The United States has a culture that has been enriched over the decades by the practices of immigrants from all over the world. In this country, known as the Great Melting Pot, our food, art, music, and even our holidays have all been influenced by the customs brought here by new citizens and their descendants. Americans still, however, also have many traditions that are unique to this country, that developed here or evolved from other countries or cultures. During the holiday season, you’ll find many things that those living in the US choose to practice or do that are unique to this country. Here are five American Christmas traditions that you won’t quite find anywhere else in the world.
The day after Thanksgiving, Americans traditionally start their holiday shopping with Black Friday sales. The term Black Friday dates to the 1950s when the city of Philadelphia would become overrun with people heading in to see the Army-Navy football game. This popular matchup was played on the Saturday after Thanksgiving during that era, and fans, shoppers, and tourists would pour into the city on Friday in anticipation of a rowdy holiday weekend. The Philadelphia police and city officials became overwhelmed with mass chaos related to this influx of people and began calling the day after Thanksgiving “Black Friday.” By the 1960s, retailers in Philadelphia had embraced Black Friday as an opportunity to bring in big sales, and other cities began to follow the trend. Today, Black Friday remains a uniquely American Christmas tradition and the official kick-off of the holidays.
Though people living outside the US watch and enjoy Christmas movies, the cozy holiday film tradition has become its own industry here in America. In 2022, Hallmark Channel alone has added 40 new Christmas movies to its already substantial library of holiday offerings. Perennial favorites also appear with regularity on streaming channels and many people feel that the holidays haven’t really started until they’ve watched
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(1938). Perhaps Americans’ fascination with Christmas movies lies in the films’ themes of hope, and as eternal optimists, we always feel that a better future is just around the corner.
A fall favorite that seems to border on obsession sometimes, pumpkin is distinctly American. Pumpkins, a type of squash, are native to North and Central America and were historically a staple of the diet of many Native Americans, who introduced European settlers to many tasty pumpkin dishes. These gourds – which are technically a fruit – hold a special place in each of the major American holidays at the end of the year. In October, pumpkins represent the harvest and are carved into Jack-o-lanterns at Halloween. In November, pumpkin pie takes center stage after a traditional Thanksgiving meal. In December, the sweet and spicy pie remains a centerpiece of Christmas dinner. Whether homemade or store-bought, most Americans can’t imagine their holidays without some delicious pumpkin pie.
Each Christmas Eve before going to bed, American children who celebrate Christmas leave a plate of cookies and a glass of milk for Santa Claus to find when he visits their homes. This fun tradition actually has its roots in Norse mythology. Centuries ago, during the Yule season, children in that region would leave food, such as carrots, out for the horse of Norse god Odin in the hope that he would leave gifts in exchange. In the United States, this tradition evolved and grew in popularity during the Great Depression in the 1930s, when parents wanted to instill a sense of gratitude and of giving in return for presents they would be fortunate enough to receive for Christmas. Today, children in many different countries practice this special ritual that Americans have taught their children for generations.
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Christmas parades may not be uniquely American, but their ubiquitous appearance in nearly every major city in every state in the country may be. In addition to big city parades, many small towns and regional areas in the United States hold their own parades, often culminating in the arrival of Santa Claus on a fire truck or decorated parade vehicle. Along with Black Friday, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is considered by many to be the traditional start of the holidays in the US. This Christmas-themed parade began in 1924 and is now the largest holiday parade in the world and is broadcast into the family rooms of anyone who cannot attend in person. Elaborately decorated parade floats and oversized balloons put an over-the-top spin on this iconic American celebration of the start of the Christmas season.
No matter where you live in the United States, if you celebrate Christmas, you’ve probably participated in at least one, if not most, of these holiday traditions. Though not all of these practices solely take place in America, those of us here in the US have put our unique stamp on these Christmas traditions and have made them into the uniquely American customs they are today.
If you are searching for more uniquely American things, you can check out our selection of American themed calendars. Our 2024 Vintage America Calendar showcases travel and national park poster art of the US. The 2024 Vintage American Landscapes is a gallery of striking photographs taken by Ansel Adams for the US National Park Service. And our 2024 Vintage National Parks Calendar features old postcards from our nation’s historic outdoor sites. You can see all our 2024 vintage, retro, and pop culture calendars here.Thomas Adam does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Christmas Traditions In The U.s.
The pagan tradition of celebrating the winter solstice with bonfires on Dec. 21 inspired the early Christian celebrations of Christmas. Gpointstudio/ Image Source via Getty Images
Each season, the celebration of Christmas has religious leaders and conservatives publicly complaining about the commercialization of the holiday and the growing lack of Christian sentiment. Many people seem to believe that there was once a way to celebrate the birth of Christ in a more spiritual way.
Such perceptions about Christmas celebrations have, however, little basis in history. As a scholar of transnational and global history, I have studied the emergence of Christmas celebrations in German towns around 1800 and the global spread of this holiday ritual.
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While Europeans participated in church services and religious ceremonies to celebrate the birth of Jesus for centuries, they did not commemorate it as we do today. Christmas trees and gift-giving on Dec. 24 in Germany did not spread to other European Christian cultures until the end of the 18th century and did not come to North America until the 1830s.
Charles Haswell, an engineer and chronicler of everyday life in New York City, wrote in his “Reminiscences of an Octoganarian” that in the 1830s German families living in Brooklyn dressed up Christmas trees with lights and ornaments. Haswell was so curious about this novel custom that he went to Brooklyn in a very stormy and wet night just to see these Christmas trees through the windows of private homes.
Only in the late 1790s did the new custom of putting up a Christmas tree decorated with wax candles and ornaments and exchanging gifts emerge in Germany. This new holiday practice was completely outside and independent of Christian religious practices.
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The idea of putting wax candles on an evergreen was inspired by the pagan tradition of celebrating the winter solstice with bonfires on Dec. 21. These bonfires on the darkest day of the year were intended to recall the sun and show her the way home. The lit Christmas tree was essentially a domesticated version of these bonfires.
The English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge gave the very first description of a decorated Christmas tree in a German household when he reported in 1799 about having seen such a tree in a private home in Ratzeburg in northwestern Germany. In 1816 German poet E.T.A. Hoffmann published his famous story “Nutcracker and Mouse King.” This story contains the very first literary record of a Christmas tree decorated with apples, sweets and lights.
From the onset, all family members, including children, were expected to participate in the gift-giving. Gifts were not brought by a mystical figure, but openly exchanged among family members – symbolizing the new middle-class culture of egalitarianism.
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American visitors to Germany in the first half of the 19th century realized the potential of this celebration for nation building. In 1835 Harvard professor George Ticknor was the first American to observe and participate in this type of Christmas celebration and to praise its usefulness for creating a national culture. That year, Ticknor and his 12-year-old daughter Anna joined the family of Count von Ungern-Sternberg in Dresden for a memorable Christmas celebration.
Other American visitors to Germany – such as Charles Loring Brace, who witnessed a Christmas celebration in Berlin nearly 20 years later – considered it a specific German festival with the potential to pull people together.
For both Ticknor and Brace, this holiday tradition provided the emotional glue that could bring families and members of a nation together. In 1843
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