Dutch-Colonies-L Archives

From:
Subject: Re: [D-Col] America's Dutch Santa
Date: Tue, 2 Jan 2001 23:09:59 -0500

Susan,

I enjoyed reading it. Your sharing
is appreciated. Again, thanks and
happy new year.

Jean


On Tue, 2 Jan 2001 16:28:59 EST writes:
> I had hoped to post this earlier during the Christmas holidays when
> it would
> have been more appropriate but not surprisingly I got very caught up
> in the
> usual hustle bustle of all and just did not find the time. The
> following is
> of interest just in general regarding the influence of the Dutch on
> our
> current American traditions but also is relevent to the discussion
> earlier
> about the *true* author of "The Night Before Christmas".
>
> According to author Penne L. Restad in her book "Christmas in
> America..a
> History" (pub. 1995) it was probably Washington Irving (among other
> writers)
> who influenced the author of "The Night Before Christmas". When
> Irving's book
> "A History of New York" was published in 1809 Livingston would have
> been 51.
> Moore was a generation younger and only 30 at that time. Irving's
> fictional
> "history", based on fact, was full of humorous Dutch stereotypes and
> well
> received by most (although some of the descendants were sensitive
> about it
> apparently) . From the recent descriptions given of Henry Livingston
> one
> would presume that he would have found the book great fun.
>
> Irving's colorful depiction of Wouter Van Twiller the first Governor
> of the
> New Netherland is so similar to the Santa in "The Night Before
> Christmas"
> that it cannot be a coincidence. Irving states that Van Twiller was
> as though
> formed "of some cunning Dutch statuary.....five feet six inches in
> height,
> and six feet five inches in circumference....his legs though
> exceedingly
> short, were sturdy to the weight they had to sustain...when erect he
> had the
> appearance of a robustious beer-barrel standing on skids. Two small
> grey eyes
> twinkled feebly in the midst, like two stars of lesser magnitude in
> the hazy
> firmament; and his full fed cheeks, which seemed to have taken toll
> of
> everything that went into his mouth, were curiously mottled and
> streaked with
> dusky red like a Spitzenberg apple."
>
> Irving mentions, "the smoke curling from his pipe to the ceiling"
> and that
> "he smoked for half an hour without saying a word; at length, laying
> a finger
> beside his nose...." . Inspiration for Santa may have also come from
> Irving's
> depiction in this same work of a dream had by Oloffe Van Kortlandt.
> "the good
> St. Nicholas came riding over the tops of trees.....he lit his pipe
> by the
> fire and sat himself down and smoked; and as he smoked the smoke
> from his
> pipe ascended into the air and spread like a cloud overhead......and
> when St.
> Nicholas had smoked his pipe, he twisted it in his hat-band, and
> laying a
> finger beside his nose, gave the astonished Van Kortlandt a very
> significant
> wink, then mounting his wagon, he returned over the tree-tops and
> disappeared."
>
> Ms. Restad also notes that some images may have also come from a
> 1662
> didactic Puritan poem "The Day of Doom" by Michael Wigglesworth.
> (Would Henry
> Livingston also have had a familiarity with this? or does this sound
> more
> like something one would find in Moore's library)
>
> "Still was the night, serene and bright when all men sleeping
> lay...... they
> rush from beds with giddy heads and to their windows run, viewing
> this light,
> which shines more bright than doth the noonday sun."
>
> According to Restad, lore has it that a house guest of Moore's,
> Harriet
> Butler, copied the poem into her album while visiting and from then
> on its
> public life began. Restad also mentions that a man named Henry West
>
> suggested that Moore was too somber and grave to have written the
> poem. A
> great-grandson of Henry Livingston, William S. Thomas, also made
> claim that
> Livingston was the actual author and Tristam Coffin in his "Book of
> Christmas
> Folklore" 1990, also argues for Livingston's authorship, noting that
> he was
> "a whimsical chap who once swithchwd the lyrics in his music book
> from 'God
> Save the King' to 'God Save Congress' and who produced a steady
> stream of
> light, occasional verse, much of it in the same meter as 'The Night
> Before
> Christmas'."
>
> By the way..... Regarding Van Twiller's"Spitzenbergh apple"
> cheeks.... these
> apples were grown abundantly in the Hudson River Valley area,
> especially near
> Esopus. (apparently brought in...or developed by the Dutch
> settlers). These
> old varieties are very hard to find these days but this apple (to my
>
> delight!) is now being grown in Sebastipol CA (not far from where I
> live). I
> found some at a local market this fall and they are truly WONDERFUL!
> (intense
> apple flavor, just slightly tart) My Western Garden book refers to
> them as
> "Esopus Spitzenbergs" and describes them as their favorite variety
> of apple!
>
> Another interesting aside....... Henry Livingston's great
> grandaughter
> married Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor. Livingson's home along the
> Hudson
> river in the Hyde Park area, Locust Grove, later became the summer
> home of
> Morse and his wife. It is now an historical site and open to the
> public as
> the Samuel Morse home.
>
> Happy New Year to ALL! :-)
>
> Susan
>
>
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