Holiday Traditions
Don’s Diatribes-Holiday Traditions
As Christmas approaches this year, I find myself embracing holiday traditions more this year than in years past. It could be simply that I am getting older. Or it could be I have children in college across the country and they are returning to the nest for a holiday break. Perhaps it is because I will be a grandfather soon. Regardless the reason, it has provided me an opportunity to reflect on the many Christmas traditions that I have experienced around the world. Many of the traditions we have here in America and global. Christmas Trees, mistletoe, candy canes, Christmas lights, midnight mass, advent calendars, and the movie Die Hard. Yes, even the Movie Die Hard is considered a Christmas Tradition in other parts of the World.
But my travels around the world have also made me realize that there are some traditions that are uniquely American. What comes to mind for me is Eggnog and Rudolph.
I grew up, like many Americans with a parent who had a “secret family recipe” that would be broken out for a holiday party every December. Even George Washington is noted for having his own Eggnog recipe. Drinking egg yolks is an American tradition that people from other parts of the world just don’t understand. American’s didn’t actually invent the concoction. Eggnog has its roots in posset, a punch with ale, raw eggs, and figs. British monks served it warm and drank posset all the way back in the 13th century. It crossed over to America, where it was renamed eggnog. Its first known use dates back to 1775, according to Merriam Webster. Eggnog consists of egg yolks beaten with sugar, milk, and/or cream and your choice of alcohol. Rum, whiskey, and sherry are all acceptable options. My father always used Rum. We had good friends when we lived in Germany that were completely bewildered by the idea of drinking eggs as appetizing, let alone when mixed with rum.
In Germany, their traditional beverage over Christmas is Glühwein. Every December the Christmas markets go up in Germany and people come together to drink Glühwein which translates to “glow wine”. In the United Kingdom, Italy and other parts of Europe it is known as mulled wine. The Romans invented mulled wine to save any extra wine they had that was going bad. They would add honey and spices to make it taste better. As they travelled across Europe, mulled wine was spread across the countries. In the Middle Ages the wine became popular and was even thought to be very healthy because of all the spices.
In Germany the typical recipe for Glühwein is red wine, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and an orange. Interestingly, just like American’s will add rum to their Eggnog, Some Germans add a shot to their Glühwein. There is even a children’s version of Glühwein called Kinder punch. In my family it seems the Eggnog tradition will be replaced by Glühwein. My wife enjoys a cup every night. What make Glühwein a little extra special is the cute mugs that it is often put in.
Another uniquely American Tradition around Christmas is Rudolph and A Charlie Brown Christmas. Rudolph, in particular, is truly an American Christmas Story. The rest of the world has certainly heard of Rudolph, after all, he is “the most famous reindeer of all”. Yet the idea of nine reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh is rarely seen outside of the United States. Rudolph was the creation of Robert L. May, a copywriter at the Montgomery Ward department store.
In 1939, May wrote a Christmas-themed story-poem to help bring holiday traffic into his store. Using a similar rhyme pattern to Moore’s “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” May told the story of Rudolph, a young reindeer who was teased by the other deer because of his large, glowing, red nose. But, When Christmas Eve turned foggy and Santa worried that he wouldn’t be able to deliver gifts that night, the former outcast saved Christmas by leading the sleigh by the light of his red nose. Rudolph’s message — that given the opportunity, a liability can be turned into an asset — proved popular.
Montgomery Ward sold almost two and a half million copies of the story in 1939. A decade later, one of May’s friends wrote the famous song and Gene Autry recorded it. Shortly after the song, the story of Rudolph was made into a television movie, narrated by Burl Ives, which has charmed audiences every year since. While it is translated into multiple languages, I think Rudolph is uniquely an American tradition.
Holiday traditions even stretch into the New Year. In fact, I am reminded of a German New Year’s Eve tradition involves sitting down at the television and viewing a classic British sketch, ‘Dinner for One’. This comedy sketch, which first appeared on German television in 1963, went on to become the most frequently repeated TV program ever according to the Guinness Book of World Records having aired annually in Germany since 1972. But we can save that story for another diatribe…
Merry Christmas
Don MacCuish
Photo by Mourad Saadi on Unsplash
Originally published at https://medium.com on January 15, 2022.
