) ( ( ) Good Morning Family! ( \ .-.,--^--. ( Come on in. . . \* ) \\|`----'| - The coffee pot's on. . . .=|=. \| |// ...and we even have decaf, |~'~| | |/ tea, and hot chocolate! | | \ / _|___|_ ------ (_______) Today's topics include: 1. Welcome to new cousins 2. Holiday CHAT: forum is open 3. The Antebellum Christmas *** REMINDER: GIFTS FOR OUR FAMILY CHRISTMAS ARE DUE TO ME BY SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8th *** If you're new or have lost your original message regarding this family event, let me know <ladyaudris@earthlink.net> and I'll send you a copy. TO OUR NEWEST COUSINS ~~ On behalf of the entire family, I'd like to extend a most hearty welcome to those cousins who came into the family fold this past week. We are very glad to have you with us and hope you'll stay and remain a part of our online family. As soon as you're comfortable with us and the list, please send in your Bower[s]/Bauer, Baur or Bowra lines so we can all see how we're related to you. We do not have a fancy format for sending in records or queries to the list. Post as many as you wish! If the data has anything to do with Bower[s]/Bauer, Baur or Bowra ancestors or any of the 81+ variant spellings we research that might help someone, please feel free to post it. Every scrap of information is appreciated. If you haven't visited the homesite of this list yet, you are encouraged to do so. Our home is Bower Community, located at <http://bowercommunity.com>. There, we currently have two sites: The Bower Family Homestead [a.k.a., the Homestead] is our primary homesite and the gathering place for much of our information. It waits to join us all in welcoming you into the family at <http://bowercommunity.com/homestead>. Smaller is our sister site, the Bower Cottage, which houses most of our projects including an online GEDCOM fed by cousins from our research groups. Find the Cottage is at <http://bowercommunity.com/cottage>. HOLIDAY CHAT: FORUM IS OPEN The holiday season is what most people call the "family time" of year. Just as we do every year, I'm opening the list up for any family discussion outside of our normal genealogy. Every year, between Thanksgiving and New Year's, the CHAT: forum opens for everyone to discuss holiday traditions and memories, pass greetings and recipes along, etc. The CHAT: forum is the safe harbor for off-topic discussion. Does anyone have any holiday family traditions or memories they'd like to share? As long as CHAT: starts out your subject line, you are in CHAT: forum and you can safely discuss non-genealogy subjects. HOWEVER, so everyone understands how this works, there are a few guidelines for the CHAT: forum: 1. You MUST start your subject line with CHAT: 2. Absolutely NO genealogy is to be put in CHAT: forum messages because not everyone in the family wants to read CHAT: messages. Those people know to simply delete messages with CHAT: in the subject line knowing they won't miss any genealogical data. CHAT: format messages are not an everyday occurrence. They normally happen here and there. The only, and longest, time the CHAT: forum is actively open is the holiday season ... now. After January 2nd, the CHAT: forum closes and resumes its normal inactivity with occasional messages only. Please remember everyone, to use the CHAT: forum for all your holiday greetings and traditions messages. And for your own protection, step into the CHAT: forum and start your subject line with CHAT: THE ANTEBELLUM CHRISTMAS Antebellum, Latin for 'before the war,' is a word that came into use about 1847. It specifically means 'existing before the Civil War.' When I hear this word I picture white plantation mansions with weeping willow trees. I picture the ladies' long, flowing gowns ... Let's back up in time a little more ... The early 17th century saw a wave of religious reform changing the way Europe celebrated Christmas. Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan forces took over England in 1645 and they had vowed to rid England of decadence. As part of their effort, they cancelled Christmas. However, Charles II was restored to the throne and with him, came the return of the now popular holiday. The Pilgrims were English separatists who came to America in 1620 possessing Puritan beliefs more orthodox than Cromwell. These beliefs resulted in Christmas not being celebrated in early America. From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was outlawed in Boston. Anyone exhibiting the Christmas spirit was fined five shillings. By contrast, in the Jamestown settlement, Captain John Smith reported that Christmas was enjoyed by all and passed without incident. As years passed, attitudes relaxed and Christmas began to see a beginning in America. However, following the American Revolution, English customs fell out of favor, including Christmas. In fact, Congress was in session on December 25, 1789, the first Christmas under America's new constitution. Thank goodness for the American South and her people! It was the South that put both the holy day and the holiday of Christmas on the map in America. The first Christmas worship services took place in St. Augustine, Florida, and in the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. The first Christmas tree in America was decorated in the home of a judge in colonial Williamsburg, again in Virginia. Later, in 1831, Louisiana and Arkansas became the first states to recognize Christmas as a legal holiday at a time when celebrating it in Puritan New England could get one fined or thrown into the stockade. Alabama follwed in 1836 and, as fifteen more states (including Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin and Minnesota) quickly joined after 1850 to make it a legal holiday, the date of December 25th became standardized. Previously, celebrations took place on December 6th (St. Nicholas's day), or on January 6th (Epiphany). Christmas wasn't declared a federal holiday until June 26, 1870. Provisions for the closing of schools, banks, and government offices generally did not appear until then. Even before Christmas trees became popular in the South in the 1850s, it was customary for families to "add color" to their homes at Christmas by hanging holly wreaths on doors and walls and trimming everything from columns and staircases to chandeliers and punch bowls with garlands of ivy or cedar. Old South favorites still widely used today include orange pyracantha berries, red and white camellias, the South's naturally decorated Christmas trees ~ yellow jasmine, pinecones, pine branches, magnolia leaves and, of course, the poinsettia, first used as a holiday adornment in Charleston, South Carolina. Just as now, mistletoe also figured prominently in Southern Christmas celebrations. References to "kissing balls" of mistletoe can be found in the diaries of Southern belles and antebellum hostesses alike. In advance of a Christmas gathering where the loveliest belles and the dandiest beaus in the county might be expected, a party of hunters would venture into the woods, to "shoot down the mistletoe." As you might guess, the lucky marksman who succeeded was rewarded with the first Christmas kiss. By some accounts, Southern Christmases of old could be noisy, raucous affairs filled with fiddle music, dancing, pistol reports and fireworks at midnight. To be sure, they usually began with a solemn, early-morning ride in a wagon to a nearby church for a service. No self-respecting Southern host or hostess would allow Christmas to pass without offering guests a toast and a cup of eggnog. Creating this holiday beverage involved the mixing of at least three different spirits with egg whites, cream and spices. Significantly, the task of making this "virile" drink fell to the master of the house and was never given over to the hostess or to a servant. Still today, eggnog and syllabub reflect our English heritage. Originally fueled by a strong dark ale or beer, Southerners adapted them, adding our indigenous alcoholic beverage, bourbon. Food also sets the Southern Christmas tradition apart. From Maryland to Mississippi, the scent of oranges, a rare commodity in those times, was a giveaway that Christmas had arrived. Given their wide range of enjoyment, not even the old Southern black-eyed peas and hog jowls on New Year's Day can accomplish this today. As well, most Georgia natives expect cornbread stuffing gracing his or her plate at Christmas dinner. The Southern Christmas tradition reflects the wide ethnic and cultural differences of all the original Southern settlers. In Maryland, turkey with sauerkraut, not stuffing, is still served on on Christmas Day. In Georgia, old-timers continue their ancestor's traditional "Open House" on New Year's Day. When the holidays approach in Natchez, Mississippi, little girls make "tussie mussies," antebellum Christmas ornaments used to decorate the tree, just as their counterparts did more than a century ago. Today as then, when "the animals speak with the gift of tongues," you know that Christmas has arrived in Dixie. It was during the Antebellum period that Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" and its "carol" philosophy added another element with its assertion that brotherhood, kindness, and charity should be a part of life ~ especially at Christmas ~ was quickly accepted and added to American tradition. And, it was within such an atmosphere that Christmas as we know it began to manifest itself. Christmas trees had become relatively established in the United States by 1860. Trees of the period were decorated with various edibles and home-crafted ornaments ~ fruits, strands, and candles. By 1860 glass trinkets made in Germany were becoming available to adorn the branches. Music exclusively associated with Christmas was added to songbooks during this period. Caroling became increasingly practiced. Most of it was of a sacred nature and alluded to Christ's birth. "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" 1851), "See Amid the Winter's Snow" (also 1851), "There Came A Little Child to Earth" (1856), and "We Three Kings of Orient Are" (1859) all were composed before the Civil War. Christmas cards were relatively well-known in England by 1860, but the custom of sending holiday greetings was unknown in America during this period. As early as the 1830s newspapers were filled with enticements to lure "Christmas shoppers." Raisins for baked goods to pianofortes for the parlor to uplifting books for the mind and soul were pushed via the papers. Merchants were quick to realize the potential of the gift-giving season and capitalize on the growing importance of Christmas. Santa Clauses had begun to appear on street corners and in stores by 1850. Santa Claus was evolving during this period. Although it would be several years before our modern Santa would be given his enduring jolly, round form, "Santa Claus" of 1860 would still be recognizable to today's child. The revival of holiday traditions provides continuity with our past while enriching our present. And in America, we have our ancestral South to thank. Family ... it's what we're all about. To you December babies - the cousins and I wish you a very happy and exciting year ahead. Happy Birthday! You are loved! Thank you for allowing me to spend this time with you today. I wish each of you a week filled with health, productivity, fun, and above all, filled with love and inner peace. ) ( ) _.-~~-. (@\'--'/. Colleen ('``.__.'`) `..____.'

Colleen, Thank you for the wonderful Antebellum Christmas traditions.