Historic Holiday Music

When's the last time you celebrated Hogmanay? How about 12th Night or Wren Day?

Every winter Fort Stanwix National Monument celebrates the various holidays that the soldiers and families of the historic forts would have. Below is a collection of the various carols popular in the 18th Century as well as information about the holidays they were sung for. Learn about the cultures and their music in this special holiday series!

 

 

Scottish

Nollaig chridheil huibh! Due in part to the Protestant Reformation, it would be about 400 years before Christmas would be widely celebrated in Scotland. Due to this, “Hogmanay”, the Scottish equivalent of our modern New Year’s Eve and Day celebrations, was the most popular end of the year holiday. This was the time for parties, dances, and gift giving. The term “Hogmanay” is believed to be a corruption of the French Homme est ne (“Man is born”). Even in modern Scotland, Hogmanay celebrations often overshadow Christmas festivities.

In the 18th century, hearts were a popular Scottish motif for decorating, and shortbread cookies made with sugar and rich butter would be a special holiday treat. Groups of people parading through the town chanting and beating on animal hides to scare away “evil spirits” at the beginning of the new year was another one of the many origins of our modern day caroling.

“First Footing” is an ancient custom still observed in much of Scotland. To ensure good luck to a household, the fi rst person through the door after midnight should be a dark-haired man (fair haired men reminded the Scots of the Viking raiders that came to plunder and destroy) bearing gifts of coal, shortbread, salt, black buns, and whiskey.

 

Duration:

3 minutes, 58 seconds

"Hogmanay" was a version of New Year's in Scotland. It involved chasing away the "evil" spirits that had haunted you in the year prior and wishing all well in the new year. This early version of "Deck the Halls" was originally a New Year's carol to do just that.

 

Duration:

4 minutes, 42 seconds

For a long time in Scotland, the celebration of Christmas was outlawed. However, as many things that technically illegal, the Scots found a way to honor their traditions by singing songs with secret codes built in. "Baloo Lamee" is one of these songs.

 

Duration:

4 minutes, 8 seconds

Quite surprisingly, the celebration of St. Andrew’s Day began not in Scotland but in the American colonies. In 1729, wealthy Scottish immigrants in South Carolina formed the “St. Andrew’s Society of Charleston” as a way of keeping their Scottish roots and heritage alive. Along with celebrating November 30 as the saint’s day, the organization also assisted widows and orphans in the Charleston area.

 

English

Happy Solstice and New Year! People of English background in 18th Century America sometimes held days of Thanksgiving in December that were just as often days of prayer and fasting as days of feasting and enjoying natures bounty.

The Christmas holidays were 12 days (or longer) of feasting, dancing, singing, and visiting church, family, and friends. “Wassailing”- going about wishing good health to the people, animals, and orchards that had helped you survive to see the new year was one of the origins of our modern Christmas caroling. Boxing Day (still observed in England) was the day after Christmas, and was a day to recognize the work of tradesmen and laborers by giving them gifts of money and food in boxes.

A popular 18th century English custom was to welcome Christmas and New Year’s with the firing of guns (a possible origin of sounding noisemakers on New Year’s Eve?).

The use of greenery such as evergreen boughs, holly, and ivy for decorating was popular with many cultures and was especially popular with the English. Its use dated from pre-Christian times, when the greenery served as a reminder that even in the dead and dark times of winter, life remained and the sun would return. Mistletoe was thought to have special mystical powers and was considered a plant of peace by the ancient Romans. Enemies meeting under mistletoe discarded their weapons and called a truce. It was the 18th century English that originated the custom of weaving mistletoe into “kissing balls” and meeting underneath them to exchange kisses of peace and joy.

 

Duration:

4 minutes, 56 seconds

Long ago, people looked to the presence of the sun to mark the passage of the long, dark winter. The following English song tells of how people would decorate their houses with greenery until the sun returned.

 

Duration:

5 minutes, 8 seconds

Happy Boxing Day! While in most cases, this English holiday tradition is celebrated the day after Christmas, custom also dictates that if December 26th falls on a weekend, then the following Monday is Boxing Day. The reason it is celebrated on a working day is that it was originally a day when tradesmen, shopkeepers, laborers, servants and slaves were given a “Christmas Box “or time off from work or sometimes, both.

 

Dutch

Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! The Dutch Sinter Klaus provided an important basis for our modern Santa Clause. Sinter Klaus rode through villages on his horse, accompanied by his helper called Black Peter because he dressed all in black). Children left their wooden shoes by the fi replace fi lled with carrots and hay for Sinter Klaus’s horse (origin of stockings hung over the mantle and leaving snacks for Santa and his reindeer).

Good children would fi nd their shoes filled with treats. Bad children found a wooden switch left by Black Peter in their shoes (origin of bad children receiving coal in their stockings) hex signs were not just for decoration, but included symbols to protect homes against evil and to ensure good fortune in the New Year.

 

Duration:

5 minutes, 29 seconds

Both the Dutch and Germans celebrated variations of St. Nicholas Day. Learn more about the traditions and some of the music that went with them here!

 

Irish

Nollaig Shona Dhuit! On Christmas Eve, the Irish left a pitcher of milk and a loaf of bread on the table for the holy family. They put lit candles in the windows as a sign to the holy family that there was room and food available at their house. St. Stephen’s, or Wren Day, was observed on December 26.

Originally, the wren (The King of Birds) was hunted and killed as a sacrifi ce to ensure good luck in the coming New Year. This tradition was Christianized into the wren being killed as punishment for giving away St. Stephen’s hiding place, leading to his arrest and execution.

 

Duration:

5 minutes, 15 seconds

In ancient Ireland, people celebrated Wren Day. Here's a song for that occasion.

 

German

Froehliche Weihnachten! St. Nicholas Day was observed on December 6. This was the day that presents were exchanged. St. Nicholas was a historic person that served as another basis for our modern Santa Claus. The “jingle bells,” that became so popular that a song was written about them, also came from the Germans. They were originally hung on doors where the loud jingling noise would scare off any “evil spirits” that might try to enter the house.

While many cultures used various sorts of greenery for holiday decorating, it was the Germans who gave us the most widely recognized Christmas greenery of all: the Christmas Tree. The Germans used these evergreens to decorate their homes as a symbol of new continuing life throughout the dark winter months.

 

Duration:

4 minutes, 23 seconds

Many older Christmas hymns were composed as lullabies to celebrate the birth of the Christian figure, the baby Jesus. This song is a German example of one such lullaby.

 

French Canadian

Although the French did not settle in the Mohawk Valley, their influnce, via Jesuit priests and missionaries, was felt throughout the region, begining in the 1600s when Jesuits directly visited the Haudenosaunee peoples. Many Christian customs were adapted by the Jesuits to be "acceptable" to the native people of the continent. This included translating songs, bibles, and prayers into native languages. Sometimes it included adapting their Christian stories by including native imagery.

 

Duration:

6 minutes, 30 seconds

In French Canada, as Jesuits brought their mission to the New World, carols were created in the native style to convey the message.