A Brief Overview of the History of Saint Patrick's Day

Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17th of each year and it marks the anniversary of Saint Patrick’s death in Ireland in the fifth century. It is a religious, feast day that the Irish have observed for hundreds of years. Irish families tended to go to church in the morning and then celebrate later that night. The first Saint Patrick’s Day parade was not held in Ireland, it was held in America in 1762. Irish immigrants and soldiers marched the streets of New York with bands as a patriotic act towards Ireland. When the Irish immigrants first arrived in America due to the Potato famine they were looked down upon and weren’t treated equally. Then the Irish Americans united and became known as “the green machine” which further provided the Irish for a chance to celebrate their heritage on March 17th every year.
The Leprechaun is a symbol usually associated with Saint Patrick’s Day as well. Today, some children put their shoes outside in hopes that a leprechaun will fill them with candies. However, Leprechauns have nothing to do with Saint Patrick or his death or the way the Irish Catholics celebrated the holiday. They were introduced in America by Walt Disney in his movie, Darby O’Gill and the Little People. They are purely American culture.

Source

"Symbols and Traditions - St. Patrick's Day - History.com." The History Channel - Home Page. Web. 08 Dec. 2009. .

A Brief Overview of the History of Halloween

When the Europeans arrived in America, they all had different ways that they celebrated Halloween. Due to the strict Protestant views of the north, most people didn’t celebrate Halloween. However, in the south, autumn festivities were celebrated throughout the years. Early on, it was not called Halloween, the celebrations were known as “play parties”. At these “play parties” people would gather to celebrate the harvest. They would put on plays, dance, sing, share stories of the dead, and made mischief of all kinds. Then, more towards the middle of the nineteenth century, many more immigrants were coming to America. A lot of the new people were starving people who were fleeing from the Irish Potato Famine. The merging of the Irish eventually led to people dressing up and going from house to house asking for food and money, which is what it was like in Ireland where food was scarce. This activity then evolved in the “trick or treat” aspect of Halloween that we have today.

Source

"American Halloween - The Real Story of Halloween - History.com." The History Channel - Home Page. Web. 08 Dec. 2009. .

Videos from the History Channel

This video is about the origins of Christmas and how it evolved into what it is today. Most people believe that Christmas is only tied in with the birth of Christ, but as this video shows, it goes back much further. It also appears in many different cultures all over the world.

http://www.history.com/video.do?name=culture&bcpid=1676043212&bclid=1675979322&bctid=1586348684

This video is about the origins of Thanksgiving. It talks about the First Thanksgiving, the three day feast between the colonists and the Wampanog Indian Tribe in 1621 and why this is considered the "first thanksgiving". However, later in the nineteenth century it is said that the colonists celebrated Thanksgiving more as a religious holiday to give thanks to God, instead of tying it back in with the 1621 feast.

http://www.history.com/video.do?name=culture&bcpid=1676043212&bclid=1675979322&bctid=1586348684

A Brief Overview of the History of Christmas

Christmas was finally made a federal holiday in America on July 26, 1870. When the Pilgrims first came from Europe to America, they were extreme Puritans and did not celebrate Christmas. It went so far as Christmas was actually banned or outlawed in Boston from 1659 to 1681. Each person caught celebrating Christmas was given a fine. However, in Jamestown, it was reported by Captain John Smith that Christmas was enjoyed by all. After the American Revolution, most British traditions fell out including Christmas. It was then in the nineteenth century that most Americans began to celebrate the holiday of Christmas. Before it had been celebrated as a carnival type holiday but the American’s reinvented it into a peaceful family-centered day. Also, in the north and south Christmas was viewed differently. In the north they tended to believe that it was a sin if the holiday was celebrated, and in the south it was seen as an important time spent with family during the holiday season. The first three states to name Christmas an official holiday were in the south states. Then, in the years after the civil war, Christmas tradition was spread throughout the nation. Santa Claus was introduced along with his reindeer and the Christmas tree.

Source

“Christmas History in America." Christmas History. Web. 07 Dec. 2009. .

A Visit from Saint Nicholas

A Visit from St. Nicholas was written in 1822 by Clement Clarke Moore. The poem is more commonly known today as Twas the Night before Christmas. Clement Clarke Moore was born on July 15, 1779 in Manhattan, New York. He was a very successful and respected author and was a professor of Oriental and Greek Literature at Columbia University. He came from a very wealthy family and was the only child. His parents were Benjamin Moore, a president at Columbia University and bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, and Charity Clarke. He wrote A Visit from St. Nicholas in 1823, but it was first published anonymously. Then in 1844 the poem attached the name of Clement Clarke Moore as the author. In writing this poem, he is very much known for introducing the definite idea of Santa Claus and Saint Nicholas to the world. Before this poem was written, there was no universal idea, there were multiple beliefs. It was him who introduced the image of what Santa looks like, his mode of transportation, the number and name of his reindeer, the tradition of bringing toys to children etc. However, due to his success with this poem, all of his other works have been overshadowed which he was not very fond of. Clement Clarke Moore died on July 10, 1863 in Newport, Rhode Island living a long and fulfilling life.


Sources
"The Night Before Christmas - About Clement Clarke Moore." The Night Before Christmas - A Descriptive Bibliography of Clement Clarke Moore's Immortal Poem - Nancy H. Marshall. Web. 07 Dec. 2009. .

"A Visit from St. Nicholas -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 07 Dec. 2009. .

Database Sources

Buckallew, Fritz. "Day of Jubilee: The Great Age of Public Celebrations in New York, 1788-1909." Library Journal 122.6 (1997): 106+. General OneFile. Web.

Groff, Sibyl McCormac. "Gothamtide: Christmas words and images in nineteenth-century New York." The Magazine Antiques Dec. 2002: 64+. General OneFile. Web.

Pleck, Elizabeth. "The making of the domestic occasion: the history of Thanksgiving in the United States." Journal of Social History 32.4 (1999): 773. General OneFile. Web.

Carruth, Gorton. "1817; 1802; 1818; 1827; 1831; 1873; 1883; 1837; 1880: Sports; social issues and crime; folkways; fashion; holidays." Encyclopedia of American Facts & Dates. 9th ed. HarperCollins Publishers, 1993. 157. General OneFile. Web

Company, Houghton Mifflin. The American Heritage Dictionary Fourth Edition (21st Century Reference). New York: Dell, 2001. Print.

EBook Sources

Nemanic, Mary Lou. "Fourth of July Celebrations." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast. Vol. 2. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. 146-148. Gale Virtual Reference Library.

Glassberg, Philip. American Historical Pageantry: The Uses of Tradition in the Early Twentieth Century. Chapel Hill, North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press, 1990.

Davis, Susan G. Parades and Power: Street Theatre in Nineteenth-Century Philadelphia. Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1986.

Cohen, Hennig, and Tristam Potter Coffin, editors. The Folklore of American Holidays. Detroit, Gale Research Company, 1987.

Boorstin, Daniel J. The Americans: The National Experience. New York, Random House, 1965.

Bodnar, John. Remaking America: Public Memory, Commemoration and Patriotism in the Twentieth Century. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1992.

"United States." Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays. Ed. Robert H. Griffin and Ann H. Shurgin. Vol. 1. Detroit: UXL, 2000. 116-128. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale.

"Independence Day." Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays. Ed. Robert H. Griffin and Ann H. Shurgin. Vol. 3. Detroit: UXL, 2000. 257-268. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale.

“Easter." Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays. Ed. Robert H. Griffin and Ann H. Shurgin. Vol. 2. Detroit: UXL, 2000. 137-153. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale.

"Christmas." Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays. Ed. Robert H. Griffin and Ann H. Shurgin. Vol. 1. Detroit: UXL, 2000. 69-90. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale.

Bowler, Gerry. "Valentine's Day." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast. Vol. 5. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. 16-17. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale.

"Halloween and Festivals of the Dead." Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays. Ed. Robert H. Griffin and Ann H. Shurgin. Vol. 2. Detroit: UXL, 2000. 195-209. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale.