On this episode of America Stories, Jeff, Luke, and Jack discuss the origin of Christmas in the colonies and traditions in American celebration of the holiday. We talk about classic Christmas activities like dressing up as demons and doing some drunken late night caroling. The ban on Christmas, and how the modern railroad may have played a large part in spreading various cultural traditions and formed the eclectic mixture of customs we know today.
Join us as we discuss parties, food, drink and even a poem that encapsulates the heartfelt, somber, yet hopeful time of year. We even ask the question. "How does Jesus fit into all of this?" We may not have an answer but we certainly ask.
So grab a sugar cookie and sip some hot cocoa because it's time for a Christmas episode of America Stories!
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[01:00.800 --> 01:06.800] What's she gonna do, brother? When Jeff Townsend Media runs wild on you.
[01:06.800 --> 01:09.800] America, stories.
[01:09.800 --> 01:30.800] All right, all right, all right. This is another episode of America's Stories.
[01:30.800 --> 01:34.800] I'm Jeff, they're Luke and Jack. He has the C capitalize than his name.
[01:34.800 --> 01:36.800] Yeah, like you.
[01:36.800 --> 01:43.800] Yeah, every week, like I say, he thinks it's really cute to modify his name in different ways, so today it's that way.
[01:43.800 --> 01:53.800] Anyway, so yeah, welcome to America's Stories, the podcast where we cover American history in a light, fun, hearted, yet educational manner.
[01:53.800 --> 01:56.800] And speaking of which, so we've been going along the timeline here.
[01:56.800 --> 02:04.800] We talked about the DMI the last couple weeks, the deck of the deck of indie independence.
[02:04.800 --> 02:15.800] Thought that sounded cool, but since the holiday season is approaching us and Luke is the ever-loving Christmas, he is not the humbug.
[02:15.800 --> 02:17.800] He loves Christmas.
[02:17.800 --> 02:29.800] So he has done some research here. We're going to talk about, I guess, really like Christmas history for like a pretty lengthy, like going way back in American history, correct?
[02:29.800 --> 02:38.800] Yeah, this is going to be Christmas history from the founding colonies up until 1870.
[02:39.800 --> 02:41.800] It's a true that there was purging then.
[02:41.800 --> 02:46.800] Kind of. Actually, some of the old Christmas traditions are pretty weird.
[02:46.800 --> 02:48.800] I'm looking forward to going over this.
[02:48.800 --> 02:52.800] See, my classifies something that could all be done during the annual purge. That's all you're saying.
[02:52.800 --> 02:56.800] Yeah, it's almost that level. It's almost that level.
[02:56.800 --> 03:00.800] Wow, I don't know if it's quite that extreme.
[03:00.800 --> 03:04.800] Yeah, that might be a little stretch. So you're going to kick us off here.
[03:04.800 --> 03:07.800] We're going to go into some Christmas as it relates to American history.
[03:07.800 --> 03:16.800] All right. So the first settlers in Jamestown, that first year in Indiana, like Jamestown, Virginia.
[03:16.800 --> 03:20.800] Oh, okay. Jamestown in Indiana is not too far, I guess. No, it's not.
[03:20.800 --> 03:34.800] So in 1603, they were still having hard times getting set up with the new colony, but they still observed Christmas as a day of rest in Jamestown.
[03:34.800 --> 03:40.800] So in 1603, or all the way back then, it was still kind of celebrated.
[03:40.800 --> 03:45.800] This was extremely different from what happened in Plymouth, though.
[03:45.800 --> 03:50.800] Plymouth, Massachusetts, when it was founded, was founded by the Puritans.
[03:50.800 --> 03:53.800] And the Puritans are pure. Yeah, very pure.
[03:53.800 --> 03:58.800] And they're very pure. They're staunchly against anything that the Church of England was up to.
[03:58.800 --> 04:01.800] And especially Christmas.
[04:01.800 --> 04:08.800] The Puritans hated Christmas. Kind of a real, like, Grinch on top of the mountain type thing.
[04:08.800 --> 04:11.800] It is. It's not fun to have that.
[04:11.800 --> 04:22.800] They decided that new arrivals to the Plymouth colony that didn't come with them originally, they would give the one year to get Christmas out of their system.
[04:22.800 --> 04:27.800] But then the next year, you had to fall in line with how does one eat Christmas out of their system?
[04:27.800 --> 04:33.800] You're allowed to celebrate your home that one year. You cannot do it outside.
[04:33.800 --> 04:39.800] And if they catch you outside playing any Christmas games or observing the traditions, you'll be fined.
[04:39.800 --> 04:41.800] Is this like death or?
[04:41.800 --> 04:47.800] Not death, per se, but it was definitely a staunch find for the time.
[04:47.800 --> 04:50.800] We'll write you a letter. It will be very angry.
[04:50.800 --> 05:01.800] I mean, yeah, I guess it is a good question. I wonder how I feel like rebelled against it or just like, I'm doing it anyway, so I'm taking the find.
[05:01.800 --> 05:11.800] So early on, before a certain thing happens, it was technically you could probably get away with it and you wouldn't be in too big of trouble.
[05:11.800 --> 05:19.800] But in the 1640s, the Church of England and the monarch was overthrown by the Puritans in England for a time.
[05:19.800 --> 05:27.800] And when that happened, the Puritans flat out outlawed Christmas, outlawed it in England, and they outlawed it here.
[05:27.800 --> 05:34.800] They're not violent people. I mean, how do you overthrow something? Those words? They were words. They were violent enough.
[05:34.800 --> 05:38.800] Yeah, they were violent. They were violent. Just threatened violence.
[05:38.800 --> 05:47.800] They were through a whole religion. They were violent enough to depose the monarch and they're playing on cutting his head off.
[05:48.800 --> 05:52.800] All right. They were not shocking. They were not very Christmassy people.
[05:52.800 --> 06:00.800] Maybe it was kind of like the Puritans. I don't know. It was the Civil War in England.
[06:00.800 --> 06:09.800] The Massachusetts government and the other New England colonies that were founded in those 20 or so years, they all outlawed Christmas.
[06:09.800 --> 06:14.800] Now, the southern colonies of Virginia on downwards, they did not.
[06:14.800 --> 06:21.800] They didn't outlaw and they still maintained Christmas traditions that were imported from Europe.
[06:21.800 --> 06:30.800] Even all the way back then, the Germans would do Christmas trees. They were the only ones, though, to do it for many, many years, roughly 200 years.
[06:30.800 --> 06:37.800] Now, why were they against the Christmas traditions? What were the Christmas traditions?
[06:37.800 --> 06:40.800] I just have some deeper meaning that's to get against, right?
[06:40.800 --> 06:59.800] There were a lot of traditions that they felt were too pagan because Christmas was co-opted by the Roman Catholic Church in 400 AD from the celebration of Saturnalia that they were celebrating Rome by the pagans.
[07:00.800 --> 07:04.800] This was then taken over by the Christian Church then.
[07:04.800 --> 07:09.800] Some pagan stuff has always been part of Christmas.
[07:09.800 --> 07:14.800] Still today, the tree itself is a pagan symbol. A little pagan tree?
[07:14.800 --> 07:16.800] A little pagan tree.
[07:16.800 --> 07:19.800] I mean, a little tree didn't hurt nobody.
[07:19.800 --> 07:22.800] It just starts with a tree, Jack. It just starts with a tree.
[07:22.800 --> 07:25.800] It starts with a tree, okay. It's like a slippery slope.
[07:25.800 --> 07:33.800] There were two major things that they disagreed with, and that was the traditions of wasling and mummying.
[07:33.800 --> 07:35.800] What?
[07:35.800 --> 07:40.800] Mummying, as in the word mummy, but it's of a Y, it's I and G.
[07:40.800 --> 07:48.800] Well, wasling, that goes back to what the druidic people would do in England.
[07:48.800 --> 08:00.800] They would have their apple orchards, and they would make hard ciders, and they would get drunk on them, and they would sing songs to entreat the spirits to protect their orchards.
[08:00.800 --> 08:07.800] They would go out, and they would pour cider and beer all over the roots to ensure a good harvest next year.
[08:07.800 --> 08:17.800] It slowly merged with Christmas celebrations, and they would then go and sing through the town, getting drunk, getting into fights.
[08:17.800 --> 08:21.800] That's like a more extreme version of caroling, I guess.
[08:21.800 --> 08:22.800] Yeah.
[08:22.800 --> 08:28.800] To properly wassel, though, you had to have a bowl of the drink wassel.
[08:28.800 --> 08:32.800] Now, the words are the same, but they have two different meanings.
[08:32.800 --> 08:36.800] Wasling the act means, you know, in good health.
[08:36.800 --> 08:39.800] It's like to hosting someone's good health.
[08:40.800 --> 08:51.800] Wasling the, wassel, the drink is a corruption of the word lambs wool, because it was made from warm beer and apple sauce and toast.
[08:51.800 --> 08:57.800] It would look like the wool of a lamb laying on top of the drink, and you would drink that down.
[08:57.800 --> 09:00.800] It doesn't sound, doesn't sound very appetizing.
[09:00.800 --> 09:01.800] I don't, I don't like that.
[09:01.800 --> 09:08.800] I had a little layer with my, anyway, so wasling made its way over into the English,
[09:08.800 --> 09:12.800] the colonies, and what does it mean when somebody has to be wassel?
[09:12.800 --> 09:14.800] That's a, that's a different story for a different time.
[09:14.800 --> 09:22.800] Well, if you wasseled somebody, you would go to their house, you would knock on the door, and you would, you know, start drinking and singing in front of their house,
[09:22.800 --> 09:28.800] and they had to give you food and drink, or else you would cause some sort of mischief.
[09:28.800 --> 09:29.800] You could purge them.
[09:29.800 --> 09:31.800] Close. You could wreck something.
[09:32.800 --> 09:37.800] What I'm talking about, momming is also like even crazier form of that though.
[09:37.800 --> 09:38.800] Okay.
[09:38.800 --> 09:42.800] So, momming is like how we would look at trick or treating today.
[09:42.800 --> 09:46.800] You would get dressed up and the things people dressed up were ghosts or demons.
[09:46.800 --> 09:52.800] There was a horse head demon in Welsh mythology that they would bring to your door.
[09:52.800 --> 09:54.800] A horse, an actual one?
[09:54.800 --> 10:00.800] Well, they used an actual horse skull, but it was like a demon that they created to do.
[10:00.800 --> 10:02.800] And I can't remember the name of that one right now.
[10:02.800 --> 10:05.800] They also dressed up in opposite genders.
[10:05.800 --> 10:07.800] This was a big thing then too.
[10:07.800 --> 10:09.800] That was considered super taboo.
[10:09.800 --> 10:14.800] So like the men would dress as women, women would dress as men, and then they'd also demons and stuff.
[10:14.800 --> 10:20.800] And then they would come out to your door, and they would demand food and drink, or else they would curse you.
[10:20.800 --> 10:28.800] Or technically they said they would bless them if they gave it, but the implication was if you didn't give food and drink, you would be cursed by evil spirits.
[10:28.800 --> 10:29.800] So this is like a game though, right?
[10:29.800 --> 10:39.800] I mean, by the 1600s, it's definitely a game, but when it started out, it was definitely a belief, a religious belief for the Druids.
[10:39.800 --> 10:42.800] Well, I'm wondering though, I just think it's myself.
[10:42.800 --> 10:45.800] Would I want like a roving band of drunk people?
[10:45.800 --> 10:46.800] Gwosling.
[10:46.800 --> 10:47.800] Gwosling.
[10:47.800 --> 10:52.800] You know, I don't know, dressed up as their full of adults.
[10:52.800 --> 10:53.800] You know, I was not like, yeah.
[10:53.800 --> 10:54.800] Raising hell.
[10:54.800 --> 10:55.800] Raising hell.
[10:55.800 --> 11:00.800] That's exactly my picture of an ideal Christmas moment, I guess.
[11:00.800 --> 11:04.800] But it sounds like a lot of this stems from alcohol, like what they're trying to say.
[11:04.800 --> 11:06.800] Yeah, alcohol was definitely a big part.
[11:06.800 --> 11:10.800] Well, it's still kind of a big part of Christmas, but it was more so then.
[11:10.800 --> 11:14.800] So this was, you know, behind why the pair tends to outlaw it.
[11:14.800 --> 11:24.800] Because it was still celebrated elsewhere though, it did continually morph a little bit over time, drinking and, you know, basically ransacking the town.
[11:24.800 --> 11:26.800] And caroling.
[11:26.800 --> 11:31.800] That kind of went away a little bit and then became more about just having parties.
[11:31.800 --> 11:35.800] In fact, Christmas was also celebrated not for one day.
[11:35.800 --> 11:37.800] It was 12 days of celebration.
[11:37.800 --> 11:42.800] It starts on Christmas day and goes to January 6th, which is called 12th night.
[11:42.800 --> 11:46.800] Wait, so 12 days of Christmas started on the 25th?
[11:46.800 --> 11:51.800] Yes, it starts on the 25th, not 12 days before, and then it continues on.
[11:51.800 --> 11:57.800] The Puritans lost control of England after a short period of time.
[11:57.800 --> 11:59.800] It was about 20 years.
[11:59.800 --> 12:10.800] And then after that, slowly in the colonies, they also released their restrictions on Christmas by 1680.
[12:10.800 --> 12:17.800] But by that time, a good generation of people in the New England territories didn't celebrate Christmas.
[12:17.800 --> 12:21.800] So it didn't really catch on again there for many years.
[12:21.800 --> 12:24.800] Let me ask you the million dollar question for you to continue.
[12:24.800 --> 12:25.800] Yeah.
[12:25.800 --> 12:31.800] When did this not, when was this not about Jesus and when did this start coming, becoming about Jesus again?
[12:31.800 --> 12:35.800] Yeah, because like, we haven't got any of that so far.
[12:35.800 --> 12:40.800] I mean, your talk is, you're still, I mean, you're, we're talking BC times here.
[12:40.800 --> 12:46.800] Jesus, that was actually, that was actually a problem that the Puritans also had with it.
[12:46.800 --> 12:53.800] They said that the English church had moved away even more from Jesus than what they originally said they was about.
[12:53.800 --> 12:58.800] They also said that nowhere in the Bible does it say when Jesus was born.
[12:58.800 --> 13:05.800] So they were just like saying this is their interpretation that it was, they just, basically they knew that the church of England
[13:05.800 --> 13:13.800] and before then the Roman Catholic church had co-opted a holiday that they then declared as their own holiday.
[13:13.800 --> 13:20.800] And so they're kind of pointing out the hypocrisy of that is using a pagan holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
[13:20.800 --> 13:24.800] And so they wanted to sort of shine a light on that.
[13:24.800 --> 13:36.800] They're actually, in my opinion, they're wildly wrong in doing this though because like, it doesn't matter if you're, if the outcome works in your favor, right?
[13:36.800 --> 13:45.800] If more people listen to your preaching and go to your masses, which what the Roman Catholics did, they did three masses on Christmas.
[13:45.800 --> 13:48.800] And more people showed up for those any other time of year.
[13:48.800 --> 13:55.800] I feel like if you're getting people to listen to your religion, it doesn't matter if the day is a little bit wonky.
[13:55.800 --> 14:04.800] You know, I think their stance on that was a little bit of ridiculous, but, you know, calling up Puritans.
[14:04.800 --> 14:07.800] Three hundred years ago, I can't really say much, yeah.
[14:07.800 --> 14:16.800] So it took, like I said, some time before, it was still popular in the South, but not popular in the Massachusetts area for a long time.
[14:16.800 --> 14:21.800] Is it Massachusetts or is it what my grandma calls it, Massachusetts?
[14:21.800 --> 14:25.800] Well, they called that because of their Puritans.
[14:25.800 --> 14:26.800] Oh, okay.
[14:26.800 --> 14:27.800] Okay.
[14:27.800 --> 14:28.800] Sorry.
[14:28.800 --> 14:37.800] Slowly as the everything morph though, in early 1700s, the traditions started to be a little bit closer to what we have now.
[14:37.800 --> 14:38.800] It's still not quite.
[14:38.800 --> 14:44.800] They started giving gifts in the early 1700s of the two children and servants.
[14:44.800 --> 14:53.800] The gifts at the time were usually like either a small envelope of cash or a book such as the Bible, or if it's a young kid,
[14:53.800 --> 15:02.800] a horn book, which is like a paddle with a verse on it with sliver of horn laid over to keep it secure.
[15:02.800 --> 15:04.800] An older child would get like a rifle.
[15:04.800 --> 15:05.800] The rifle.
[15:05.800 --> 15:06.800] So that, I mean, okay.
[15:06.800 --> 15:09.800] So now we're getting into Christmas story, right?
[15:09.800 --> 15:11.800] Ralphie and the baby gun.
[15:11.800 --> 15:12.800] Yeah.
[15:12.800 --> 15:13.800] Very much.
[15:13.800 --> 15:15.800] But, you know, most they're already well.
[15:15.800 --> 15:16.800] But, okay.
[15:16.800 --> 15:21.800] So I'm a little confused about the horn book.
[15:22.800 --> 15:23.800] Why was it a paddle?
[15:23.800 --> 15:26.800] I mean, with no, I don't know.
[15:26.800 --> 15:27.800] It was a mixed message.
[15:27.800 --> 15:28.800] Yeah.
[15:28.800 --> 15:29.800] It is a base message.
[15:29.800 --> 15:39.800] It was easier for a kid to hold onto like a stick in their hand and they just keep it with them and walk around with it when they're studying it during the day of the day.
[15:39.800 --> 15:41.800] I always walk around when I study.
[15:41.800 --> 15:42.800] Yeah.
[15:42.800 --> 15:50.800] And because it was also covered, like the words were covered in that horn and the rest was a solid wood, they couldn't really break it.
[15:50.800 --> 15:51.800] Yeah.
[15:51.800 --> 15:52.800] So it was, so this is for like young kids.
[15:52.800 --> 15:53.800] Yeah.
[15:53.800 --> 15:55.800] This was for like four year olds.
[15:55.800 --> 15:56.800] Gotcha.
[15:56.800 --> 15:58.800] They can't read.
[15:58.800 --> 16:06.800] But the Quakers, they were also really against Christmas early on too.
[16:06.800 --> 16:10.800] And they controlled Philadelphia and those colonies.
[16:10.800 --> 16:14.800] But Benjamin Franklin, you know, coming from Philadelphia and stuff like that.
[16:15.800 --> 16:17.800] And in his, he had an almanac.
[16:17.800 --> 16:23.800] He wrote, which is the poor Richard's Almanac 1734 in the calendar section.
[16:23.800 --> 16:26.800] He put a little poem.
[16:26.800 --> 16:29.800] It was December 23rd, 29th.
[16:29.800 --> 16:35.800] If you would have guests, Mary with cheer, be yourself or at least appear.
[16:35.800 --> 16:41.800] He was like saying, yeah, if you're going to have a bunch of guests and they're having fun, try to have fun too.
[16:41.800 --> 16:49.800] Another one he put in later on is, oh, blessed season, loved by saints and sinners for long devotions or longer dinners.
[16:49.800 --> 16:53.800] He was really into the party and aspect of Christmas.
[16:53.800 --> 16:54.800] Yeah.
[16:54.800 --> 16:56.800] I was going to say, this is like, this is a trans-administered Franklin.
[16:56.800 --> 17:00.800] He was, he was not so much concerned with the religious aspect, just about anything.
[17:00.800 --> 17:05.800] As long as there was a party to be had, he was, he was, he was all about some party and some sex.
[17:05.800 --> 17:10.800] He was, he was, he was, yeah, Christmas was still very much local holidays.
[17:10.800 --> 17:18.800] Though you had your different enclaves of different European settlers celebrating their own versions of Christmas.
[17:18.800 --> 17:23.800] And it was not a national holiday, partly because it wasn't a nation at the time.
[17:23.800 --> 17:28.800] But even after we became a nation, they still didn't have a holiday for it.
[17:28.800 --> 17:37.800] In 1789, actually the Continental Congress had a day of work on, on December 25th.
[17:37.800 --> 17:39.800] They didn't even take the day off.
[17:39.800 --> 17:43.800] This was, you know, wildly different than this today.
[17:43.800 --> 17:46.800] You know, we see Christmases like this all-encompassy thing.
[17:46.800 --> 17:49.800] But back then, it really wasn't.
[17:49.800 --> 17:53.800] People celebrated it in parts of the country, but not everywhere.
[17:53.800 --> 17:58.800] And it's partly because of the differences that people had with how they celebrated.
[17:58.800 --> 18:01.800] The English traditions definitely didn't jive with some of the others.
[18:01.800 --> 18:04.800] The French traditions are like a little more severe.
[18:04.800 --> 18:11.800] And talk about the punishments of like not observing it properly and being solemn.
[18:11.800 --> 18:17.800] So like, you know, this was, this was not a real holiday because of how different everyone felt about it.
[18:17.800 --> 18:18.800] It's controversial.
[18:18.800 --> 18:19.800] It was, yeah.
[18:19.800 --> 18:24.800] I mean, I, I hate to, I hate to interrupt, but I got to tell you about something.
[18:24.800 --> 18:27.800] So I'm still, you look at a horn book.
[18:27.800 --> 18:28.800] I would have a horn book.
[18:28.800 --> 18:33.800] I'm still, I'm still curious about the horn books because, all right, all right.
[18:33.800 --> 18:34.800] All right.
[18:34.800 --> 18:35.800] Look, it's, it's perfect.
[18:35.800 --> 18:37.800] What do you think it looks like?
[18:37.800 --> 18:38.800] Exactly.
[18:38.800 --> 18:39.800] He described.
[18:39.800 --> 18:40.800] Yeah, it's it.
[18:40.800 --> 18:41.800] Yeah, you got it.
[18:41.800 --> 18:43.800] As he pulls out one, I got a horn book right here.
[18:43.800 --> 18:44.800] I got a horn book.
[18:44.800 --> 18:48.800] No, but I have actually looked up and I'm like, I kind of want to make some horn books.
[18:48.800 --> 18:49.800] I don't know.
[18:49.800 --> 18:50.800] It seems like a fun project.
[18:50.800 --> 18:58.800] Anyway, it wasn't until the 1800s that things started to change with Christmas.
[18:58.800 --> 19:04.800] The, you know, the advent of a mostly being about kids having fun and the way that changed.
[19:04.800 --> 19:10.520] Uh, because like I said, the 1700s started giving gifts and started giving gifts to kids.
[19:10.520 --> 19:15.800] And then they, uh, they're like, you know, we have fun doing fun things for kids.
[19:15.800 --> 19:16.800] Yeah.
[19:16.800 --> 19:22.800] So the drunken revelries and, uh, mummying and all that kind of went out the window.
[19:22.800 --> 19:23.800] The perging.
[19:23.800 --> 19:27.800] The perging kind went out the window.
[19:27.800 --> 19:32.800] Slowly but surely people started adopting other people's traditions.
[19:32.800 --> 19:45.800] So like the Germanic traditions of mistletoe and hauling ivy and the tree started getting adopted by the boisterous, you know, English who wanted to have a party and invite people over.
[19:45.800 --> 19:51.800] So now you had your, your decorate in your house to have a big feast and, uh, and a gift giving.
[19:51.800 --> 19:55.800] Is Germanic actually, is Germanic actually word Germanic?
[19:55.800 --> 19:58.800] Yeah. Like the Germanic countries gotcha.
[19:58.800 --> 19:59.800] I like it.
[19:59.800 --> 20:00.800] I roll that.
[20:00.800 --> 20:04.800] But actually what's interesting is you were not given a gift on Christmas day.
[20:04.800 --> 20:07.800] You were actually given a gift on New Year's Day.
[20:07.800 --> 20:11.800] It has something to do with the fact that it was like celebrating the next year.
[20:11.800 --> 20:12.800] You were given a gift.
[20:12.800 --> 20:16.800] So it was like midway through the 12 days of celebration.
[20:16.800 --> 20:18.800] You got a gift then.
[20:18.800 --> 20:22.800] The various different local holidays though still survived.
[20:22.800 --> 20:27.800] You had, you know, still pockets of the country doing things one way.
[20:27.800 --> 20:29.800] And others doing another way.
[20:29.800 --> 20:34.800] It wasn't until the 1850s when railroads became very popular.
[20:34.800 --> 20:40.800] That everyone mixed together and it happened immediately.
[20:41.800 --> 20:54.800] Christmas sort of gelled in exactly the type of holiday we have now of almost overnight within a year or two of different people traveling for the holidays and, you know, moving across country, bringing their traditions.
[20:54.800 --> 20:57.800] It just snapped into the place as a.
[20:57.800 --> 20:59.800] That's why Jack likes trains so much.
[20:59.800 --> 21:00.800] Yes.
[21:00.800 --> 21:01.800] But why everyone likes trains.
[21:01.800 --> 21:03.800] That's a call back.
[21:03.800 --> 21:04.800] Sure.
[21:04.800 --> 21:07.800] Why everybody those trains trains brought the country together.
[21:08.800 --> 21:12.800] I mean, I live by, I live, I get stopped going to work every day by trains.
[21:12.800 --> 21:16.800] So I'm, oh, yeah, my opinion of trains is not what it's most.
[21:18.800 --> 21:19.800] They do stuff us to a lot.
[21:19.800 --> 21:27.800] The end of 1850s, though, we move into the Civil War that actually made Christmas even more popular.
[21:27.800 --> 21:34.800] Christmas was already, you know, now like a, like a solid holiday that was pretty codified by this mixing.
[21:35.800 --> 21:53.800] But at this point, the idea of peace being nice to people not have to deal with the, the dark alone and be able to talk to other people and not worry became infinitely more preferable to the grind of this war that's going on.
[21:53.800 --> 21:58.800] So it helped make people happy to celebrate Christmas.
[21:58.800 --> 22:03.800] So Christmas became a massive holiday during the war.
[22:03.800 --> 22:06.800] People couldn't spend a ton of money that, that wasn't done then.
[22:06.800 --> 22:14.800] But it was just a meeting people celebrating being nice, sending Christmas cards that became a thing during this time.
[22:14.800 --> 22:29.800] And the war for all this horror, besides freeing slaves, also did the country of service in making Christmas like the back loan of the, of the year.
[22:29.800 --> 22:35.800] During the Civil War, there was a man named Henry Wadsworth's long fellow.
[22:35.800 --> 22:41.800] He is a prolific writer in a lot of poems, a lot of novels.
[22:41.800 --> 22:52.800] They were most religious and he kind of taught like, you know, being a decent person was like his thing and like all his novels and poems.
[22:52.800 --> 22:58.800] But he had a somewhat tragic life in 61.
[22:58.800 --> 23:01.800] His wife was burnt to death on a fire.
[23:01.800 --> 23:08.800] He tried to savor, but in doing so, he was scarred all over his face.
[23:08.800 --> 23:13.800] So he grew a full beard and mustache to cover the scars that never healed.
[23:13.800 --> 23:16.800] He's about to tell us that's how Santa Claus started.
[23:16.800 --> 23:18.800] It could very well be.
[23:19.800 --> 23:21.800] Henry, unfortunately not.
[23:21.800 --> 23:22.800] Oh.
[23:22.800 --> 23:31.800] Then his son joined the Civil War in 61 or 62 and he didn't tell that he was going to war.
[23:31.800 --> 23:34.800] He sent a letter after he had left.
[23:34.800 --> 23:37.800] His son was injured terribly.
[23:37.800 --> 23:43.800] He survived, but he was forever like a mangled from the battle.
[23:43.800 --> 23:47.800] Henry, one fellow fell into a deep depression.
[23:47.800 --> 23:52.800] He was thinking about it one day and it happened to be Christmas Day.
[23:52.800 --> 23:57.800] And he was 1963 or 1863, sir.
[23:57.800 --> 24:07.800] He heard the church in the town playing Christmas bells and he was thinking to himself during all this going on in the country.
[24:07.800 --> 24:10.800] They're still celebrating.
[24:10.800 --> 24:20.800] And it occurred to him that this idea that celebrating this holiday will help.
[24:20.800 --> 24:24.800] It struck a chord with him and he sat down and he wrote a poem.
[24:24.800 --> 24:33.800] And it's one of the biggest poems at the time and it became the rallying cry to make Christmas a national holiday.
[24:33.800 --> 24:36.800] It's called The Bells on Christmas Day.
[24:36.800 --> 24:37.800] It's a really good poem.
[24:37.800 --> 24:39.800] I kind of want to read through it real fast here.
[24:39.800 --> 24:42.800] I heard the bells on Christmas Day.
[24:42.800 --> 24:45.800] Their old familiar carols play.
[24:45.800 --> 24:52.800] And mild and sweet, the words repeat of peace on earth good will to men.
[24:52.800 --> 25:03.800] And sought how as the day had come the bellfrees of all Christendom had rolled along the unbroken song of peace on earth good will to men.
[25:03.800 --> 25:10.800] Till ringing, singing on its way, the world revolved from night to day.
[25:10.800 --> 25:18.800] A voice, a chime, a chant sublime of peace on earth good will to men.
[25:18.800 --> 25:24.800] Then from each accursed mouth the cannons thundered in the south.
[25:24.800 --> 25:31.800] And with the sound, the carols drowned, of peace on earth good will to men.
[25:31.800 --> 25:42.800] It was if some earthquake rint, the hearth sounds of a continent, and made forlorn the household's born of peace on earth good will to men.
[25:42.800 --> 25:45.800] And in despair I bowed my head.
[25:45.800 --> 25:48.800] There is no peace on earth, I said.
[25:48.800 --> 25:55.800] For hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth good will to men.
[25:55.800 --> 26:03.800] This is the smell of the leftover tuna fish sandwich you left in your lunchbox over the weekend in a wimpy trash bag.
[26:03.800 --> 26:11.800] And this is the smell of that same sandwich in a hefty ultra strong trash bag.
[26:11.800 --> 26:14.800] Ah, smell the difference?
[26:14.800 --> 26:19.800] Hefty ultra strong has arm and hammer with continuous odor control so no matter what's inside your trash.
[26:20.800 --> 26:22.800] You can stay one step ahead of stinky.
[26:22.800 --> 26:25.800] And for bigger jobs try the superior strength of hefty large black bags.
[26:25.800 --> 26:30.800] This is the smell of a warm three day old egg solid sandwich in a wimpy trash bag.
[26:30.800 --> 26:33.800] Wimpy wimpy wimpy!
[26:33.800 --> 26:39.800] And this is the smell of that same sandwich in a hefty ultra strong trash bag with new Fabuloso lemon scent.
[26:39.800 --> 26:42.800] Hefty hefty hefty!
[26:42.800 --> 26:44.800] Ah, smell the difference?
[26:44.800 --> 26:48.800] When life gives you stinky get hefty ultra strong with new Fabuloso lemon scent.
[26:48.800 --> 26:51.800] It smells like clean freshly picked lemons.
[26:51.800 --> 26:56.800] So no matter what's inside your trash you can stop the stink and smell the lemon.
[26:56.800 --> 27:00.800] Then peeled the bills more loud and deep.
[27:00.800 --> 27:03.800] God is not dead nor doth he sleep.
[27:03.800 --> 27:05.800] The wrong shall fail.
[27:05.800 --> 27:10.800] The right prevail with peace on earth good will to men.
[27:10.800 --> 27:12.800] Amen.
[27:12.800 --> 27:14.800] It was a prayer.
[27:14.800 --> 27:16.800] Yeah, it kind of is.
[27:16.800 --> 27:18.800] That's a good one.
[27:18.800 --> 27:19.800] Yeah.
[27:19.800 --> 27:30.800] It was in 1870 after a few years after war been over that they finally made Christmas a national holiday.
[27:30.800 --> 27:36.800] It's been like the very essence of every year since then.
[27:36.800 --> 27:38.800] Everyone looks forward to it.
[27:38.800 --> 27:43.800] You know, we may have our disagreements on how celebrated whether or not it should be.
[27:43.800 --> 27:48.800] So, lavish and commercialize as it is today.
[27:48.800 --> 27:51.800] And that's honestly a choice that people need to make themselves.
[27:51.800 --> 28:00.800] Like do you go not spending millions of dollars or do you just simply have a fun time turkey
[28:00.800 --> 28:05.800] and a few friends over to drink some gross wasp.
[28:05.800 --> 28:09.800] Yeah, or you can have a Persian holiday back in the 60s.
[28:09.800 --> 28:12.800] Yeah, we'll bring back mommy and we'll purge.
[28:12.800 --> 28:15.800] I haven't explained when Jesus comes into play.
[28:15.800 --> 28:21.800] I guess they, I guess there's never happened.
[28:21.800 --> 28:23.800] It's all right.
[28:23.800 --> 28:25.800] It goes back to the 400 A.D.
[28:25.800 --> 28:26.800] You know, I guess.
[28:26.800 --> 28:30.800] Yeah, I guess it was just kind of like just kind of also Jesus.
[28:30.800 --> 28:33.800] Oh, so Jesus.
[28:33.800 --> 28:35.800] You never want to mention it.
[28:35.800 --> 28:37.800] Oh gosh.
[28:37.800 --> 28:40.800] Yeah, I guess it's actually just like all the particulars.
[28:40.800 --> 28:43.800] They never really, they never really tie it in it.
[28:43.800 --> 28:47.800] It's kind of, it's just kind of like in the background the whole time.
[28:47.800 --> 28:49.800] Well, it is a religious holiday.
[28:49.800 --> 28:52.800] So it's, it's implied to each his own.
[28:52.800 --> 28:53.800] Yeah.
[28:53.800 --> 28:54.800] Yeah.
[28:54.800 --> 28:55.800] What else you got Luke?
[28:55.800 --> 29:00.800] Oh, that, that's, that's the end of my trio on the history of Christmas.
[29:00.800 --> 29:05.800] If you have any questions though, I definitely probably clarify some stuff.
[29:05.800 --> 29:07.800] It's time for when Jesus comes in.
[29:07.800 --> 29:08.800] Okay.
[29:08.800 --> 29:13.800] There's the one, the one thing we can't quite bend out.
[29:13.800 --> 29:14.800] Huh.
[29:14.800 --> 29:19.800] So I guess my question is one of them, I have many.
[29:19.800 --> 29:24.800] When did it, so at what point do you think it became?
[29:24.800 --> 29:28.800] Or do you think you just continue to evolve with the luxury of the gifts?
[29:28.800 --> 29:30.800] I guess you could say.
[29:30.800 --> 29:34.800] So yeah, that comes later during the roaring twenties.
[29:34.800 --> 29:42.800] In 1920 onwards, there was a big push by like marketing chains to, or market supermarkets
[29:42.800 --> 29:51.800] and stuff to get people to buy these new gifts that were coming in from Europe after the war
[29:51.800 --> 29:56.800] because you have people importing goods from Europe to help rebuild their economy.
[29:56.800 --> 30:02.800] And so they're selling them hard here because we had the only economy that wasn't wrecked by the war.
[30:02.800 --> 30:12.800] So we were, you know, being kind of sold on a, a thing to be patriotic by buying this stuff
[30:12.800 --> 30:16.800] at the same time as like to help other nations.
[30:16.800 --> 30:24.800] And it's kind of a gross, I guess you could say, like, you know, it's, we were pushed to buy this stuff
[30:24.800 --> 30:26.800] to help someone else.
[30:26.800 --> 30:28.800] That kind of makes sense, I guess.
[30:28.800 --> 30:35.800] But at the same time, it kind of made Americans addicted to spending on commercial goods.
[30:35.800 --> 30:37.800] Damn roaring twenties.
[30:37.800 --> 30:44.800] I mean, it's less, it's less happy than some of these other stories, but yeah, it's kind of,
[30:44.800 --> 30:46.800] it was kind of a marketing trick.
[30:46.800 --> 30:47.800] That's surprising.
[30:47.800 --> 30:49.800] Check out question DM4, ask more.
[30:49.800 --> 30:54.800] Yes, I have a question about the waffle case though.
[30:54.800 --> 30:57.800] We talked about how it looks like wool floating in a bowl.
[30:57.800 --> 31:01.800] Which, you know, that would make me immediately say, why are we drinking this?
[31:01.800 --> 31:06.800] But you said that they put toasters.
[31:06.800 --> 31:11.800] Like, are you saying they put, like, and by tin?
[31:11.800 --> 31:16.800] You mean, yeah, so there was two different things that they could have put in.
[31:16.800 --> 31:22.800] One was a slice of bread that was toasted would be at the bar of your cup.
[31:22.800 --> 31:26.800] And they pour that stuff on there with the applesauce and the beer.
[31:26.800 --> 31:31.800] And before we start out with the second phase, why would they do that?
[31:31.800 --> 31:34.800] Is that actually a really good question?
[31:34.800 --> 31:37.800] The exact reason why I don't know.
[31:37.800 --> 31:41.800] But it has something to do with the way they ate a lot back then.
[31:41.800 --> 31:46.800] You would dip your bread or you're eating into beer.
[31:46.800 --> 31:49.800] And that was just kind of like just the accepted norm.
[31:49.800 --> 31:53.800] So for them, it wasn't super weird to do.
[31:53.800 --> 31:59.800] And actually to say you're toasting someone comes from that,
[31:59.800 --> 32:02.800] punch with a toast piece in it.
[32:02.800 --> 32:05.800] You would dip your toast in their drink?
[32:05.800 --> 32:08.800] No, no, you would give them their toast.
[32:08.800 --> 32:09.800] Oh, okay.
[32:09.800 --> 32:12.800] Yeah, it makes more sense because you give them your toast.
[32:12.800 --> 32:15.800] I would be very insulting to someone.
[32:15.800 --> 32:18.800] You'd toast to my drink.
[32:18.800 --> 32:20.800] You're going to drink toast.
[32:20.800 --> 32:22.800] Look at that toast away from my drink.
[32:22.800 --> 32:27.800] The other thing that they would put in there a lot is a baked seed cake,
[32:27.800 --> 32:30.800] a caraway seed cakes.
[32:30.800 --> 32:33.800] They would be made in what they were called wigs.
[32:33.800 --> 32:39.800] And they were kind of like a size of a modern day biscuit that they would cut into.
[32:39.800 --> 32:42.800] They would put like a marking the quarter it.
[32:42.800 --> 32:46.800] And then they would bake that and you would put that into your drink as well.
[32:46.800 --> 32:48.800] That was another one you could do.
[32:48.800 --> 32:50.800] A lot of putting in drinks.
[32:51.800 --> 32:53.800] Never, never fly today.
[32:53.800 --> 32:55.800] No, no, no.
[32:55.800 --> 32:58.800] You can't ever have drinks like that today.
[32:58.800 --> 33:01.800] I can't just put, but aren't you a little bit curious?
[33:01.800 --> 33:04.800] Are you a little bit curious to how it tastes?
[33:04.800 --> 33:06.800] Yeah, I mean, I'm curious.
[33:06.800 --> 33:11.800] It's kind of sounds disturbing, but yeah, there's always that intriguing factor to it for sure.
[33:11.800 --> 33:14.800] Yeah, I kind of want to drink it this weekend per.
[33:14.800 --> 33:18.800] Well, would it be like a strawberry shortcake almost?
[33:18.800 --> 33:19.800] Well, that sounds good.
[33:19.800 --> 33:23.800] But with beer, I guess, instead of strawberries.
[33:23.800 --> 33:26.800] Strawberries and beer, yeah, I never thought about that.
[33:26.800 --> 33:27.800] Wastling.
[33:27.800 --> 33:31.800] So when did the, I mean, I know it's always been in the winter.
[33:31.800 --> 33:32.800] I get it.
[33:32.800 --> 33:36.800] But when did it become so, try to get out of word it, winterized.
[33:36.800 --> 33:38.800] You said Germanized.
[33:38.800 --> 33:39.800] There's something earlier.
[33:39.800 --> 33:40.800] I'm just kidding.
[33:40.800 --> 33:42.800] I'm going to say winterized.
[33:42.800 --> 33:44.800] When did it become so winterized?
[33:45.800 --> 33:47.800] Sleigh bells in the white careers.
[33:47.800 --> 33:49.800] Oh, that's bells.
[33:49.800 --> 33:54.800] The reason why they would, like, you know, jingle bells exist and stuff like that was, actually,
[33:54.800 --> 33:56.800] goes back to paganism again.
[33:56.800 --> 34:04.800] I was the belief that during the dark months, the veil was thin and the spirits would walk
[34:04.800 --> 34:05.800] the earth.
[34:05.800 --> 34:06.800] Keep it away.
[34:06.800 --> 34:09.800] You would shake bells and make noise.
[34:09.800 --> 34:11.800] Scare the demons away.
[34:11.800 --> 34:12.800] Yeah.
[34:12.800 --> 34:14.800] So that's where, yeah, sleigh bell.
[34:14.800 --> 34:15.800] Okay.
[34:15.800 --> 34:21.800] So that feels like that and sleigh bells themselves serve a function of, let you know that it's
[34:21.800 --> 34:25.800] a sleigh coming down the road and so you don't step in front of it.
[34:25.800 --> 34:32.800] So like combating, like, the demons with, with bills and stuff like that, that seems like
[34:32.800 --> 34:36.800] something the Catholic church or some sort of church would do.
[34:36.800 --> 34:40.800] I'm not so sure about the dressing up as demons and singing.
[34:40.800 --> 34:44.800] The Catholic church actually still uses bells in mass.
[34:44.800 --> 34:49.800] They'll jingle them at specific points like a ward.
[34:49.800 --> 34:50.800] Okay.
[34:50.800 --> 34:52.800] All right then.
[34:52.800 --> 34:53.800] Yeah.
[34:53.800 --> 34:58.800] It just seems like, and all that stuff that you said, you didn't talk about winter that much.
[34:58.800 --> 35:02.800] And like today, it seems like heavily connected to winter.
[35:02.800 --> 35:04.800] That's why I brought it up.
[35:04.800 --> 35:09.800] So like the, you know, the evergreen stuff and all in the winter, Barry is like Holly and
[35:09.800 --> 35:12.800] Ivy and mistletoe and stuff like that.
[35:12.800 --> 35:17.800] All that came from German influence on because they were big about that there.
[35:17.800 --> 35:24.800] And it has to do with their druidic bringing in like Norse mythology and stuff like that.
[35:24.800 --> 35:25.800] Germanisms.
[35:25.800 --> 35:26.800] Yeah.
[35:26.800 --> 35:27.800] Germanism.
[35:27.800 --> 35:28.800] Germanism.
[35:28.800 --> 35:29.800] Germanism.
[35:29.800 --> 35:30.800] Germanism.
[35:30.800 --> 35:33.800] I'm not going to look up this word now.
[35:33.800 --> 35:36.800] He could be making up stuff all along.
[35:36.800 --> 35:37.800] We wouldn't know.
[35:38.800 --> 35:44.800] Well, I started to think that about the toast, but I guess if it's real.
[35:44.800 --> 35:45.800] Yeah.
[35:45.800 --> 35:46.800] Wow.
[35:46.800 --> 35:47.800] Yeah.
[35:47.800 --> 35:54.800] So, and I think I keep saying a million dollar question is, but you know, you didn't talk about Santa Claus.
[35:54.800 --> 36:00.800] So, you know, I didn't talk about Santa Claus because you don't believe in him.
[36:00.800 --> 36:01.800] No.
[36:02.800 --> 36:08.800] I did kind of gloss over like some of the other stuff that came in in like the mid 1800s.
[36:08.800 --> 36:12.800] And Santa Claus became like a fixture then.
[36:12.800 --> 36:13.800] Yeah.
[36:13.800 --> 36:16.800] He was a little painter in St. Nicholas.
[36:16.800 --> 36:25.800] And, you know, there were stories, how St. Nicholas left wedding dowry for people in their homes.
[36:25.800 --> 36:27.800] And so that's how it evolved.
[36:27.800 --> 36:31.800] You know, like, like I said, they gave cash and envelopes as gifts early on.
[36:31.800 --> 36:34.800] It was kind of the whole thing like that.
[36:34.800 --> 36:42.800] And then Santa Claus became like the myth then of the St. Nicholas going out and giving gifts
[36:42.800 --> 36:43.800] to people.
[36:43.800 --> 36:46.800] And that's kind of how he evolved.
[36:46.800 --> 36:52.800] But it started mostly, that was mostly European until like the 1850s and that.
[36:52.800 --> 36:55.800] Actually that, so that actually gives me another question.
[36:55.800 --> 36:56.800] I've come up with another question.
[36:57.800 --> 37:04.800] So speaking of Santa Claus, there's obviously we've all kind of sort of heard that there's
[37:04.800 --> 37:11.800] multiple types of Santa Claus and different cultures, right?
[37:11.800 --> 37:21.800] Is to do those show up in early American Christmases or do we always like just Santa Claus, you know,
[37:21.800 --> 37:25.800] we know that all these other cultures have other, you know, like we've got.
[37:25.800 --> 37:27.800] So we're never in a closet.
[37:27.800 --> 37:35.800] Or was it like the you'll, the you'll lads just like 15 of them or something like that.
[37:35.800 --> 37:39.800] So we're just like, no Santa Claus is the only one working.
[37:39.800 --> 37:41.800] Oh, they did all show up actually early on.
[37:41.800 --> 37:48.800] Like I said earlier, the French were, they had like a very more severe and like reserved Christmas
[37:48.800 --> 37:50.800] or any early days.
[37:50.800 --> 37:56.800] And then they end up having their version of Santa Claus, which the name escapes there right now.
[37:56.800 --> 38:01.800] But basically he would beat you with a cat and nine tails if you misbehaved.
[38:01.800 --> 38:03.800] Oh my gosh.
[38:03.800 --> 38:09.800] But yes, also the German versions like you said that you'll add.
[38:09.800 --> 38:14.800] That's what he would say every time.
[38:14.800 --> 38:17.800] So those things were all celebrate early on too.
[38:17.800 --> 38:23.800] Then once everything started melding together Santa Claus became like the only one in the U.S.
[38:23.800 --> 38:24.800] I was kind of curious.
[38:24.800 --> 38:32.800] So I wonder if there's just like, you know what, this was like the easiest one to kind of like pass around.
[38:32.800 --> 38:42.800] Because like pretty much was it was like the most popular version because like the kids didn't like the ones that teach them lessons and beat them.
[38:42.800 --> 38:44.800] Yeah, I mean understandably.
[38:45.800 --> 38:47.800] They got all their lessons from the horn book.
[38:47.800 --> 38:49.800] Yeah, they got all their lessons from the horn book.
[38:49.800 --> 38:52.800] That's what the horn book meant.
[38:52.800 --> 39:02.800] So yeah, the kids preferred the jolly elf of Santa Claus rather than the others.
[39:02.800 --> 39:13.800] What would you say is the biggest, you know, you covered some of them, but what is the biggest Americanized Americanism Americanized Christmas?
[39:13.800 --> 39:18.800] Christmas tradition that came out of all this.
[39:18.800 --> 39:24.800] We talked about the trees coming from, I don't remember which one.
[39:24.800 --> 39:25.800] What?
[39:25.800 --> 39:26.800] Germany.
[39:26.800 --> 39:29.800] Yes, the Germanism trees.
[39:29.800 --> 39:32.800] But what like was the, was it the gift giving?
[39:32.800 --> 39:37.800] Was it the like, like what was the most American thing to come out of?
[39:37.800 --> 39:40.800] It kind of more for to its own thing version of Christmas, would you say?
[39:40.800 --> 39:42.800] That's a good question.
[39:42.800 --> 39:50.800] I would have to say it would be the changing of certain drinks and things such as that.
[39:50.800 --> 39:56.800] Because like we mentioned that, you know, Walsell was either made with beer or cider.
[39:56.800 --> 40:03.800] Well, in the United States, if you think of apple cider, it's usually a not alcoholic drink.
[40:03.800 --> 40:06.800] They have hard ciders like they specifically call hard ciders.
[40:06.800 --> 40:09.800] Well, in England, this is called cider when it's hard cider.
[40:10.800 --> 40:12.800] So just apple juice.
[40:12.800 --> 40:13.800] Yeah.
[40:13.800 --> 40:21.800] So early on, not early on, later on, they switched out making alcoholic wassels with non alcoholic
[40:21.800 --> 40:23.800] drinks here in the United States.
[40:23.800 --> 40:28.800] So it was made with apple cider and other juices.
[40:28.800 --> 40:29.800] What about egg dog?
[40:29.800 --> 40:31.800] What is egg nog coming to play?
[40:31.800 --> 40:32.800] You know what's weird?
[40:32.800 --> 40:33.800] I didn't look up egg nog.
[40:33.800 --> 40:34.800] Egg nog.
[40:34.800 --> 40:35.800] Egg nog.
[40:36.800 --> 40:41.800] Well, I know what I know about egg nog is that George Washington has a fantastic, well,
[40:41.800 --> 40:45.800] supposedly we can only go off of what we think is was reality.
[40:45.800 --> 40:50.800] But there is a recorded recipe for George Washington egg nog.
[40:50.800 --> 40:53.800] And I make it every year actually.
[40:53.800 --> 40:57.800] It's very boozy and it's fantastic.
[40:57.800 --> 41:02.800] I was going to say interestingly to kind of like contrast the non alcoholic version of like
[41:03.800 --> 41:09.800] wassel and insider seems that America has already for Wikipedia says.
[41:09.800 --> 41:10.800] Okay.
[41:10.800 --> 41:11.800] All right.
[41:11.800 --> 41:17.800] Let's go for egg nog historically also known as milk punch or egg milk punch.
[41:17.800 --> 41:22.800] While culinary historians debate its exact lineage, most agree egg nog originated from the
[41:22.800 --> 41:26.800] mid evil British drink called.
[41:26.800 --> 41:36.120] It's felt P O S S E T, which was made with hot milk and wine and ale and flavored spices.
[41:36.120 --> 41:39.000] And also in the mid it made middle ages.
[41:39.000 --> 41:41.360] It was used as cold and flu remedy.
[41:41.360 --> 41:42.360] It's interesting.
[41:42.360 --> 41:48.440] Where I can see that because of a lot of the warmer because it's because it can be served
[41:48.440 --> 41:56.120] hot never had a hot recipe used for like, you know, like the hot toddy for instance would
[41:56.120 --> 41:58.720] be like a cold and flu remedy.
[41:58.720 --> 42:01.560] And that would be also alcoholic.
[42:01.560 --> 42:06.160] And it's also there's a similar drink to a common Jerry, common Jerry.
[42:06.160 --> 42:07.160] Yeah.
[42:07.160 --> 42:09.360] And that's also served war.
[42:09.360 --> 42:10.360] Yeah.
[42:10.360 --> 42:14.440] So I was just like, I just was just very bring up the time and Jerry when you start, I knew
[42:14.440 --> 42:16.920] you're just what you're going for there.
[42:16.920 --> 42:22.960] So Tom and Jerry is also kind of a uniquely American version of egg nog.
[42:22.960 --> 42:28.400] And it came in in the holidays in the mid to late 1800s.
[42:28.400 --> 42:30.840] And it was served in the Midwest areas.
[42:30.840 --> 42:37.840] So where it was a little bit colder, they would make this drink that was basically eggnog,
[42:37.840 --> 42:43.440] but with some different steps, you would take the eggs and you would beat them together with
[42:43.440 --> 42:46.360] a stiffener, like cream of tartar.
[42:46.360 --> 42:51.520] And you would make like a what they call a batter and have sugar in there.
[42:51.520 --> 42:56.480] And then you would take a scoop of that batter, put it into your cup and then you would pour
[42:56.480 --> 43:04.480] a hot brandy into that and mix it up with or also hot water or milk as well.
[43:04.480 --> 43:08.680] And you mix that all up and then you would drink that.
[43:08.680 --> 43:09.680] Little quarter, same thing.
[43:09.680 --> 43:11.920] You can use either one for oatmeal.
[43:11.920 --> 43:12.920] Yeah.
[43:12.920 --> 43:15.360] That's pretty much what it was.
[43:15.360 --> 43:19.200] You could do milk or water because it was where we had it.
[43:19.200 --> 43:20.200] Wow.
[43:20.200 --> 43:25.880] So those drinks, the feasting, I would say, these aren't necessarily unique to America,
[43:25.880 --> 43:31.240] but it's definitely something we've lashed onto considering we've also changed them like
[43:31.240 --> 43:35.160] feasting in like England was almost exclusively goose.
[43:35.160 --> 43:37.920] But here it's turkey and ham.
[43:38.920 --> 43:43.280] If you're eating goose, I don't know the turkey population of England, though, I can't speak
[43:43.280 --> 43:44.280] to that.
[43:44.280 --> 43:45.280] Yeah.
[43:45.280 --> 43:47.640] I guess that's true.
[43:47.640 --> 43:50.280] Is that just another turkey is another country?
[43:50.280 --> 43:56.560] Yeah, I mean, I'm sure, but yeah, there's a there's a Germanistic approach to the breed
[43:56.560 --> 43:57.560] of Turkey.
[43:57.560 --> 43:58.560] It's Turkey.
[43:58.560 --> 43:59.560] It's a bananas.
[43:59.560 --> 44:05.960] They are very like harsh turkeys.
[44:05.960 --> 44:08.760] So I'll leave it off with a story about a turkey.
[44:08.760 --> 44:09.760] Okay.
[44:09.760 --> 44:15.000] So growing up says nothing to do with Christmas, but you might this might help it.
[44:15.000 --> 44:18.240] This might give you a good laugh if you listen to this near Christmas.
[44:18.240 --> 44:21.360] So growing up, my dad would.
[44:21.360 --> 44:26.080] We would go to this trading event like an hour away and at this fleet, it was like a flea
[44:26.080 --> 44:32.400] market, but outside it open and basically people would bring everything there and sell and trade
[44:32.400 --> 44:33.400] it.
[44:34.400 --> 44:44.560] Fruits, vegetable stands, guns, toys, hound dogs, hunting dogs, all sort, anything literally.
[44:44.560 --> 44:49.840] So one time, and I had to go there like once a month, it was terrible as a kid, but one time
[44:49.840 --> 44:53.000] we went and we brought our turkey.
[44:53.000 --> 44:59.160] I mean, I don't want to get rid of this turkey because this turkey was a violent turkey and
[44:59.160 --> 45:03.080] he actually got this turkey at this place a couple months before.
[45:03.080 --> 45:04.520] I don't know what he traded for the turkey.
[45:04.520 --> 45:05.920] I can't remember, but you could do it.
[45:05.920 --> 45:06.920] I'm serious.
[45:06.920 --> 45:09.800] You'd trade stuff for you just trade.
[45:09.800 --> 45:14.480] So we had this turkey at our house and it was meter than hell when you tried to feed it.
[45:14.480 --> 45:17.440] Now what how one goes about feeding a turkey is terrible.
[45:17.440 --> 45:21.000] You had to go under the coop because it was in a coop, which you kind of imagine irritated
[45:21.000 --> 45:22.000] this turkey.
[45:22.000 --> 45:27.800] But anyway, I was allowed to feed turkey because it tried to attack me once.
[45:27.800 --> 45:32.600] Well once my grandpa fed the turkey, he went in the coop to feed the turkey.
[45:32.600 --> 45:36.680] And this is a true story, by the way, and that sounds ridiculous, but the turkey flew
[45:36.680 --> 45:42.600] at him to attack him, well as much as one can fly in a coop, and he had to hit it with
[45:42.600 --> 45:46.840] the bucket that he was using to feed it.
[45:46.840 --> 45:50.440] And when it did that, it actually formed a big knot on its head.
[45:50.440 --> 45:52.920] So my dad called the turkey knot head.
[45:52.920 --> 45:58.080] So we went back to the market to get rid of the this market thing to get rid of the
[45:58.080 --> 45:59.080] not head.
[45:59.080 --> 46:04.240] And I think my dad traded not head for like a small rifle that he was going to give me
[46:04.240 --> 46:06.240] or something back then.
[46:06.240 --> 46:07.240] This is a true story.
[46:07.240 --> 46:10.800] I can't believe I'm telling this to the world here.
[46:10.800 --> 46:15.880] But so after the exchange was made and the guy I was holding the cage with the turkey was
[46:15.880 --> 46:19.840] loaded in the back of his truck and we had whatever we got.
[46:19.840 --> 46:21.880] He said, is he?
[46:21.880 --> 46:22.880] How is he?
[46:22.880 --> 46:25.640] You know, my dad said he's meter than hell, but he's yours now.
[46:25.640 --> 46:27.640] I walked away.
[46:27.640 --> 46:28.640] That's the story of Turkey.
[46:28.640 --> 46:29.640] The turkey not hit.
[46:29.640 --> 46:30.640] I can't tell you're screwed.
[46:30.640 --> 46:31.640] No, no, no.
[46:31.640 --> 46:32.640] I don't believe this.
[46:32.640 --> 46:33.640] I want to believe this.
[46:33.640 --> 46:43.640] I'll take this to Facebook as proof and I'll copy you guys on it.
[46:43.640 --> 46:44.640] Yeah.
[46:44.640 --> 46:48.640] Anyway, I know your dad so I'm sure he'll comment on it.
[46:48.640 --> 46:49.640] Yeah, yeah.
[46:49.640 --> 46:51.640] But all my dad, they shouldn't surprise you too much.
[46:51.640 --> 46:56.360] That's why I'm like, I believe this completely.
[46:56.360 --> 46:58.240] So I have a different view on turkeys.
[46:58.240 --> 47:02.960] Anyway, it has nothing to do with Christmas, but it's a good American story, some would
[47:02.960 --> 47:03.960] say.
[47:03.960 --> 47:04.960] It is.
[47:04.960 --> 47:05.960] It's only this.
[47:05.960 --> 47:09.920] Still nightmares about that flea market.
[47:09.920 --> 47:14.920] It'd be so damn hot and I'd have to be there all day.
[47:14.920 --> 47:21.560] It was literally like a big lot and it's like a big grass lot in the country, middle of nowhere.
[47:21.560 --> 47:22.560] Middle of nowhere.
[47:22.560 --> 47:24.760] And you'd go and you'd set up stands there.
[47:24.760 --> 47:25.760] Interesting.
[47:25.760 --> 47:31.760] Anyway, so yeah, you guys have anything else before I start to segue us out of here?
[47:31.760 --> 47:33.520] I don't think so.
[47:33.520 --> 47:39.200] We, this episode will be the one that comes up closest to Christmas because we normally
[47:39.200 --> 47:43.280] release on Monday, Christmas is on a Monday, so we'll release an episode the day after.
[47:43.280 --> 47:47.480] So we'll go ahead and release this one two weeks before Christmas just to give everybody
[47:47.480 --> 47:55.920] the opportunity to listen to it and let the Christmas spirit develop, let it.
[47:55.920 --> 47:58.800] What words could we use that we'd look at you used here?
[47:58.800 --> 47:59.800] Gerated.
[47:59.800 --> 48:00.800] Muzzle.
[48:00.800 --> 48:01.800] Yeah.
[48:01.800 --> 48:02.800] Oh, mama.
[48:02.800 --> 48:03.800] Whatever the hell it was.
[48:03.800 --> 48:04.800] Mummy.
[48:04.800 --> 48:05.800] Yeah.
[48:05.800 --> 48:09.960] So yeah, so yeah, this is a little bit of a celebration of Christmas because it's Christmas
[48:09.960 --> 48:13.000] your guys favorite holiday, honestly.
[48:13.000 --> 48:14.000] Yeah.
[48:14.000 --> 48:15.000] Yeah, I would say so.
[48:15.000 --> 48:16.000] Yeah, it's not bad.
[48:16.000 --> 48:19.600] Yeah, right up there with the 4th July and Christmas.
[48:19.600 --> 48:24.840] Yeah, maybe I'm just a old man anyway.
[48:24.840 --> 48:27.440] So yeah, no, seriously though, yeah, we appreciate you listening to the podcast.
[48:27.440 --> 48:31.880] This will be a little bit of a Christmas gift for you are our Christmas gift to you, the
[48:31.880 --> 48:35.320] American stories, history version of Christmas.
[48:35.320 --> 48:36.640] So this has been a fun episode.
[48:36.640 --> 48:39.560] Well, I don't know what we'll bring after this.
[48:39.560 --> 48:43.440] Maybe you'll look, we'll have some new years or crazy or we'll just get back into the story
[48:43.440 --> 48:44.440] line.
[48:44.600 --> 48:49.600] We'll find out that New Year's is secretly evil holiday to or something.
[48:49.600 --> 48:55.040] Yeah, horses heads and raising hell and drinking and purging.
[48:55.040 --> 48:58.440] By the way, that I did watch the show, The Purge and the last week there's a television
[48:58.440 --> 49:01.080] show of it and that's why there's been so many purge references.
[49:01.080 --> 49:02.080] Yeah.
[49:02.080 --> 49:05.160] I'm not like some deeper meaning or anything.
[49:05.160 --> 49:09.440] I literally just watched the show we talked about it for a few years for the show.
[49:09.440 --> 49:12.520] Yeah, before we have record, I gave the recap on season one and two.
[49:12.520 --> 49:16.680] So don't, don't, I'll take it to to heart there anyway.
[49:16.680 --> 49:21.080] So with that being said, we have a bunch of episodes you can go listen to in the, in the
[49:21.080 --> 49:22.880] back catalog that are great.
[49:22.880 --> 49:27.200] I'm going to pass it over to Jack to take us all the way home here.
[49:27.200 --> 49:28.920] Yes.
[49:28.920 --> 49:35.560] If you want to follow us on Twitter, we're America stories, America story pod.
[49:35.560 --> 49:38.040] And it's just because there's a character limit.
[49:38.040 --> 49:39.040] Yes.
[49:39.040 --> 49:40.040] Yes.
[49:40.520 --> 49:41.840] We've got our links on there as well.
[49:41.840 --> 49:48.840] So if you want to follow there, we can also email us at americastoriespod at gmail.com.
[49:48.840 --> 49:54.440] If you have questions or just want to get in contact with us or have episode ideas or
[49:54.440 --> 49:56.920] something like that.
[49:56.920 --> 50:02.520] And you can also go to our website to watch all of our episodes at americastories.us.
[50:02.520 --> 50:03.520] Wow.
[50:03.520 --> 50:06.160] He's got better as any look.
[50:06.160 --> 50:07.160] Yeah.
[50:07.480 --> 50:10.760] You definitely check out the button episode.
[50:10.760 --> 50:13.400] The one we did this for the Titans revenge.
[50:13.400 --> 50:16.840] Yeah, I was hoping tomorrow he would connect with Christmas, but he's just too much of a
[50:16.840 --> 50:18.320] humbug to connect to you.
[50:18.320 --> 50:22.640] He was, he was, he wasn't, he didn't believe in Christmas here boy.
[50:22.640 --> 50:25.080] He was a funny daddy.
[50:25.080 --> 50:27.440] Well, yeah, everybody listening, Merry Christmas.
[50:27.440 --> 50:29.160] And we appreciate you supporting the show.
[50:29.160 --> 50:32.560] So until next time, keep being you and keep being great.
[50:37.160 --> 50:38.160] Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
[51:07.160 --> 51:37.160] oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
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