History of the Holidays in Charleston

As one of the oldest cities in the United States - and historically, one of the most influential - Charleston has played a huge role in shaping American holiday traditions. Whether new customs were started here in the lowcountry, or the influential city was the first to try new European trends, Charleston helped make our holiday celebrations what we know today. 

Deck the Halls

Poinsettia

These festive flowers, known for their red and green foliage, are classic Christmas decorations - but did you know that using them as holiday decor started in Charleston less than a century ago? South Carolinian Joel Robert Poinsett served in the US House of Representatives, as well as the Minister to Mexico. When he traveled to Mexico in 1925, he encountered the brilliant plants and brought some home to Charleston, where he used it as a decoration for the Christmas holiday. It caught on, and today you’ll see these bright plants on display across the country. 

Christmas Trees

While the Christmas tree is, for many households, the defining holiday decoration, the tradition of bringing an evergreen tree indoors and piling it with ornaments, lights, and gifts is a relatively new one for English-speaking cultures. The tradition is mostly associated with German-speaking Christians; while some came to Charleston in the early 18th century and formed the first Lutheran Church in South Carolina, the practice of erecting and decorating a Christmas tree was not at all widespread. Christmas trees in Charleston can actually be traced to 1850, when Swedish soprano star Jenny Lind arrived in the city on December 23rd. On Christmas Eve, a decorated tree was spotted in her hotel window, and her celebrity status helped start a trend. This was compounded by the popularity of an engraving from the December 1850 issue of Godey’s Lady’s Book, which showed Queen Victoria and her family decorating an evergreen tree with lights, baubles, and presents. 

Delicious Delights

Citrus

Oranges and other citrus fruits are common gifts to find in stockings, or elements of holiday decorations. While today an orange might not seem like the most exciting present, receiving citrus in the middle of winter was once a special and expensive treat: the fruits were only available at certain times of the year, so being given one out of season was a real luxury. Today you might still find clementines in your stocking, make pomander balls out of oranges and cloves, or include dried citrus in your garlands. 

Oysters

Nothing says holidays in the lowcountry like an oyster roast - it’s been a winter tradition in the Holy City since the 1820s. Fresh oysters are a popular delicacy during the holiday season here in the coastal South, as the best time to harvest them is during the coldest months of the year. These shellfish were a food staple for local Indigenous people long before Europeans arrived, and oysters became increasingly popular in the 19th century Atlantic coast. By the turn of the 20th century, oysters were harvested in such massive quantities and were so cheap that they cost half as much per pound as beef! They became a staple food in saloons and taverns - and today, the oyster bar is an enduring establishment throughout the coastal south.

St. Cecilia’s Punch

This bubbly punch, served ice-cold and full of tropical fruits, is credited to the St. Cecilia Society, the oldest and most exclusive social institution in South Carolina. Consisting of brandy, rum, champagne, green tea, carbonated water, and sugar, with sliced lemons and pineapple, it’s a departure from the first true punches, which were made with only five ingredients: alcohol, water, lemon, sugar, and tea or spices. Pineapples were symbols of affluence and hospitality in the southern colonies, as the tropical fruits were rare and extremely expensive - those who didn’t want to purchase a pineapple for an event could rent one to display! Find a recipe and make this punch for your next event here.  

Rituals & Traditions

Father Christmas & St. Nicholas

While Santa Claus is one of the most iconic symbols of Christmastime today, he’s a relatively new tradition. Early Charleston would have been far more likely to be visited by Father Christmas, a character from English culture. Catholicism was the only segment of Christian faith not welcomed in early Carolina, so Charleston’s oldest holiday rituals would have been based on Protestant tradition. St. Nicholas may have been mentioned by the late 18th century, when Catholicism was legalized in 1790.

A New New Year’s Day

Did you know that Charleston used a different calendar than we use today? The community used the Julian calendar until 1752, when Charleston adopted the familiar Gregorian calendar (you can learn more about why the colonies used the outdated Julian calendar system for so long at Charleston Time Machine). With that change, the concept of the first day of a new year changed, too: in the Julian calendar system, the year was divided into quarters, roughly around the solstices and equinoxes, with the new year commencing in the spring on Lady Day, March 25th. After 1752, the new year was celebrated on January 1 - a tradition which spread to the rest of the colonies and we still practice today.

Celebrating with a Bang

The American tradition of making lots of noise to celebrate holidays goes way back in our history! Charleston’s early urban history saw the development of a tradition of firing guns and lighting fireworks on and around holidays, and the practice became so exuberant and widespread that in 1750 a law was passed to try to curb the disruptive behavior. It only sort of worked, and the joke about “gunshots or fireworks?” is apparently a very old one: in 1772, a local complained about “the common practice of firing guns on the eves of Christmas, and on the mornings of the New Years, by which method, it is impossible to distinguish, whether such firings are intended as alarms to the inhabitants, to prepare themselves against an internal or approaching enemy, or to proclaim the illegal mirth of a few inconsiderate people.”

What are some of your favorite local holiday traditions? Let us know in the comments, or join us on a holiday history tour this December!