What Christmas Would’ve Been Like

It's enough to get you wondering: What was the holiday season like in the Colonial Era?

Well, we did a little research, and we’re hoping this gives you an idea of how early Annapolitans would have been celebrating on these same streets and in these same buildings hundreds of years ago.

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1. The parties

For colonists, Christmas wasn’t a single day — it was a season. And not a season counting down from December 1st to the 25th. For colonists, Christmas celebrations started on Christmas Day and continued until January 6, aka the Twelfth Night of Christmas. Throughout the twelve days and nights, there would have been a lot of revelry with balls and feasts in the wealthier homes. Although children did receive gifts during the Christmas season, the parties and celebrations were mostly adult-centered.

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2. The greenery

The idea of hanging greenery isn’t anything new, and it was even more popular in this era than it is today. Evergreens like holly, laurel, and mistletoe were some of the only plants that would have been available and vibrant throughout the winter months, so colonists would deck the halls (and the doorways and the windows) with them throughout December and beyond.

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3. The music

Colonists would have been big on popular English carols like “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen” and “The First Noel,” and you might have heard these at parties but — more commonly — from people who were out wassailing. 

This was a version of caroling, but it involved carrying a bowl of wassail (that is, warm spiced cider) with you while you caroled from house to house, offering to share a drink with the people you were singing to, and probably accepting any food or drink they had to offer at the same time.

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4. The food

Parties and feasts always called for a lavish spread of food, and the central dish was usually a roasted fowl like goose, duck, or turkey. Of course, because Annapolis was a colony along the waterway, it’s likely oysters would have been served as well. 

You might have also found the table laden with roasted root vegetables like parsnips or turnips, stewed apples, and fresh bread. Dessert would have been a pudding or a pie filled with fruit and nuts. Though it might sound strange to us with our modern tastes, a popular Christmas staple was suet pudding made with beef suet, flour, dried fruits, and spices, all doused with brandy. 

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5. The fire stuff 

There’s no other way to summarize this — a Colonial Christmas often involved a lot of fire, whether we’re talking about firearms like the muskets and cannons that would have been fired off to herald in the holiday, or the many candles that were used to illuminate the long dark nights. Bonfires would have been popular for outdoor gatherings, and it wouldn’t be unheard of for a larger colony like Annapolis to have fireworks on Christmas.

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