.”

There’s the holiday revelry. Irving recounts “the old games of hoodman blind, shoe the wild mare, hot cockles, steal the white loaf, bob apple and snapdragon: the Yule log and Christmas candle were regularly burnt, and the mistletoe, with its white berries, hung up to the imminent peril of all the pretty housemaids.”

There’s the magic of Christmas Eve. That night Irving hears villagers playing music outside his room: “The sounds, as they receded, became more soft and aerial, and seemed to accord with quiet and moonlight. I listened and listened — they became more and more tender and remote, and, as they gradually died away, my head sank upon the pillow and I fell asleep.”

There’s the Christmas Day feast. Irving reports that “the table was literally loaded with good cheer, and presented an epitome of country abundance, in this season of overflowing larders.”

Irving’s is a Christmas of “tender and inspiring” church services and of the gathering of family members at home, “that rallying-place of the affections,” where returning children “grow young and loving again among the endearing mementoes of childhood.”

Of course, this is all achingly aspirational. Irving’s Christmas never quite was and never quite will be, but it is a vision of what the holiday should be. “Of all the old festivals,” he writes, “that of Christmas awakens the strongest and most heartfelt associations. There is a tone of solemn and sacred feeling that blends with our conviviality, and lifts the spirit to a state of hallowed and elevated enjoyment.”

Merry Christmas.

© 2015 by King Features Syndicate

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.