A Colonial Christmastide

Greetings, everyone! And Happy Christmastide!

It's interesting-- I've heard that expression a lot over the past couple days here in Colonial Williamsburg.  Apparently, back then and not unlike today, Christmas was a super busy and exciting time.  People threw balls and parties and more balls and more parties.  People would get married during the season, as they figured "well, everyone's already here for Christmas... might as well take advantage of the family visiting and have a wedding!" ...which brought more parties and even more balls.  And here's where the Christmastide comes in.  Not only did the people in colonial virginia celebrate Christmas, but they celebrated all twelve days of it.  (Yes, that's where we get the song! (; ) For these people, the holidays started with Christmas and continued ended with December 5th, the official end of the church season.  So that's just a little mini history lesson from one of the many things I learned while here in the historic part of town.

It's so pretty-- they have candles in almost every window and they have the most exquisite natural wreaths and pine garland hanging everywhere.

And yes, all of that fruit/greenery on that wreath is real.  It's so creative-- and it makes me wonder what else they did for decoration back in the 1700's.

In exploring the historic area, we stopped at a number sites that had all been restored to the way they would look if it were still the 1700's.  Some of these places included the old courthouse (there was a mock trial participatory program in there-- the actors dressed as people of the period carried out cases that would not have been uncommon in that time.)  My dad volunteered to be one of the nine Justices of the Peace!

Courthouse from afar

Approaching courthouse still from back

Hey look!  A religious bullhorn guy in the middle of the street! According to the tour guide dude below, back then, you could get seriously punished back then (or taken to a mental institution) if you preached anything non-Anglican.  Ha!

One of the many men in costume ushering us into the building

Inside the courthouse

The top row of seats:  Six of the nine Justices of the Peace (all volunteered average men, of course).  According to the knowledgeable actors, the elected justices of the peace did not have to have any education in law.  

This guy, however, the note taker, DOES have to know evarything about the law.  

Note taker guy reads the court cases to the main judge, who has taken his seat in the big chair

Where the jury and spectators sat

RIGHT outside the courthouse are the stockades and other various painful looking holding devices.  This was where one could go to get publicly humiliated and ridiculed!
Fun stuff.  

Pshh, I could stand like this for hours.

We also visited the Park Place of the town-- The Governor's Palace.  It was big and grand and beautifully decorated for the Christmastide.  We took an inside tour later on in the week, but I'm afraid I didn't get any pictures of the interior.

The maze in the palace gardens

The maze looks so ominous compared to Boo!

Inside the palace was wide open and extravagant—I learned a bit more about what really makes a statement of wealth in terms of house decorating.  For example—did you know, that wall to wall carpeting was a major luxury?  This is mostly because carpet was expensive to make, and when it was made, it was made in somewhat small strips at a time, then hand-sewn together.  Another interesting thing I learned during the palace tour was that children of the palace rarely ever spent time downstairs, as it was more of a business and social atmosphere, not for children.  Instead of being with their parents, they would be “above stairs” (as they love to say) with their various tutors and teachers, learning things like Latin,Greek, French (the diplomatic language back then, so I’m told...therefore it was a rather important thing to learn) history, proper etiquette, dancing, and Arithmetic.  Outside the palace were gorgeous gardens, in addition to a shrub maze!  Boo and Bubby had a blast in that thing.  I’ve been through it before, and it’s kind of scary some times, like you’re in a labyrinth with no place to turn… Maybe I’m just secretly scared of feeling/getting lost.

We also visited the Capitol building. While it’s not an original building, we know that it is accurately restored due to the saved construction plans and property layout, as well as various inventories.  The Capitol is where the highest court in VA was held, and is home to several rooms that were occupied by delegates from all over the country to help form our Declaration of Independence.

We made short stops at places like the Publick Gaol (public jail), the Cooper (he makes buckets and barrels!)

At night (er, when it gets dark), they have these things called “illuminations” throughout the historic area.  Basically, the fife and drum ensemble (local kids from the area dressed as men of the colonial militia) marches down a certain part of the historic area, carrying lit torches and playing very patriotic music.  The goal of the “illumination”  is to illuminate the fronts of historical sites with fire, all while a voice on a loud speaker gives a semi-detailed history of the featured site.  Each brief history was followed by cannon/gun shots, aimed at the building being illuminated.  No actual ammunition was used—blank shots were fired just for show (and big bangs!) The buildings looked beautiful ablaze with nature’s light, and it was definitely photo-worthy. 

Tonight was rather special, though.  My family, along with a group of people, were standing around an outdoor fire waiting for the fife and drums, as well as the Palace Green illumination.  As we warmed ourselves, a lady was talking out loud to her friend.  “We should sing Christmas carols!” she had said.  The people standing in proximity to them had unsure faces. 

“I’d be fun!” her friend said.  More unsure faces.  “If we can think of a song to sing.. I’m game!” the woman said.  I thought they had a good idea.  So when they started singing Silent Night, I joined in with them, and urged my brother to do the same.  After the first verse, it was still just us three singing, and the woman looked a little sad.

“Aww, no one is singing with us,” she pouted.  

“Just keep singing.  People’ll join in eventually,” I offered.  So we did.  The surrounding children all started singing when we did a verse of “Jingle Bells” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”.  Before we knew it, we had a crowd start to gather around.  Normally, I’m not a one to sing for crowds, but I’ll admit.  It was fun stepping a bit out of my comfort zone and leading a bunch of strangers in all 12 items in the “Twelve Days of Christmas”.  More people came, we sang more carols.  “Deck the Halls”, “O Come All Ye Faithful”, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”… It was great.  There were also obviously some musically inclined people in the rather large huddle around the fire, because we heard some gorgeous harmonies amongst the plain but strong melody.  It was great.  After a while, I figured I’d record some of what we were singing.  I got a sound recording of “O Holy Night” and “Away In a Manger”, though by the second verse of that, you could hear the fife and drums start, and people started to stray/stop/die out.  But it was great while it lasted, and kind of restored my faith in people again.  People sang songs (hymns, basically) willingly, the lyrics of each song etched in their hearts.  At least for me, that is.  They’re lyrics I’ve grown up with all my life, and it was such a great feeling to stand around in the cold with people who shared that.  Sure, it wasn’t the best choral sound ever heard… but it was special and whole and warm in its own way.  Something I won’t forget, that’s for sure.  I guess it just reminded me of the reason for the season, you know?  You’re gathered with a bunch of strangers, but you end up having that one common link… and use it to make something wonderful.  All in the spirit of Christmas. 

It was a good trip, overall.  I did complain about the cold a fair number of times… though one day we were there, it was like 50 degrees… so…. I guess I wasn’t complaining that time.   If you’re ever near that part of Virginia (there’s a Busch Gardens there, too—I swear, Williamsburg’s got everything) you should definitely check it out, no matter what time of the year it is.  You learn a LOT and it’s really engaging. 

Here’s to a “happy Christmastide” and a happy New Year! (;

xoxo