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Enjoy a Colonial Christmas at the Conococheague Institute
A Colonial Christmas:
Wassail to You!
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Written by MATTHEW WEDD
Good health to you at this festive time of year! From our Colonial community at the Conococheague Institute we wish you a very happy holiday season. For many historic sites, winter is a quiet time, but CI offers yearround historic programs every Saturday so every facet of life can be demonstrated – even if it demonstrates being very cold!
We also like to bring to life old traditions, and with the Christmas season it’s the perfect time to talk about Wassailing!
In England during the 8th century, “Waes hael” was a blessing which translates to “be in good health.” Wassailing has always been linked to drinking and specifically cider, ale, wine and spices. By the medieval ages it turned into a way to ward off spirits and make offerings to one’s orchards. Farmers would sing songs to their apple trees and leave offerings in the form of wassail-soaked bread up in the branches in hopes that it would supply them with a bountiful harvest next fall. So why are apple trees so important? The Cider is the short answer. In the 18th century, the average person drank upwards of 36 gallons of cider annually. It was safer than water – sweet, and refreshing. People wanted to do anything they could to make their apple trees “happy.”
Matthew Wedd, Kori Taber, Sam Cathey, Jacob Davis, Amelia Craven and Mary Poscover, members of the CI team enjoy a night at the bonfire during the winter events.
Below: Amelia Craven prepares some gingerbread treats as part of the Colonial Christmas event at the Conococheague Institute.
Though this tradition of making offerings to trees was still practiced in certain rural places in the 18th century, wassailing in towns and cities was often associated with debauchery. Wassailers would go door to door demanding drink and hospitality and were known to get angry when people refused. One Bostonian in 1712 remarked that Christmas time was marked by “Mad Mirth, by long eating, by Hard Drinking, by Lewd gaming, by rude Reveling.” This millenia-old Wassailing tradition is still continued today in our Christmas Carols, going door-to-door spreading cheer to our neighbors.
Though Christmas in North America was not celebrated nearly to the extent it was in England, the time around Christmas was still observed by many. - For Anglicans, and Catholics a sermon was usually held on Christmas day. - Presbyterian ministers realized their parishioners were going to Anglican Christmas sermons and therefore started to have their own. - In Philadelphia in 1772, the “12 Days at Christmas” were given as a vacation to the “youth in grammar school at this institution [College of Philadelphia].” - A meeting of the Masons in Philadelphia was postponed because it would have fallen on Christmas.
- For the Welsh, who mostly settled the area around the Conococheague Institute, the tradition of Plygain may have been practiced, which was a sunrise Christmas service where members of Welsh communities would sing from 3 to 6 a.m. in the morning.
So, overall you can see that Christmas was not nearly celebrated to the extent we do today, but the time surrounding Christmas still carried significance for many who called the region home.
The decorating of homes and religious centers with boughs of green, like holly, mountain laurel and mistletoe, was common among both Catholics and Anglicans, but the Christmas tree as we know it had yet to make its appearance – in Anglo-American communities, that is.
Colonial Christmas at the Conococheague Institute
Saturday, Dec. 17 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Pull on your winter boots and head to the frontier of 1760s Pennsylvania to learn about the traditions of Christmas during the 18th century. See a feast prepared, try your hand at gingerbread baking in a colonial oven, experience Wassailing and its strange roots. Historic games and much more will make the holiday season come alive. Visit www.cimlg.org for more details, or email info@cimlg.org
Matthew Wedd is executive director of The Conococheague Institute in Mercersburg.
