Holiday wreaths are part of Yuletide legend and lore

You’ll find lots of interesting tidbits on various Yuletide and holiday traditions in The Old Farmer’s Almanac, owned by Yankee Publishing Inc., located in Dublin, N.H. 

Robin Sweetser, an almanac contributor, is an expert on holiday wreaths. She tells readers: “This time of year, Christmas wreaths are hung in every place imaginable – from doors and fences to lampposts and windows – even the front grille of the car! How did a round bit of greenery come to symbolize the holidays?”

 

“Wreaths are part of many ancient traditions dating back to the earliest civilizations. The circle is a symbol of immortality,” Sweetser wrote. “Throughout history, wreaths have been associated with life, rejuvenation and renewal.” 

“The Greeks awarded laurel wreaths to their triumphant athletes; in the Persian Empire, they were worn on the head as a symbol of importance; and ancient Romans wore them like crowns,” she said.

 

Researchers from Agriculture for Life, an organization based in Foothills, Alberta, Canada, say the word “wreath” comes from the Old English word “writhian,” which means “twist.” 

“Wreaths are usually made by twisting greenery together and adorning them with flowers, berries and other decorative materials,” said a spokesperson for the group. “Often created from the trimmings of Christmas trees as they’re given their signature triangular shape, wreaths are a great way to prevent waste and celebrate winter festivities.” 

In the 16th century, the people of Scandinavia made wreaths that were used in the celebration of Yule, which marked the winter solstice (usually Dec. 21) and the return of the sun as the days slowly started to get longer again – the turning of the year’s wheel, thus restarting the cycle of life.  

According to Rob Taylor, an entrepreneur and Viking reenactor who resides in York, a city in northeastern England, Yule festivities involved a lot of drinking and lasted 12 days…or as long as the ale continued. 

The Norse god Odin was depicted as a majestic old man with a flowing beard and only one eye. During Yuletide, Odin was said to ride through the skies on his eight-legged horse, collecting the souls of the dead. So, everyone stayed indoors feasting on a Yule boar, afraid to go outside lest they be caught out alone and abducted during the hunt,” Taylor said.

 

The burning of a Yule log was also necessary to ward off evil spirits. “It was customary that no work was to be done during Yuletide,” Taylor added. “We hear stories of the goddess Berchta visiting peoples’ houses and punishing those who had been spinning during Yule.” 

In the rural areas of Scandinavia, it was common practice during Yuletide for farmers to leave out porridge with butter as a treat for the little red-capped elves who guarded the family and animals from misfortune. 

In the 19th century, a Lutheran pastor in Hamburg, Germany, was credited with creating the first Advent wreath. He was Johann Hinrich Wichern, who was the founder of a refuge for orphan and wayward boys.

 

As Christmas approached each year, the boys would daily inquire: “Pastor Wichern, how many more days until Christmas?” In 1839, Wichern ingeniously thought to use a wreath as a teaching tool. He used a wooden wheel from a cart to create a simple wreath with candles positioned around the rim that was hung in the dining hall. 

A large white candle symbolized every Sunday of Advent. For every other day in between, Wichern placed a small red candle in the wreath. Each day during Advent prayers, Wichern would light a candle and teach the children about Jesus.

Holiday season postal stamps originated in 1962

U.S. postal patrons clamored for decades to be able to purchase holiday-themed postage stamps to apply to their Christmas card envelopes. The post office finally delivered in 1962.

Postmaster General J. Edward Day unveiled the first official Christmas stamp of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) during a big ceremony in Pittsburgh, Pa., at the annual convention of the National Association of Postmasters, on Nov. 1, 1962.

 

The special green and red 4-cent stamp pictured a wreath with a bow and two lit candles. The image was created by artist Jim Crawford.

 

The post office ordered the printing of 350 million copies of the new Christmas stamp – the most ever for a special-issue stamp. 

Historians said the initial supply sold out quickly, and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing began working around-the-clock to print more. By the end of 1962, 1 billion new Christmas stamps had been printed and distributed. 

Day assured his fellow Americans that new Christmas stamps would become an annual tradition. (Day’s popularity soared, and this led the nation to “have faith” when Day introduced the revolutionary ZIP Code system on July 1, 1963.) 

The post office’s official 1963 holiday stamp was designed by Lily Spandorf, a renowned painter in Washington D.C., showing the National Christmas Tree on the White House lawn.

 

Historian Chris West said: “The lights are on in the presidential residence: the first family is at home. Sadly, of course, the stamp tells a much darker story. It was issued in Santa Claus, Ind., on Nov. 1, 1963.” (President John F. Kennedy was assassinated 22 days later.) 

One of the most popular holiday stamps of all time was issued in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., on Oct. 11, 2018, and known as the “Sparkling Holidays” set. It featured four close-up images of Santa Claus that were derived from archived artwork produced in 1963 by Haddon Sundblom for The Coca-Cola Company.

 

Today in 2023, postal patrons can select from 13 different “holiday stamps” in the Forever (66 cents each) category. Some reflect Christians’ “reason for the season,” while others are secular, whimsical and winter-oriented. Additional stamps honor other religions, customs and beliefs.

 

The USPS says it “is proud to offer a stamp program that celebrates the rich diversity of American culture.” 

New for the 2023 holiday season from the USPS is a set of four “Snow Globes” stamps, based on original oil paintings created by artist and illustrator Gregory Manchess of Minneapolis, Minn. Derry Noyes, an art director at USPS, designed the “Snow Globes” stamps. 

The USPS said: “The snow globes depict: a snowman wearing a jaunty red-and-white scarf; Santa Claus on a rooftop, preparing to climb down the chimney; a reindeer standing in a snowy forest; and a snowy tree decorated with colorful ornaments.”

 

Author Harry Rinker said: “Snow globes cause wonder. Every shake is different…and an opportunity to relive a multitude of childhood, winter and winter holiday memories.” 

A second grouping of new holiday stamps this year is “Winter Woodland Animals,” featuring a unique graphic image of a deer, fox, rabbit and owl. 

The USPS publicist said: “The animals appear with details of their habitat in winter, such as a full or crescent moon, snow-covered trees, holly branches with berries and delicate snowflakes.” USPS art director Antonio Alcalá designed the stamps with Katie Kirk serving as illustrator.

 

A spokesperson for the AARP organization advised its members to “stock up” on 2023 Forever stamps, because the price of a first-class stamp is likely to increase from 66 cents to 68 cents on Jan. 21, 2024.

Christmas card industry earned Halls’ stamp of approval

It was a proud day on Aug. 29, 1891, for Pastor George Nelson Hall, an itinerant Methodist preacher, and his wife, Nancy Dudley Houston Hall, when their third son was born in David City, Neb. 

The baby boy arrived on the same day that Methodist Bishop Isaac W. Joyce had come to call. The couple was so touched by the presence of Bishop Joyce, they chose to name their infant in his honor. The birth certificate read: “Joyce Clyde Hall.” 

(When you’re a boy named Joyce, perhaps you develop a certain grit and determination to succeed in life and in business. He chose to be called J.C.)

 

J.C. and his older brothers, Rollie and William Hall, ran a store in Kansas City, Mo., selling postcards, gifts, books, stationery and imported Christmas and Valentine’s Day cards. 

Beginning in 1912, the Hall brothers experimented with printing their own greeting cards, stamping “Hall Brothers” on the back of each card.

 

The Entrepreneur.com website states: “Just when success seemed to be within the brothers’ grasp, disaster struck. In 1915, just a few weeks before Valentine’s Day, fire swept through the warehouse, destroying their entire inventory of Valentine’s Day cards.” 

At the time, J.C. Hall reportedly said: “Quit or think fast.” The brothers borrowed $17,000 to purchase a local engraving firm, printed their own cards and replenished their stock in time for Christmas 1915. Holiday shoppers rewarded their ingenuity, providing a much-needed influx of cash for Hall Brothers. 

“The American Christmas card industry arguably began” during that Christmas season of 1915, wrote John Hanc for Smithsonian Magazine in 2015 (in observance of the 100-year anniversary of Hallmark greeting cards). 

In 1928, J.C. Hall decided to mark the back of the company’s cards with “Hallmark,” replacing “Hall Brothers.” As he explained, “Hallmark says quality in an authoritative way…and also incorporates our family name.”

 Hallmark has a remarkable legacy of collaboration with some of the world’s most renowned artists and designers. Perhaps none of these is more beloved than American illustrator Norman Rockwell, whom Hallmark founder J.C. Hall commissioned to produce 32 paintings for the company’s greeting cards between 1948-57.

 

“Rockwell’s Christmas paintings for Hallmark helped define the spirit and traditions of the holiday season for many Americans,” wrote an art historian from Minnesota. “The heartwarming and humorous images have also come to exemplify Rockwell’s unique brand of pictorial storytelling.”

 

Hanc also noted that former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy painted two Christmas card designs for Hallmark that were released in 1963. The designs, including “Glad Tidings” and “Journey of the Magi,” were sold as a benefit for construction of a national cultural center building in Washington, D.C. (It was named the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.)

 

The most popular Hallmark Christmas card of all time, however, was published in 1977 and known as “Three Little Angels.” Hanc said: “It’s an image of three cherubic angels, two of whom are bowed in prayer. The third peers out from the card with big, baby blue eyes, her halo slightly askew.”

 

Martin Cizmar, a journalist based in Kansas City, said the card was created by Hallmark artist Ruth Morehead, with text composed by Barbara Burrow: “God bless you, love you, keep you…at Christmastime and always.” 

Cizmar said there have been many updated versions of the “Three Little Angels,” including a fresh take in 2019 for Hallmark’s Mahogany line, produced by artist Sheyda Abvabi.

 “I think what makes the card so appealing is that little mischievous angel,” Abvabi said. “We all know someone she reminds us of.”

‘Lick and stick’ target date for Christmas mail is Dec. 1

Dec. 1 is “Festive Friday.” Amanda Fergusson, CEO of the Greeting Card Association, based in Teddington, England, a suburb of London, explained: “‘Festive Friday’ is when everyone in the greeting card industry posts their Christmas cards.”

“We in the card industry need to lead by example – we’re asking everyone to write their cards in November, so they are ready to post by Dec. 1 to start that first wave of card sending,” she said.

 

“Greeting cards are amazing little things. We are encouraging people to connect with loved ones through cards this Christmas and to experience the joy of sending and receiving cards,” Fergusson said. 

The first commercially produced Christmas card originated in England in 1843, commissioned by Sir Henry Cole of London, as a “business solution to a personal problem.” Cole was a popular figure during his day, a patron of the arts and a high-ranking senior official in the Public Records Office (postal service).

Writing for The Smithsonian, John Hanc said that “Cole had the misfortune of having too many friends. During the holiday season of 1843, those friends were causing Cole much anxiety.” 

The problem was the volume of letters he was receiving from friends expressing their holiday wishes. Each letter also shared a year’s worth of personal “family milestones.”

“As Cole watched the stacks of correspondence grow, he fretted over what to do,” Hanc said. It was considered impolite not to answer one’s mail. “He had to figure out a way to respond to all these people.” 

The problem was exacerbated by English postal reforms that had been spearheaded by Cole. The introduction of the “Penny Post,” allowing mail to be sent anywhere in the country by affixing a penny stamp, was extraordinarily well received…and “now everybody was sending out Christmas letters,” Hanc said. 

“Cole hit on an ingenious idea.” He approached prominent artist and friend, John Callcott Horsley, and asked him to sketch out an appropriate holiday scene. Cole then took Horsley’s illustration, showing a family at a table celebrating a banquet flanked by images of people helping the poor, and had 1,000 copies made by a London printer.

 

“The image was printed on a piece of stiff cardboard 5 1/8 x 3 1/4 inches in size,” Hanc said. At the top of each was the salutation, “TO:_____” allowing Cole to personalize his responses. A generic greeting followed: “A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year To You.”

 

With 1,000 penny stamps, Cole sent out his now-famous Christmas cards. 

Louis Prang, a Prussian immigrant with a print shop near Boston, Mass., is credited with creating the first Christmas card to originate in the United States in 1875. The card was a painting of a flower, and it read: “Merry Christmas.”

 

“This more artistic, subtle approach would categorize this first generation of American Christmas cards – vivid, beautiful reproductions,” Hanc wrote. 

“People soon collected Christmas cards like they would butterflies or coins, and the new crop each season was reviewed in newspapers, like books or films today.”

 

Festive Friday isn’t just for people “across the pond.” The date can also be observed in the United States. 

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) says “bring it on.” Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who owns a home in Greensboro, N.C., commented: “We are ready to deliver for the holidays in a superior manner.”

 

In 2022, the USPS processed record volume – more than 11.7 billion mailpieces and packages during the holiday season. On average, it took just 2.5 days to deliver these items to the intended destination. 

Have faith.

Famous red spruce leaves lasting legacy in North Carolina

Red spruce reforestation within the Appalachian Mountains is working, and the project received a shot in the arm when a 78-foot red spruce named “Ruby” went from Haywood County, N.C., to Washington, D.C., in 2022 to spend about a month as the official U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree.

Ruby was plucked from the Pisgah National Forest, and the entire event was engineered by the U.S. Forest Service, a unit of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The publicity generated a boost in fundraising as well.

Scientists collected Ruby’s cones to use the seeds to produce a new generation of red spruce trees. The project is based at Southern Highlands Reserve (SHR), a nonprofit native plant garden, located near Lake Toxaway in Transylvania County, N.C.

 

“The biggest thing we are known for is the red spruce restoration,” said Kelly Holdbrooks, SHR’s executive director. She was interviewed recently by Jonathan Rich of The Transylvania Times, a biweekly newspaper published in Brevard. The red spruce species is considered endangered. 

“We’ve grown and planted about 6,000 red spruce trees on public lands in North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee, and now we’ve been asked to grow 50,000 more,” she said. 

Holdbrooks considers the red spruce “a keystone species” that is valuable to tourism along the Blue Ridge Parkway. 

With Ruby as the centerpiece, the SHR and the U.S. Forest Service launched a capital campaign to raise $1 million for the construction of a state-of-the-art greenhouse. 

Additional partners include: the National Forest Foundation, headquartered in Missoula, Mont.; The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental organization based in Arlington, Va.; and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a bureau within the U.S. Department of the Interior. 

“Ruby will always be part of us, making music that will be sweet to our ears,” said Lorie Stroup, a member of the Pisgah National Forest staff. 

Ruby’s large trunk was returned to the North Carolina mountains to be repurposed into banjos and guitars. 

James Melonas, supervisor of the National Forests in North Carolina, told Christian Smith of the Asheville Citizen Times: “Ruby will pass through the hands of local instrument makers, each imprinting their own styles, musical influences and expertise upon the wood. Not only will these instruments sound beautiful, they will echo stories for generations to come across North Carolina.” 

Forestry officials thanked Buncombe County instrument makers Pisgah Banjo Co. of Fairview and Mountain Song Guitars of Candler “for giving Ruby a new life.”

 

Smith wrote that many musicians favor red spruce “for its stiffness and tonal quality, perfect for stringed instruments.” 

Caroline Eubanks of Garden & Gun magazine of Charleston, S.C., visited Ken Jones, owner of Mountain Song Guitars, who believes he has enough wood for six guitars. 

“The center of the trunk contained just the right grain pattern for a guitar,” Jones said. “There’s the sweet spot in the middle of the tree. Red spruce is actually my very favorite species of spruce to use for the tops of the guitars.”

 

Then there’s this commentary offered by a reader of the online “Banjo Hangout” discussion forum: “Red spruce is relatively heavy, has a high velocity of sound and the highest stiffness across and along the grain of all the top woods. (Red spruce) has a strong fundamental, but also…complex overtone content. Tops produce the highest volume, yet they also have a rich fullness of tone that retains clarity at all dynamic levels.” 

“In short, red spruce may well be the Holy Grail of top woods for acoustic steel-string guitars.” 

Someone ought to write a mountain music song about “Ruby.”