Gavel to Gavel: Facts about Christmas
By Tom Wolfe | December 16, 2010
Name a season – political correctness notwithstanding – filled with more tradition than Christmas. (I can’t either.)
As it turns out, history reveals some pretty interesting reasons for these traditions.
Surprisingly, many of America’s Christmas customs are rooted in law and politics. Let’s take a quick look at some of my favorites.
• The celebration of Christmas was against the law in Boston for 22 years, beginning in 1659. Violators were fined five shillings. The apparent purpose of the law was to prevent what had become a celebration of drinking, feasting and playing games – all no-nos on the Puritans’ naughty list, which by the way, included singing Christmas carols.
• All for a good celebration, Congress declared Christmas a national holiday in 1870. For many years, it was illegal to conduct any business that wasn’t absolutely necessary on Christmas Day.
• The first Christmas tree was placed in the White House in 1856 by the 14th president of the United States, Franklin Pierce.
• Years later, President Theodore Roosevelt – an early conservationist – banned Christmas trees from the White House during his terms in office.
• In 1963, the National Christmas Tree in Washington was not lit until Dec. 22 because the nation’s 30-day period of mourning following the assassination of President Kennedy.
• In 1979, by act of Congress, only the top of the National Christmas Tree was lit, in honor of the American hostages held at that time in Iran.
• Speaking of the National Christmas Tree, a number of groups, including the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Christmas Tree Association, the Capitol and the White House each claim that its tree is the one and only. To date, no legal action has been taken to resolve the conflicting claims – it must be the Christmas spirit.
Though not based on law or politics, I do think the following facts are worthy of note.
• Use of the term “Xmas” as shorthand for Christmas was not intended, as some claim, to secularize the holiday by “taking the Christ out of Christmas.” Rather, it is an abbreviation of the Greek spelling of the word “Christ,” with “X” representing the Greek letter chi.
• Christmas trees were decorated with lit candles until 1895, when the first electric tree lights were used to cut down on house fires.
• Christmas trees are edible and considered to be a good source of vitamin C.
• The traditional Christmas season begins at sundown on Dec. 24 and lasts through sundown on Jan. 5. This is the reason this season is also known as the 12 days of Christmas.
• During the Christmas buying season, Visa cards alone are used an average of 5,340 times every minute in the United States.
However you wish to consider it – Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or otherwise – here’s hoping that yours is all you wish for, whether it be toys or peace on Earth.
Kind of reminds me of that famous Christmas carol from The Killers: “I wanna roll around like a kid in the snow; I wanna relearn what I already know; Just let me take flight dressed in red; Through the night on a great big sled.”
Tom Wolfe is a civil litigator who serves as president and managing partner of Phillips Murrah P.C. in Oklahoma City.