10 most beloved Christmas traditions in America and their origins
Watching holiday movies is a beloved American Christmas tradition — Photo courtesy of skynesher / E+
Have you ever wondered why we hang stockings or decorate evergreens every December to celebrate Christmas? We take a closer look at these yuletide activities to uncover their origin stories. From traditional to the ultra quirky, here’s how Americans celebrate the holidays and why.
Seeing Santa Claus
Santa Claus always knows if you’re naughty or nice — Photo courtesy of SeventyFour / iStock Via Getty Images
Like many American holiday traditions, the gift-bearing legend of Santa was brought here by immigrants. Our Santa is a hybrid of the Green Saint Nicholas, England’s Father Christmas, and the Dutch Sinterklaas. In the U.S., many children visit Santa for photos and to tell them their Christmas wishes, and then they patiently (or not) wait for the big day to arrive on December 25 to see if their wishes come true.
Many families have long held the tradition of setting out cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas Eve. The origins aren’t entirely known, but like Santa himself, it could be a blend of traditions adopted from other countries or a marketing ploy by the dairy industry. Either way, it’s one way kids can show their appreciation for the big man in the red suit making his rounds in one magical night.
Decorating the Christmas tree
Christmas trees light up the season — Photo courtesy of rappensuncle / iStock Via Getty Images
Decorating evergreen trees with lights and ornaments dates back to the medieval tradition of staging plays on Christmas Eve to tell the story of Adam and Eve, which often featured a “tree of paradise” decorated with apples. In the U.S., the annual Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting in New York City is broadcast live on television; it’s practically a holiday all its own. The National Christmas Tree Lighting on the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, D.C., is another crowd-pleaser.
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which calls itself Christmas City USA and boasts an award-winning holiday market, claims to have raised the first decorated Christmas tree in 1747. It’s just one of the thousands of communities that host annual tree-lighting ceremonies. You don’t need a tree: In Chandler, Arizona, where trees are scarce, hundreds of painted tumbleweeds serve as the town’s Christmas tree.
Most Americans buy cut Fraser fir, Balsam fir, or white spruce trees from temporary tree lots or local farms to grace their living rooms. The U.S. Department of Agriculture even offers permits for those who want to venture into their nearby National Forest and cut their Christmas tree.
Attending church on Christmas Eve or Day
Christmas Eve services are a popular Christmas tradition — Photo courtesy of PoppyPixels / iStock Via Getty Images
Amid all the Santa decorations, it can be easy to forget that Christmas is primarily a celebration of the birth of Jesus. For many Americans, attending Christmas mass is a joyous part of the holiday. Christmas Eve mass is especially popular among those with young families because it frees up Christmas Day for gift-giving and celebratory gatherings.
Catholics often tune into the broadcast of the midnight mass held on Christmas Eve at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York to mark the holiday.
Gathering for a traditional Christmas dinner
Turkey or ham are often the centerpiece of any Christmas feast — Photo courtesy of LauriPatterson / Getty Images
Roast turkey rules the roost at Christmastime, just like Thanksgiving. In the U.S., it’s the most common entree for dinner on both holidays. Holiday turkey dinners date back to the earliest days of the European colonies in America when the native birds were both large and plentiful — perfect for a big meal.
Prime rib is another traditionally popular dish, often served with sides like roast potatoes and winter vegetables. In the South, you might see a country ham on the Christmas table.
Like the U.S. melting pot, the Christmas feast features many culturally significant dishes. Many Italian Americans, for example, still observe the Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve, a marathon seven-course seafood meal that originated when most Christians abstained from eating meat during the Advent season.
You might see bibingka, a doughy coconut rice-flour cake, in Filipino households, tamales on Mexican-American tables, or roast duck at Chinese Christmas gatherings.
Eggnog, an alcohol-spiked milk punch, is the drink most commonly associated with Christmas. Coquito, a Latin-flavored cousin originating in Puerto Rico, is made with coconut milk and rum. For festive desserts, sweets range from mountains of cookies to holiday-flavored ice cream.
Hanging Christmas stockings
These stockings are pure poetry — Photo courtesy of Serhii Sobolevskyi / iStock Via Getty Images
Both the modern conception of a reindeer-towed Santa Claus and the American tradition of hanging stockings “by the chimney with care” have their origins in early 19th-century literature, specifically the poem written by Clement Clark Moore in 1823 that later became known as “The Night Before Christmas.”
For two centuries, stockings (first actual ones, now ornate replicas) have been receptacles for small gifts or candy, while the bigger Christmas swag can be found under the tree.
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Watching Christmas movies
“It’s a Wonderful Life” is one of the most beloved Christmas movies ever — Photo courtesy of National Telefilm Associates
There’s a canon of Christmas movies that is nearly as sacred to Americans as the holiday itself. Afforded some precious downtime during the holidays, gathering around the warm glow of the TV to watch movies together is a solid tradition, although the choice of film may vary.
For some, it might be classics like 1947’s “Miracle on 34th Street” or the quintessentially American parable “It’s a Wonderful Life,” starring Jimmy Stewart. For others, any version of Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” is a must-watch, including the wickedly funny Bill Murray ’80s comedy “Scrooged.” Charming new classics like “Elf,” starring Will Ferrell, can’t be seen enough during the holiday season.
To some, Christmas movies are in the eye of the beholder. The 1983 comedy, “Trading Places,” spans the entire holiday season; another more modern take on a holiday story is the Brit-produced “Love Actually.” Perhaps most bafflingly endearing of all is the tradition of watching “Die Hard,” the endlessly quotable Bruce Willis action film set around an office party in a high-rise hotel building. (“Now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho.”)
Seeing Christmas light displays
Lights keep the holidays bright and cheery — Photo courtesy of vasiliki / iStock Via Getty Images
Christians view Jesus as “the light of the world,” and the anniversary of his birth was heralded by lighting candles long before the invention of electric lights. Edward Johnson, a friend of Thomas Edison, was credited with creating the first string of Christmas lights in 1882, and Americans have been using colored lights to decorate their homes ever since.
Large-scale holiday displays have also become a tradition, including the annual lakeside Holiday Festival of Lights in Charlestown, South Carolina, Lightscape at the San Diego Botanic Garden, and the Celebration in the Oaks in New Orleans’ City Park.
Coastal cities like Key West, Florida, and Annapolis, Maryland, celebrate the season with lighted boat parades, while New Mexico communities like Taos, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque host holiday evening strolls on pathways lined with candle-filled luminarias or farolitos.
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Hiding the Christmas pickle
The Christmas pickle ornament is one of America’s more endearing traditions — Photo courtesy of lug1 / iStock Via Getty Images
Some German-American families hide a pickle in their Christmas tree. The person who finds it earns the right to open the first gift under a tradition known as Weihnachtsgurke (literally, “Christmas Eve Cucumber”). This tradition, based on a fictitious German tradition but originated in America, proves that ours is a land of good storytelling.
Christmas pickle sales are at an all-time high, even in Germany, where no one had heard of the tradition until German-Americans shared the story with their brethren. Now, you can find pickle ornaments just about anywhere during the holidays.
Welcoming the Elf on the Shelf
This hide-and-seek game is among the quirkiest of Christmas traditions — Photo courtesy of Michael Clevenger / Courier Journal
What started as a children’s picture book about Santa’s watchful elves who visit homes from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve to find out who is naughty or nice is now a movement with toys, Netflix specials, and one hilarious riff featuring Snoop Dogg.
The Christmas tradition started in 2005 with the publication of “Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition” by Carol Aebersold and her twin daughters, Chanda Bell and Christa Pitts. The book features a Scout Elf who flies back to the North Pole every night to report to Santa and then returns to a new spot for children to discover the following day.
The elves find themselves in over-the-top situations, from dangling from light fixtures to making footprints on the table or mischievously snacking in the kitchen. The rules: Children can’t touch the elf, or it will lose its magic; the elf doesn’t speak or move when kids are awake; and it’s all about having fun and keeping the joy of Christmas alive for just a few more years.
Celebrating regional Christmas traditions
Hang ten with Surfing Santas in Cocoa Beach, Florida — Photo courtesy of Surfing Santas
No two Christmas celebrations are exactly alike, and the American melting pot proves that with quirky regional and cultural holiday traditions.
In New Britain, Connecticut, the Little Poland celebration includes pierogis and kielbasa for the holiday meals. In Louisiana’s Cajun country, bonfires are lit atop levees on Christmas Eve to guide Papa Noel, while New Orleans celebrates with an annual parade by the Krewe of Jingle.
Pub crawls with revelers dressed in ugly sweaters or as Santa Claus are a more recent invention in many U.S. cities. Some coastal cities, like Cocoa Beach, Florida, and Dana Beach, California, have Surfing Santas, where hundreds of bearded, red-coated surfers take to their boards to raise money for local charities.
