The observance of Christmas in early British North America derived from practices familiar in England, where 25 December was celebrated with a good deal of bawdy revelry. Due to this association, as well as the lack of any biblical sanction for that date, observance of Christmas was opposed by Puritans in England and was banned in the Massachusetts Bay Colony between 1659 and 1681.
In the nineteenth century, Christmas became domesticated, with a shift toward a nuclear family experience of gift giving around a Christmas tree. The tree was popularized by immigrants from Germany, where it had become prominent earlier in the century. Christmas became the principal sales holiday of the year, presided over by Santa Claus, a figure compounded from myth, religious history, and the need for a congenial symbol for the new attitude toward the holiday. He was introduced and promoted by popular literature and illustration, from Clement Moore's "An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas" (1823) to Thomas Nast's cartoons of the portly character. Charles Dickens toured America in 1867 reading from his enormously popular "A Christmas Carol," which further reinforced the notions that were crystallizing about how Christmas should be celebrated.
The twentieth century saw further merchandising around Christmas, to the point that many religious figures called for "putting Christ back in Christmas." One contentious issue was government sponsorship of symbols of the holiday. In Lynch v. Donnelly (1983), the Supreme Court held that the inclusion by the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, of the crèche in its Christmas display legitimately celebrated the holiday and its origins because its primary effect was not to advance religion. In County of Allegheny v. ACLU Greater Pittsburgh Chapter (1989), the Court considered two displays, a crèche in the Allegheny County Courthouse and, in a government building some blocks away, a tall Chanukah menorah together with a Christmas tree and a sign stating "Salute to Liberty." The Court ruled that the crèche was unconstitutional because it was not accompanied by seasonal decorations and because "by permitting the display of the crèche in this particular physical setting, the county sends an unmistakable message that it supports and promotes the Christian praise to God that is the crèche's religious message." In contrast, the Christmas tree and the menorah were held not to be religious endorsements, but were to be "under-stood as conveying the city's secular recognition of different traditions for celebrating the winter-holiday season."
Bibliography
Horsley, Richard, and James Tracy, eds. Christmas Unwrapped: Consumerism, Christ, and Culture. Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity, 2001.
Nissenbaum, Stephen. The Battle for Christmas: A Cultural History of America's Most Cherished Holiday. New York: Knopf, 1996.
Restad, Penne L. Christmas in America: A History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Schmidt, Leigh Eric. Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holidays. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1995.
—James Tracy
