Southern Christmas Traditions Observed by a Northerner
Posted: Monday, July 19, 2010
by Jennifer Landers
Christmas Tree For Me
Christmas means something a little different to everyone. Each family has its own traditions, and each person has his or own idea of how the perfect holiday would be spent. I grew up in an idyllic small town in New England, but I'm now happily living in Southern Virginia. I saw a cocktail napkin the other day that summed up my feelings beautifully; "I wasn't born in the South but I got here as soon as I could". Christmas spirit is universal as far as I'm concerned, but I have noticed a few differences since I've been living here.
To be fair, there are some lovely decorating traditions down here. The magnolia wreath is my all-time favorite, and that's something I never saw up north. It apparently dates back to Jamestown, where the Pilgrims were struck by the fact that such a large tree with fanlike leaves was indeed an evergreen. Holly is proliferate here in Virginia, and it is used abundantly in Christmas decorations. Another decoration I never saw much in Connecticut (except the plastic version) was mistletoe. Here it grows in bunches high in the bare branches of deciduous trees. The easiest way to harvest it is to (how else?) shoot it down with a gun.
Another difference I've noticed is Christmas caroling. In Connecticut, we'd bundle up and, with our thermoses of coffee or hot chocolate, we'd walk from house to house. As people heard us coming they would press their faces to the windows and rush to open their doors so they could hear us better. Usually, a light snow would be falling and someone from the high school madrigals group would hit a note on the pitch pipe so we could all tune in.
In Virginia, our group gathered, me with my thermos and they with their flasks of liquor and six packs of beer (a situation I quickly rectified with a dash back home for a bottle of wine), and we straggled off to sing. Each home-owner whose door we rang looked slightly confused and then resigned, as they good-heartedly suffered through our off-key singing. Christmas caroling in southern Virginia is apparently a rare occurrence. Some people apologetically closed their doors before we could finish a song, but we couldn't blame them as we kept forgetting the lyrics and resorted to making them up as we went. Other people never opened their doors, they just peered suspiciously through a crack in the drawn living room drapes or watched through the security window on the front door.
You know what? I wouldn't change any of it for the world. I've learned that although everyone celebrates a little differently, the spirit of Christmas lives in their hearts no matter where they live. Things felt a bit foreign to me when I first experienced a southern Christmas but I quickly fell in love with the enthusiasm and warmth of my new neighbors.
Sing your Christmas carols under Christmas Garland from http://www.ChristmasTreeForMe.com
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)well, it's okay. not the best artical i'v read.
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