Prost! Early German Christmas Celebrations in Texas
The folklore of Texas is weaved together by the many cultures and customs that have imprinted themselves on the land over time. Generations have come and gone, passing on traditions that have survived through the strength and remembrance of common bonds. The earliest German settlers to arrive in Texas left their mother country due to a variety of hardships. They came seeking economic opportunities, political freedom, and the chance at a new life. They brought with them not only their possessions — baggage and belongings — but their culture — customs, traditions, and songs. Christmas, of course, is one such tradition that has become practically inseparable from popular culture. Although it has steadily become more commercialized over the last several generations, the cultural roots of the holiday, especially as celebrated by nineteenth-century German immigrants in Texas, run deep.
Between 1844 and 1847, over 7,000 Germans immigrated to Texas. The journey was a difficult one, with many suffering through disease and discomfort to make their way to Texas, only to arrive at an inhospitable frontier land, devoid of the comforts of their former lives in Europe.[1] The holidays were especially difficult and lonely, as memories of what the first German immigrants had left behind clashed with their current grim reality, camped on the shores of Texas at Indianola in the winter of 1844. While Prince Solms Braunfels tried to console his countrymen by seeing to their comfort, many despaired, living in tents and crude wooden shacks that were far from the “civilized” accommodations of their homeland. The Germans endured these conditions for several months before they were able to begin the slow march inland to the settlement of New Braunfels.[2]
Immigrant Hermann Seele, in his diary, speaks of his loneliness and the sadness of missing his home after arriving in Galveston on December 12, 1843, specifically mentioning its Christmas celebrations:
“Sunday, December 24th, 1843. When I sat down at noontime to a good meal, oh, I thought how the church at home must look, how the children in all the houses are solemnly stepping up to the glittering Christmas trees, and how they are thinking about me at home! I wish I could be with them only for an hour, I am so alone here.”[3]
Every year we take part in traditions that we may take for granted, perhaps unaware of their history and how they came to be intertwined into our culture. The Christmas tree Seele pines for [pun intended!] is one example. The Tannenbaum has its roots in Germany and is mentioned in the autobiography of Ottilie Fuchs Goeth, wife of the prominent rancher and legislator Carl Goeth, who settled in northern Blanco County near the border with Burnet County. In her memoir, Ottilie recounts her first Christmas in Texas, when her family improvised to create a sense of their former lives back home:
“Somehow our first Christmas in Texas seemed a little meager in comparison to our German Christmas celebration with its fragrant fir tree, always decorated with so much loving care by our good parents for us seven children. At Cat Springs, Texas, father had nailed a large cedar limb to a stump. There were only three cedar trees in the vicinity. Homemade yellow wax candles and small molasses cookie figures, baked by my two older sisters, that was the entire decoration. This must have pained my dear mother considerably, although despite her physical frailness she was a very courageous woman.”[4]
Other Christmas staples also have German origins. The custom of Santa Claus and its history began with St. Nicholas, the patron saint of children, students, teachers, and merchants. After Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation, Germany introduced der Weihnachtsmann (Father Christmas), the idea for which spread across the Atlantic, morphing into the familiar Kris Kringle.[5]
Caroling is another Christmas ritual practiced by German Texan immigrants. Beginning in 1850, groups like the Gesangverein Germania (German Singing Society) in New Braunfels were becoming very popular.[6] Almost every German community had its own singing society or club, and it was a common occurrence at Christmas to hear the words “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht” (“Silent Night, Holy Night”) sung to the familiar melody of a well-known song. This popular carol was composed in Austria in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber and Joseph Mohr, and it was honored in 2011 by UNESCO as an “intangible cultural heritage.”[7]
Gift-giving is one of the most visible parts of the modern Christmas experience, and it too was a part of the early-Texas German Christmas celebrations. In December 1849, Hermann Seele was in New Braunfels visiting Louis C. Ervendberg, who organized the German orphan asylum. He was greeted warmly by his host and the many children living on the farm. In his diary, he describes how hand-made gifts were made and exchanged on the last night before Christmas:
“There was much to tell about the making of the Christmas presents, and how everything had been kept secret. For eight weeks the girls had all sewed on the clothes for the boys, and knitted socks, and still they had to work up to the very last night.”[8]
Our traditions represent links to our history. From Christmas trees to singing songs, giving gifts, and the simple act of taking time away from work to gather with our loved ones, some of today’s holiday celebrations trace their way back to early German immigrants in Texas and the lasting mark they left on their adopted homeland.
[1] Handbook of Texas Online, Terry G. Jordan, “Germans,” accessed December 06, 2018, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/png02. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Modified on March 7, 2016. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
[2] Moritz Tiling, History of the German Element in Texas, From 1820–1850, Houston, TX: self-published, 1913, p. 76.
[3] Hermann Seele, The Diary of Hermann Seele and Seele’s Sketches from Texas, Austin, TX: German-Texan Heritage Society, 1995, p. 84.
[4] Ottilie Goeth, née Fuchs, Memoirs of a Texas Pioneer Grandmother (was Grossmutter Erzählt) 1805–1915, Austin, TX: 1969. Revised and reformatted by Kenneth W. Fuchs, 2010, p. 6, accessed July 20, 2018, http://www.kenfuchs42.net/kfww/Ottilie%20Fuchs%20Goeth%20-%20Memoirs%20of%20a%20Texas%20Pioneer%20Grandmother.pdf.
[5] “The Historic, Real St. Nicholas,” The German Way & More, accessed July 20, 2018, https://www.german-way.com/history-and-culture/holidays-and-celebrations/christmas/saint-nicholas/.
[6] Handbook of Texas Online, Georgia Ruiz Davis, “German Singing Societies,” accessed July 25, 2018, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/xag01. Uploaded on June 30, 2014. Modified on November 2, 2015. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
[7] Stille Nacht Gesellschaft, “Origin of the Song,” accessed December 6, 2018, http://www.stillenacht.at/en/origin_song.asp; “’Silent Night! — The Christmas Carol’ on the National List of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage,” accessed December 6, 2018, http://www.stillenacht.at/en/news-details.asp?id=93.
[8] Texas State Historical Association, The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 44, July 1940 — April, 1941, Austin, TX, accessed July 27, 2018, texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146052/m1/412/. University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.
