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2016 Home For the Holidays
LINCOLN DAILY NEWS November 23, 2016
Christmas decorations
were comparatively
limited in the 1860s,
and most residents
waited until Christmas
Eve to display evergreens, holly,
mistletoe and garland. Similar to
today, businessmen in that era found
great sales potential with the holiday
season, marking their shops with
bows and greenery, and marketing
their goods as necessities for the
enjoyment of life.
Hustle and bustle increased on city streets leading
up to Christmas, and then on Christmas Day
itself, social activity reached a fever pitch. Much
Christmas purchasing occurred on Christmas
Day itself. It was a religious observance, but
December 25 was considered a normal work day
for many.
When Lincoln was an Illinois state representative
in 1834, the legislature voted whether elected
officials should take off on Christmas Day.
Lincoln voted with the majority in favor of
keeping the day a workday because he felt they
would be wasting taxpayers’
money to take the day off.
It was not until 1870, when
then President Ulysses S.
Grant signed into law an act
to make Christmas Day a
national holiday, that the day
was actually considered a day
off from labor.
Many families did at least
take part of the day to come
together. Christmas dinner had already taken root
as perhaps the single most important gathering the
entire year for a family.
As far as festiveness outside the family sphere,
New Year’s Day eclipsed Christmas. An Illinois
newspaper reported in the late 1850s that the
first day of the year consisted of an “interchange
of visiting” where everyone was “expected to
make it to a holiday and nobody is compelled to
work.” Refreshments at every house included an
abundance of eggnog and other choice spirits to
keep the joviality alive.
The spirit of the
holidays in the
Civil War era
by Ron Keller
T
he holiday season is upon us—complete with family gatherings, gift-giving, lights and
decorations, and merriment and hope. The festivities and traditions which accompany
the holidays have changed through the years, but the holidays as a celebratory time
is as significant now as it was in Civil War era America. The deep national divisions and the
tragedy of war in the 1860, however, severely dampened that celebratory mood. Christmas
and New Year’s Day were worth commemorating a century-and-a-half ago, but the desire to
revel in holiday blissfulness proved challenging indeed.
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