War of 1812 Discovery Series (#7 - Continued)

by Judi McWilliams

Over the past few years the Festival Nomad and I have had wonderful experiences visiting War of 1812 Re-enactments around Ontario. We find these re-enactments amazing and extremely interesting! In this NEW War of 1812 Discovery Series, I want to share with you some of our experiences, while attempting to shed some light into the actual historic.

Christmas 1812 Style... (Part Four)
We Canadians, along with our French and Scottish counterparts, focused on New Year's Day during the War. It was more common to refer to it as “Seasonal Festivities”. Especially in today’s society, it seems that people are becoming more and more frustrated with the “commercialism” of the “Seasonal Festivities”. Society's “stress level” seems to be high, with the enormous expectations, we put on ourselves to provide so much for our families and friends during the holidays! During the War of 1812 the people from Upper Canada, American soldier “newbie’s” and Protestants too looked, with disdain upon Christmas decorations and pomp. So much so, that during Christmas, church was poorly attended and there seemed to be a cold indifference to it all. However, as mentioned above, the French Canadians and Scottish did celebrate New Year’s. The Scots called “Hogmanay”. Growing up, every New Year's Eve, at midnight, my parents would stand outside their front door and loudly ring an old large school bell and bang on pots and pans. We thought they were “crazy”, not to mention that our neighbours might get upset! But, as I have now learned, my parents perhaps weren’t “crazy” as we thought! I have discovered that this tradition started during the 1812 period of time, as the folks were making all that noise to drive out the old year and ring in the new! In 1812, they would march along to a torch lit parade as well as enjoying large bonfires. As far back as the 16th Century, the New Year’s traditions continued further with the French Canadians starting the New Year off by giving a gift. Even though our modern “Santa Claus” was not part of North America until around 1822, these gifts were given by most ethnic groups with such items as rag/wooden dolls, wooden muskets/swords, clothing/food/blankets/fruit. I believe this is where my parents also got the tradition of putting large fresh orange/apple/walnuts in the bottom of our Christmas stockings each year. It reminds me of simpler times, when I was young and how a single gift kept us amazed and occupied for hours and days . No matter how modern and high-tech our society is today, it thrills me that young children still seem to gravitate towards the simple part of the “Seasonal Festivities”. With all the gifts and chaotic commotion, children still simply enjoy playing with the “box” the gift came in. According to my research, it wasn’t until approximately 1781 in Sorel, Quebec, that the German soldiers brought Christmas to Canada. Several regiments of German troops, at that time, would have likely carried the Christmas traditions on during the War of 1812. At the least, an officer in the King’s German Legion would decorate a lemon tree with lights and oranges as his Christmas tree. They say it wasn’t for another 50 years that the Christmas tree became a common item in English society.