HOOSIER PIONEERS CELEBRATED A LESS HECTIC CHRISTMAS

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Those who long for a simpler celebration of Christmas, without the hustle and bustle of shopping malls, tinsel, and hectic schedules, might look back into the last century when the pioneers of the Hoosier state observed the holiday with festivities and presents and fun, but in a way that is in marked contrast to today.

That is not to say that Christmas was unimportant; in fact, many accounts of life in Indiana in the 1800s contain stories of Christmas. Three are related here.

"Christmas was the supreme holiday of the children," wrote Logan Esary, an Indiana University history teacher. "Apples, sweet-cake, home-made candy, such simple toys as could easily be contrived, together with warm gloves or stockings, knit by the mother, were common gifts. The poor were remembered with substantial gifts of things to eat and wear. The young folks often arranged for a sleigh ride if there was snow. Except among the Quakers, Santa Claus was a universal visitor on Christmas Eve. The Christmas dinner was the principal attraction for the married folks."

Esary's account is found in his book, A History of Indiana from Its Exploration to 1850.

Meredith Nicholson, Hoosier journalist and poet, penned "Christmas in the Pines" in the 1800s. He relates that on Christmas Eve, a fierce gale sprang up, bringing fresh snow for Christmas. On Christmas morning he woke to find a still, beautiful world and ventured out:

"Into the pathless waste I go,
With muffled step among the pines
That, robed in sunlight and soft snow,
Stand like a thousand radiant shrines.
"Save for a lad's song, far and faint,
There is no sound in all the wood;
The murmuring pines are still; their plaint
At last was heard and understood.
"Here floats no chime of Christmas bell,
There is no voice to give me cheer;
But through the pine wood all is well,
For God and love and peace are here."

The poem was published in Poets and Poetry of Indiana, a collection of poems written in the 1800s compiled by Benjamin S. Parker and Enos B. Heiney, and published in 1900 by Silver, Burdett and Company.

A sample of Christmas fun is provided by Branson L. Harris, who was born in Wayne County in 1817. He gave this account in Some Recollections of My Boyhood. The book, "issued on his 91st birthday," can be found in IU's Lilly Library.

"We sometimes on Christmas, turned out the [school] master to make him treat us to two bushels of apples. If he refused, we would carry him to the branch [creek] to duck him; but just before we would get to the branch he would say: "Let me down, boys, I will treat." And then he would send for apples and we would have a holiday feast. In later times the teacher would sometimes treat to licorice and candy."

For more information, contact Susan Voelkel, Office of Communications and Marketing, 812-855-7984 or 812-855-3911, svoelkel@indiana.edu