“The great fete of the people was Christmas.
[All] times and seasons paled and dimmed before the festive joys of
Christmas. It had been handed down for generations…it had come over
with their forefathers. It had a peculiar significance. It was a title.
Religion had given it its benediction. It was the time to “Shout the
glad tidings.” It was The Holidays.
There were other holidays
for the slaves, both of the school-room and the plantation, such as
Easter and Whit-Monday; but Christmas was distinctively “The Holidays.”
Then
the boys came home from college with their friends; the members of the
family who moved away returned; pretty cousins came for the
festivities; the neighborhood grew merry; the negroes were all to have a
holiday, the house-servants taking turn and turn about, and the
plantation made ready for Christmas cheer.
The corn was got in;
the hogs were killed; the lard “tried”; sausage-meat made; mince-meat
prepared; the turkeys fattened, with “the big old gobbler” specially
devoted to the “Christmas dinner”; the servants new shoes and winter
clothes stored away ready for distribution; and the plantation began to
be ready to prepare for Christmas.
In the first place, there
was generally a cold spell which froze up everything and enabled the
ice-houses to be filled. The wagons all were put to hauling wood –
hickory; nothing but hickory now; other wood might do for other times,
but at Christmas only hickory was used; and the wood-pile was heaped
high with the logs…
In the midst of it came the wagon or ox-cart
from “the depot,” with the big white boxes of Christmas things, the
black driver feigning hypocritical indifference as he drove through the
choppers to the storeroom. Then came the rush of all the wood-cutters
to help him unload…as they pretended to strain in lifting, of what
“master” or “mistis” was going to give them out of those boxes, uttered
just loud enough to reach their master’s or mistress’s ears where they
stood looking on, while the driver took due advantage of his temporary
prestige to give many pompous cautions and directions.
The
getting the evergreens and mistletoe was the sign that Christmas had
come, was really here. There were the parlor and hall and dining-room,
and, above all, the old church, to be “dressed.” The last was a
neighborhood work; all united in it, and it was one of the events of the
year.
Then by “Christmas Eve’s eve” the wood was all cut and
stacked high in the wood-house and on and under the back porticos, so
as to be handy, and secure from the snow which was almost certain to
come. The excitement increased; the boxes were unpacked, some of them
openly, to the general delight, others with a mysterious secrecy which
stimulated the curiosity to its highest point and added to the charm of
the occasion.
The kitchen filled up with assistants famed for
special skill in particular branches of the cook’s art, who bustled
about with glistening faces and shining teeth, proud of their elevation
and eager to add to the general cheer.
It was now Christmas
Eve. From time to time the “hired out” servants came home from
Richmond where they had been hired or had hired out themselves, their
terms having been common custom framed, with due regard to their rights
to the holiday, to expire in time for them to spend the Christmas at
home. There was much hilarity over their arrival, with their new
winter clothes donned a little ahead of time, they came to pay their
“bespecs” to master and mistis.
Later on the children were got to
bed, scarce able to keep in their pallets for excitement; the
stockings were all hung up over the big fireplace; and the grown people
grew gay in the crowded parlors. Next morning before light the stir
began. White-clad little figures stole about in the gloom, with bulging
stockings clasped to their bosoms, opening doors, shouting “Christmas
gift!” into dark rooms at sleeping elders, and then scurrying away like
so many white mice, squeaking with delight, to rake open the embers
and inspect their treasures. At prayers, “Shout the glad tidings” was
sung by fresh young voices with due fervor.
How gay the scene
was at breakfast! What pranks had been performed in the name of Santa
Claus! The larger part of the day was spend in going to and coming from
the beautifully dressed church, where the service was read, and the
anthems and hymns were sung by everybody, for every one was happy.
Dinner
was the great event. It was the test of the mistress and the cook, or,
rather, the cooks; for the kitchen now was full of them. The old
mahogany table, stretched diagonally across the ding room, groaned; the
big gobbler filled the pace of honor; a great round of beef held the
second place; an old ham, with every other dish that ingenuity, backed
by long experience, could devise, was at the side, and the shining
sideboard, gleaming with glass, scarcely held the dessert. After dinner
there were apple-toddy and egg-nogg, as there had been before.
There
were negro parties, where the ladies and gentlemen went to look on,
the suppers having been superintended by the mistresses, and the tables
being decorated by their own white hands. There was almost sure to be a
negro wedding during the holidays. The ceremony might be performed in
the dining-room or in the hall by the master, or in a quarter by a
colored preacher; but it was a gay occasion, and the dusky bride’s
trousseau had been arranged by her young mistress, and the family was
on hand to get fun out of the entertainment.”
(The Old South, Essays Social and Political, Charles Scribner’s & Sons, 1892, pp. 174-183)
