Merry Christmas, 2003!

Merry Christmas 2003 From Memphis, Tennessee!
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Christmas in the United States
by Bill Egan, Christmas Historian and Christmas.com Content Specialist

The first Christmas observance in what is now the United States was celebrated in an authentic Spanish style.

Hernando de Soto and his army set up their winter camp in the present day city of Tallahassee, Florida in 1539. Since that time, the holiday traditions of nearly every nation on earth have moved into, around, and across the U.S. Every ethnic group has its place in our society, and they bring their own traditions for December celebrations. In addition, the diversity in our climate helps to set the stage for various types of festivities ranging from a picnic on the beach at Waikiki or Key West to candles in a window during the twilight of a cold day in Alaska.

For most people, turkey is the main dish and presents are found under a Christmas tree. Families gather together and the gifts come from Santa Claus. These are the basics and the varied pleasures take off from there in all directions.

In New York City, holiday shoppers stop to watch skaters on the ice beneath the tree at Rockefeller Center while others gaze in awe at the magnificent Neapolitan Baroque figures on the Angel Tree at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In Texas, you can join a Tex-Mex "posada" in San Antonio or travel 70 miles north to Fredericksburg for a German-style Christmas Market.

The South has a long Christmas tradition going back to the first English Christmas at Jamestown. Today in New Orleans, thousands of carolers gather each year in Jackson Square for a huge community sing while bonfires are lit all along the Mississippi River.

In Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, an enchanted forest of 43 international trees and three crèches decorated by the city's cultural community groups is on display through January 7. Appropriate ethnic food is served in the cafeteria and various ethnic groups present folk dances and story hours throughout the season.

In Washington, DC, the focal point of the season is the lighting of the tree on the Ellipse. A large tree represents the nation with smaller trees representing each state. While the Kennedy Center presents a wide-variety of Christmas programs, the hottest ticket in town is for the "Messiah" sing-in at the concert hall.

Boston is also famous for it's annual Christmas presentation of "Messiah" by the Handel-Haydn Society as well as the caroling festivities on Beacon Hill.

The "Nation's Christmas Tree" in California's Kings Canyon National Park is the site of a special annual celebration. Carolers sing at the base of the 267-foot sequoia each year and the size of the group depends on the depth of the heavy snows in the park.

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, founded by Moravian missionaries on Christmas Eve, 1741 starts off the season with a huge Christmas Market. The holiday decorations in most buildings in the city consist of a single candle in each window. A giant lighted star can be seen atop South Mountain and is visible for twenty miles.

St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest city in the U.S., has the entire historic area draped in white lights. There is a city ordinance which prevents anyone from displaying outdoor Christmas lights that are not white. The one exception is a colorfully decorated tree in the town square that is set up under the white lights hung in ancient Live Oak trees.

Thousands flock to Hollywood, California for the annual Parade of Stars while others converge on Balboa Park in San Diego for Christmas concerts on the world's largest outdoor pipe organ.

In Salt Lake City, the great classical music of Christmas is presented by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir while a small choir in St. Joseph's Church in Washington, New Jersey sings "Silent Night" while bathed in the light of an antique stained glass window depicting the Nativity, proving that there is more than one way to "make a joyful noise unto the Lord."

Happy Holidays
Stars