St. Patrick's Day in American History - by Jo-Ann Roberts

 

Every March 17th, the United States becomes emerald-green for a day. We wear green clothing, drink green beer and milkshakes, and eat green bagels and grits. Parades in big cities and small towns cheer on bagpipers, step dancers and marching bands. However, these traditions weren't imported from Ireland.

They were made in America.

In contrast, March 17th in Ireland had been more of a holy day than holiday. The Irish would attend church in the morning and attend modest feasts in the afternoon. There were no green-tinted foods, since blue, not green was the traditional color associated with Ireland's patron saint prior to the 1798 Irish Rebellion.

While many people believe Boston was the first to hold a St. Patrick's Day celebration in the American colonies, evidence has been unearthed that St. Augustine, Florida may have hosted America's first St. Patrick's Day celebration. Gunpowder expenditure logs indicate cannon blasts or gunfire was used to honor the saint in 1600, and that residents paraded through the town in honor of St. Patrick...perhaps at the urging of an Irish-Catholic priest living there.

Following the devastating failure of Ireland's potato crop in the mid 1840s, Irish Catholics flooded the United States. They clung to their Irish identities and took to the streets in St. Patrick's Day parades to protest the bigotry of the "Know-Nothings", a political party with strong anti-immigrants and anti-Catholics who believed these groups posed a threat to the economic and political security of native-born Protestant Americans.  

"Many who were forced to leave Ireland during the Great Hunger brought a lot of memories, but they didn't have their country, so it was a celebration of being Irish..."

Attitudes toward the Irish began to soften after tens of thousands of them served in the Civil War. They entered the war as second-class citizens but came back as heroes. Notable among them was the 69th Regiment from New York City or as Robert E, Lee called them, The Fighting 69th. As the Irish slowly assimilated into American culture, those without Celtic blood joined in St. Patrick's Day celebrations.

The meal most associated with St. Patrick's Day celebrations--corned beef and

cabbage--was also an American innovation. When ships came into South Street seaport, many women from the slums of lower Manhattan would run down to the docks hoping there was leftover salted beef they could get from the ship's cook for a penny a pound. They would boil the beef three times--the last time with cabbage--to remove some of the brine.

While St. Patrick's Day evolved in the 20th century into a party day for Americans of all ethnicities, the celebration in Ireland remained solemn. For decades, Irish laws prohibited pubs from opening on holy days such as March 17th. Until 1961, the only legal place to get a drink in the Irish capital on St. Patrick's Day was the Royal Dublin Dog Show.

The party atmosphere spread to Ireland after the arrival of television when the Irish could see all the fun Americans were having. Today, the St. Patrick's Day Festival, launched in Dublin in 1996, now attracts one million people each year.

Though the Irish have now St. Patrick's Day traditions, there is one tradition, however, that might not catch on in Ireland...green Guinness! As Mike McCormack, national historian for the Ancient Order of Hibernians says, "St. Patrick never drank green beer."

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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In the summer of 1864 in Roswell, Georgia, widow Sofie Bishop struggles to manage the small family vineyard on her own. The War Between the States took her husband and her way of life. Now, with her home in ruins her only option was working at the Ivy Woolen Mill. Her woes go from bad to worse when the Yankees arrive on Roswell’s doorstep.

Courteous and kind, Captain Seth Ramsey is not what Sofie expects from a Union officer. However, charming he might be, she’s determined to keep her distance. Even when she finds herself branded as a traitor, arrested, and transported north to an uncertain destiny, she didn’t think she could lose much more to the Yankees.
But she was wrong.
Will his vow of love mend her wounded heart? Or would a marriage of convenience be the best she can offer?

Desperation Pie - by Jo-Ann Roberts

 

When I was plotting out my Christmas book slated for a Black Friday release, I knew my hero was an only child of a single mother who wasn't a very good cook. But she did make one dish for her son...Vinegar Pie!

I imagine some of you are already puckering your lips, making an "eww" sound! While many people today wince at the thought of a vinegar pie, our pioneer ancestors loved it. They used apple-cider vinegar to take the place of citrus juices to make this tart and sweet pie. The filling is similar to a Key Lime pie or a Lemon Meringue pie, except vinegar is substituted for the lemon or lime juice.

Today, buying lemons or limes is as easy as walking to the produce aisle at our local grocery store. However, the pioneers didn't have that luxury. Something as simple as a lemon, orange, or lime was a rare treat, very expensive, and difficult to find. The availability of citrus fruits wasn't as great as today's demand, let alone the means to distribute the fruits. But that didn't stop many pioneer women from improvising alternate solutions. Thus, the first vinegar pie recipe was born. The acid in the vinegar delivered the same taste and tartness as the citric acid in citrus fruits. 

In the mid- to late 1800's, every logging or mining camp had a cook shack where the loggers and miners gathered to eat. Much of the menu consisted of wild game and fish. But dessert was another story, and while cooks in these camps were very creative, the options were often limited. Since pie was extremely easy to make requiring only water, flour, vinegar, sugar, eggs, and dry spices..."Desperation Pie" was created and became a camp favorite. It was not only sweet and tart but was often topped with a meringue.

 

Vinegar pie is about old-fashioned as it gets. The ingredients are readily available, and the benefits of using vinegar are numerous. If you want to get a good dose, plus appreciate a bit about our past, give this vinegar pie a try!

https://melissaknorris.com/vinegar-pie

Website: https://www.jo-annrobertsauthor.com/

Email:  jrobertsauthor@yahoo.com

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Ring in the New Year - Past New Year's Traditions 1865-1920 by Jo-Ann Roberts

 

Happy New Year, Friends!

Since many of our holiday traditions in the United States came to our shores from immigrants looking for a better way of life for themselves and their families, New Year's was no exception. 

Following the Civil War, parties, dancing, and festive spirits were staples of New Year's celebrations, just like today. Yet, there were many other odd, quaint, and charming customs that, for the most part, are no longer practiced today. 

Matchmaking

Wealthy folks would hold "open houses", inviting all the local eligible bachelors into their homes to meet their unmarried daughters...similar to today's speed dating! The bachelors would spend about fifteen minutes chatting with the unmarried daughter, provide her with his calling card and move on to the next home. If interested, the daughter would call upon the bachelor for another visit to talk and to meet her family.

In New York City, young men would race around the city to visit (call on) as many young women as possible. By the 1890s, the custom had fallen out of fashion in in favor of more exclusive New Year's Eve parties.  

The calling card to the left is that of Mr. Augustus Rux (pictured on the card). Apparently, he was successful as he married Mary Beck in 1916. They had two children together.

New Clothes

While many people didn't have the means to purchase a new outfit to wear on New Year's Day, women and girls often tied ribbons in their hair. Pioneer men might sport a new kerchief to symbolize fresh beginnings, and leaving of all the past year's hardships.

The Threshold 

The threshold represented the crossing from one year to the next. At the stroke of midnight, the front door was flung open, and one greeted the new year with shouts of "Welcome!" The head of the household would take three bits of bread before throwing the loaf against the door while those gathered prayed "that cold, want or hunger might not enter" in the coming year. 

If the first visitor of the year to cross the threshold by stepping into the home (whether family or friend) had dark hair, it meant good fortune was ahead for the family. If the person had blonde hair, it meant troubles loomed.

Pigs and Clovers

 

Postcards were often sent to and from loved ones, a number of them containing pigs and clovers, as they were considered bearers of good fortune for the year ahead.

Cleaning the Hearth

Cleaning out the ashes from the hearth was completed on New Year's Eve as a sign of sweeping away all the past year's misfortunes and ushering in the new year with a clean slate.

Divination 

People would playfully predict one another's fortunes for the new year interpreting each other's tea leaves, and by engaging in opening the Bible to a random page. Known as "dipping", the player would, without looking, point to a particular passage. The selected excerpt was thought to predict the good or bad fortune of the person doing the dipping. 

Bell Ringing

Many towns and cities rang bells at midnight to chase away evil. This may have led to the present-day tradition of noisemakers and party horns. 

The tradition of ringing in the new year at Times Square in New York dates back to December 31, 1904.

In 1904, the New York Times newspaper moved their location to Longacre Square.  To mark the joint celebration of its move, a name change to Times Square, and the impending new year, thousands were invited to the festivities.

Shortly before midnight, dynamite exploded as a signal that fireworks were set to begin, and the giant numerals 1 - 9 - 0 - 5 were illuminated atop the New York Times building in the direction of theaters, hotels, and restaurants downtown. This annual celebration with fireworks continued for the next two years. 

In 1907, New York banned fireworks and a new way to ring in the new year was sought. It was decided a ball, constructed of wood and iron, and illuminated with 216 electric lamps would signal the new year. 

New Year's Eve, 1907. The streets were blocked off from traffic and the crowds kept back to ensure safety for all visitors, hence the scene seems bare.

The ball has changed locations through the years, its move to its current location at One Times Square in 2009. The dropping of the ball has been an annual tradition in Times Square since December 31, 1907, the only exceptions being 1942 and 1943 in observance of wartime blackouts.

Although many of these traditions are obsolete or have morphed into something different, opening one's home, along with special foods served and enjoyed on New Year's has lasted for generations. My wish for you is still the same as those who have gone before us...luck, good fortune, prosperity and health throughout the coming year.

A Widow's Cause: Bringing Thanksgiving to Victorian America by Jo-Ann Roberts

 

During most of the 19th century, Thanksgiving was not an official holiday. Admittedly, it had its roots in the New England states, and was widely celebrated there and into the mid-West. The actual date of the holiday was left to individual states and territories. It could vary widely from September through December, but mostly celebrated in November after the harvest.

While the idea of celebrating a good harvest was an old one, it took a Victorian lady to give it its voice. Specifically, the editor of a highly popular magazine of the times, Godey's Lady's Book, Sarah Josepha Hale. 

Suddenly finding herself a widow and single mother with children to support--including a brand-new baby--Sarah wrote a book, Northwood. Its success led to a job offer for the "editorship" of a new "ladies" magazine, turning Godey's into one of the most important periodicals in 19th century America. Though it is now remembered primarily for its fashion plates, crafts, and household tidbits, it covered social issues as well.

 

Year after year, Godey's Lady's Book published the same plea. Each year the campaign brought new success. By 1851, 29 out of 31 states celebrated a day of Thanksgiving. However, not on the same day so she continued to insist the holiday be celebrated on the exact same day. 

Having thoroughly thought it out, she suggested the last Thursday in November so that "the telegraph of human happiness would move every heart to gladness simultaneously." To further her cause for a unified day of giving thanks, she pointed out that farm labor was done for the season and the election cycle was over.

 

Below is the cover of Godey's Lady's Book and the original plea from 1847.

 

“OUR HOLIDAYS.—We have but two that we can call entirely national. The New Year is a holiday to all the world, and Christmas to all Christians—but the “Fourth of July” and “Thanksgiving Day” can only be enjoyed by Americans. The annual observance of Thanksgiving Day was, to be sure, mostly confined to the New England States, till within a few years. We are glad to see that this good old puritan custom is becoming popular through the Union…Would that the next Thanksgiving might be observed in all the states on the same day. Then, though the members of the same family might be too far separated to meet around one festival board, they would have the gratification of knowing that all were enjoying the blessing of the day…

Despite her claims, she had not achieved the ultimate endorsement; a proclamation from the President. In 1861, with civil war looming, she focused on national unity as her strongest selling point. 

Finally, under these conditions and the stress of considerable loss of life, a devastated Southern economy, and public support for the holiday, President Abraham Lincoln endorsed and proclaimed "a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelt in the heavens." Furthermore, he stated, Americans should "fervently implore" blessings from the Almighty to "heal the wounds of the nations, and to restore it...to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and union."

Thanksgiving in a Civil War camp

Successive presidents continued the tradition and proclaimed a yearly Thanksgiving at the end of every November.  Still not satisfied, Hale's magazine urged Congress to recognize the holiday. Unfortunately, she didn't live to see the Congressional proclamation of the Thanksgiving story (which finally took place in 1941), but by the 1870's Thanksgiving was already a part of America's culture.

The national holiday has become just what Sarah Josepha Hale envisioned: a celebration of home and hearth and the blessings for which we are grateful.

 Happy Thanksgiving!

Sources:

Read the Original Pitch for Thanksgiving, From the Editress Who Created the Holiday - Atlas Obscura

http://www.thisvictorianlife.com/blog/thanksgiving

The Romance of Wicker Furniture by Jo-Ann Roberts

In my current work in progress, Marrying the Major, Kit Lambert, a proud Southern belle, seeks counsel from her aunt in a serene setting surrounded by fragrant magnolias, wisteria vines, lilac bushes, and...a grouping of wicker chairs and tables. The object of her dilemma?... a  handsome Union major, Will Chandler, whose unnerving presence in their small southern town at the very end of the War Between the States upends her world and her heart.

Nothing sparks my romantic imagination  like a peaceful garden  on a warm early summer evening filled with the scent of flowers and graced with ferns surrounding white wicker furniture. I can visualize a couple sharing sweet kisses, gentle touches, and whispered words of love...*sigh*  So naturally, I wanted to add a scene which added an extra element of romance. This desire led me to researching the history of this favorite type of casual furnishings.

Wicker furniture has a long history that spans nearly 5,000 years - from ancient Egyptian rattan weaving, to the outdoor wicker furniture of our present day. The word  "wicker" is of Scandinavian descent and originates from the words wika which means "to bend" and vikker which means "willow".

This popularity of wicker went beyond ancient Egypt and Rome to various European countries, and finally arriving in America on the Mayflower in the form of a baby cradle! 

Cyrus Wakefield popularized the use of rattan when he began selling it off ships docked at Boston's many ports. The ships would use the material as light weight packaging, capable of keeping crates together.  These materials were used to keep the cargo from shifting around in rough waters during the voyage from Asia. Leftovers were often abandoned on the docks  until they died but Wakefield had a better idea. He took home an armful of the rattan and wove it around the frame of a chair. From this humble beginning, he rose to prominence as one of America's first rattan furniture makers during the 1860s after he married the daughter of a wealthy shipping magnate. Through the connections his in-laws brought to their shipping business Wakefield was able to import rattan from China.

During this time, wicker furniture was used inside the home, on the front porch, and even in the garden. Wakefield Company dominated the industry but was opposed by its largest competitor, Heywood Brothers & Company, who at the time, was the largest manufacturer of wood furniture. The tide shifted when Heywood Brothers developed machinery to automate the process with a loom which could weave the cane. This reduced the price dramatically and the two companies competed heavily in the 1870s-1880s. Ultimately, the two companies merged to form Heywood-Wakefield Company in 1897.

In the world of wicker there are four distinct eras. The Victorian Era (1860s-1900) is notable for its elaborate ornamentation like curlicues and beads, and complicated, handwoven caned back panels in fancy spider-web weaves. Special motifs like moons, stars, and fans were also popular.

The Turn of the Century Era (1900-1917) featured flowing, wavelike lines. These pieces were all handmade with natural materials. During this time period, Gustav Stickley (founder of the renowned Stickley Furniture Company) introduced a wicker style which was modern and revolutionary in design with its straight lines and open latticework.

During the Machine Age (1917-1940s) The Lloyd Loom process was patented in 1917 by Marshall Lloyd, who twisted kraft paper around a metal wire, placed the paper threads on a loom and wove them into what was to become the traditional Lloyd Loom fabric. These chairs quickly became very popular in the U.S. in 1921. Upholstered backs and seat cushions were now the rage. 

The Art Deco style continued to utilize the paper fiber rush weaving multi-colored diamond patterns into the backs of chairs and settees.

My own love of wicker furniture revolves around summer evenings sitting on my in-law's porch on Cape Cod when I was dating my husband. A two-sided porch wrapped around a ten room Victorian house, complete with a small cottage in the back as well as a huge barn and circular drive. But I always sensed that it was that furniture on the porch which gave the house its personality and sense of style. Though the house was sold a few years ago, I hope the new owners spend soft summer nights sipping ice tea on a wicker glider, holding hands and exchanging loving glances.