American Christmas traditions are so deeply ingrained that we consider them part of holiday celebrations without question. But have you ever been knocking back some eggnog and asked yourself why we decorate evergreens, hang stockings, and dangle lights from our roofs each December?
Some of the answers are stranger than you’d suspect — and that’s not including some of the quirkier Christmas traditions out there.
From the familiar to the obscure, here are some ways that Americans celebrate the holidays — and why.
For generations of Americans, the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving parade marks the official start of the Christmas season. The turkey is usually still in the oven as the parade concludes with the arrival of Santa Claus on his sleigh.
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 him 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.
Setting out cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas Eve is a longstanding ritual for many families. The origins aren’t entirely known, but like Santa himself, it could be a blend of traditions adopted from other countries or even 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 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 broadcasts 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, 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. In fact, you don’t even 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.
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.
Roast turkey rules the roost at Christmastime, just like Thanksgiving. In the U.S., it’s the most common entree served 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. 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.
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.”
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.