The Wild West of Yester-Year
Christmas in the Old West
By Rachel Kovaciny
Did cowboys and ranchers celebrate Christmas? What about pioneer farmers and ranchers? Cavalrymen stationed at forts? American Indians? Did they put up Christmas trees? Give gifts? Have a feast? Sing carols?
The basic answer for all of those is... yes. While not everyone celebrated
Christmas in the Old West, it was a popular holiday during the Cowboy Era
(roughly 1865-1885). And people on the frontier celebrated it in many of the
same ways we do today.
If that surprises you, you need to remember the Cowboy Era coincides with a
chunk of the Victorian Era, and the Victorians brought together the many
Christmas traditions we practice today, largely thanks to two men: Charles
Dickens and Prince Albert.
When Prince Albert married Britain’s Queen Victoria in 1840, he brought many of
his German Christmas traditions with him, especially decorated evergreen trees
inside the home and Advent wreaths with candles to light. Meanwhile, Charles
Dickens published a novella called A Christmas Carol in 1843. That simple,
now-famous story turned the hearts and minds of the Victorian British toward
celebrating Christmas by giving gifts and good cheer to as many people as they
could.
Americans on the east coast copied anything fashionable in Great Britain as soon
as they learned of them. Whatever was stylish on the east coast trickled its way
west, too. Not only that, German, Scandinavian, and Irish immigrants brought
their own Christmas traditions here with them, sharing their ways of celebrating
with their new neighbors. By the 1860s, a Christmas with no gifts, special food,
or decorations just wouldn’t have felt like Christmas.
Sometimes, a Christmas tree would get set up in the middle of a small town, in a
church or schoolhouse, or in a family’s home. If a family had their own tree,
they might invite friends or family members to help decorate it. A woman’s
committee might decorate the town tree, or perhaps they would let all the
children from the local school do it. Most ornaments were simple: shapes cut
from tin or paper, nuts painted in pretty colors, pretty ribbons, strings of
berries, gingerbread cookies threaded on a string, dried apple rings with a loop
of yarn through them, etc. If you had the right little holders for them, you
might put lighted candles on your Christmas tree (please don’t try that at
home!) the way Germans traditionally did.
Presents were often useful items, such as new gloves, a hat, or socks. Children
might receive a handmade or store-bought toy or book. Harmonicas were a popular
gift for young and old alike. So were exotic fruits like oranges. Shipped to the
west on trains, they were too expensive to be anything but a special treat for
most frontier families. Santa Claus was popular among frontier children, and he
was especially fond of bringing them oranges, whistles, candy sticks, and pocket
knives.
Candy was a popular gift, just as it is now. We have records of German
immigrants decorating Christmas trees with candy canes, though they would have
been plain white—the red stripes didn’t get added until around 1900, along with
the peppermint flavor. But peppermint sticks existed in the Old West and were
cheap enough even poor families could usually afford them.
If you lived close enough to a town that had a church, or at least a minister,
you would attend a church service on Christmas Day. If you didn’t, the head of
the family would read the Christmas story from Luke in the Bible. But most
people didn’t get the day off on Christmas—much of farm and ranch life revolved
around livestock, and they needed cared for just as much on Christmas as any
other day. Still, eating a big meal for supper, exchanging gifts, and maybe
singing some carols would make the day festive, regardless.
Many of our beloved Christmas songs date back to long before the 1860s. Silent
Night was composed in 1818. Hark, the Herald Angels Sing is even older; it was
written in 1739, though the tune we sing today was written in 1840. And Joy to
the World dates back to 1719!
Soldiers stationed at frontier outposts would enjoy Christmas too, even putting
up Christmas trees and enjoying a holiday feast. The American Indians on
reservations learned that celebrating Christmas meant they might be allowed to
visit family members they didn’t see often. Whether they had converted to
Christianity or were still practicing their traditional religions, native
peoples often celebrated Christmas by combining their own dances and
celebrations with the festivities introduced by Europeans.
Christmas on the frontier would look pretty familiar to our modern eyes, only a
bit simpler and quieter. But it was still a time to spread joy to those around
you, just as it is today.