• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar

New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Adirondacks & NNY
  • Capital-Saratoga
  • Mohawk Valley
  • Hudson Valley & Catskills
  • NYC & Long Island
  • Western NY
  • History
  • Nature & Environment
  • Arts & Culture
  • Outdoor Recreation
  • Food & Farms
  • Subscribe
  • Support
  • Submit
  • About
  • New Books
  • Events
  • Podcasts

Christmas

Santa’s Reindeer Hit Hard By Our Warming Climate

December 24, 2020 by Paul Hetzler Leave a Comment

Reindeer courtesy Wikimedia user Are G NilsenReindeer have been soaring since long before Christmas came into being. For some reason, the fly agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria), a lovely red-and-white polka-dotted ‘shroom bearing an uncanny resemblance to a Christmas ornament, is attractive to these creatures. It’s also hallucinogenic, and Comet, Cupid, and loads of other blitzed reindeer have been observed lurching about after munching the mushrooms (Santa’s sleigh makes more sense after you learn about this little reindeer game).

Regrettably, flights of any sort will become less frequent for these animals, as their population is in steep decline as a result of a warmer Arctic. [Read more…] about Santa’s Reindeer Hit Hard By Our Warming Climate

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, Nature, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Christmas, Climate Change, Holidays, nature, weather, Wildlife

Slavery, Christmas and Southern Memory

December 18, 2020 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

The Historians LogoIn this episode of The Historians Podcast Purdue University Professor Emeritus Robert May weighs in on whether enslaved people were better treated during the Christmas season in the Old South.

May is author of Yuletide in Dixie: Slavery, Christmas and Southern Memory (2019). He earned his undergraduate degree at Union College in Schenectady. [Read more…] about Slavery, Christmas and Southern Memory

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Books, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Agricultural History, Black History, Christmas, Cultural History, Holidays, Podcasts, Slavery

Puritans, Prussians, and the History of Christmas Cards

December 15, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp 3 Comments

First Xmas card by John Callcott HorsleyNew York has important associations with the formation of what is now considered a traditional American Christmas. “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (a.k.a. “Twas The Night Before Christmas”) was first published in the Troy Sentinel in 1823; The Albany Evening Journal ran an advertisement on December 17, 1841, that is believed to be the first time Santa Clause was used to advertise a store; and America’s first Christmas card was published in Albany in 1850/51.

Recently two rare printings of the first commercially printed Christmas card, published in England, have been announced for sale at auction. The cards depicts a family toasting with glasses of red wine. Commissioned by Henry Cole and designed by John Callcott Horsley, it carries the message “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You.” [Read more…] about Puritans, Prussians, and the History of Christmas Cards

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Christmas, Cultural History, Holidays, Religious History

A First World War Holiday Miracle

December 14, 2020 by Maury Thompson Leave a Comment

World War One poster Exaggerating the quickness of the war's end Call it an antiquarian newspaper holiday miracle.

“Rather a peculiar thing happened a few days ago,” Lieutenant Howard Smith of Hudson Falls wrote his mother from a military hospital in France on December 26th, 1918. “One of the orderlies of this ward found a picture of me in The Post-Star while he was in another ward. It was an account of my getting a Boche.” [Read more…] about A First World War Holiday Miracle

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Christmas, Glens Falls, Holidays, Hudson Falls, Military History, Warren County, World War One

An Arborist Considers Christmas Trees, Evergreen Traditions

December 12, 2020 by Paul Hetzler Leave a Comment

Whitehouse Christmas TreeThe morning of December 25th this year will be a lot less cheery unless the World Health Organization gives Santa a free pass on COVID-19 restrictions so he can hand out presents to billions of kids on Christmas Eve night.

As it is, many people feel like cheer is at low ebb. Local authorities in my area strongly recommend we celebrate the holidays in our respective households; no visitors. Yikes! Looks like Christmas 2020 will have to run on memories – bad news for me, as I forget where I put the keys two minutes after setting them down. [Read more…] about An Arborist Considers Christmas Trees, Evergreen Traditions

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Christmas, Holidays, nature, trees

America’s First Christmas Card & An Early Albany Department Store

December 10, 2020 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

America's First Christmas Card, Designed and printed by Richard H. Pease for his "Pease's Great Variety Store in the Temple of Fancy" c.1851. Image courtesy of Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections.Before F. W. Woolworths’, Whitney’s, or even Myer’s department store, there was Pease’s Great Variety Store, located in the Temple of Fancy at 516 and 518 Broadway in Albany, NY.

As with other fancy goods stores, Pease’s catered to the middle and upper middle class selling highly decorated goods like ceramics, prints, furniture and other decorative household items that progressively thinking people might have wanted to purchase. [Read more…] about America’s First Christmas Card & An Early Albany Department Store

Filed Under: Arts, Capital-Saratoga, History, New Exhibits Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Albany Institute For History and Art, Art History, Christmas, Cultural History, Holidays, Instagram, Pop Culture History

Christmas Ghost Stories (Podcast)

November 27, 2020 by Bob Cudmore 1 Comment

The Historians LogoThis week on The Historians Podcast, Christopher Philippo, a historian from Bethlehem, NY, joins us. He is editor of The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories. Stories include “The Green Huntsman” and “The Christmas Ghost.” [Read more…] about Christmas Ghost Stories (Podcast)

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Christmas, Holidays, Podcasts

A Short History of Christmas for New Yorkers

December 24, 2019 by Peter Hess 9 Comments

Albany children singings hymns to St. Nicholas on the Eve of the Feast of St. NicholasThe tale of St. Nicholas is an old fable from mid-Europe that was popular in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. St. Nicholas was the patron saint of children, merchants and sailors and the patron saint of Amsterdam and was brought by the Dutch to the new world, which for the Dutch was Nieuw Nederlandt (New Netherland). Many of the American traditions on Santa Claus originated in the Dutch settlement of New Netherland along the Hudson River between New Amsterdam (New York City) and Oranje (Beverwyck-Albany). The other colonies were English. [Read more…] about A Short History of Christmas for New Yorkers

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Albany, Christmas, Holidays

A Christmas in Kingston in the 1880s

December 24, 2019 by Lowell Thing 3 Comments

McEntee- Christmas in the Catskills,1867“I went out after a Christmas tree and some laurel, through seas of mud,” Jervis McEntee of Kingston wrote on Christmas Eve 1881, “to the place where I always go on the cross road between the Flat-bush and Pine bush roads. It rained a part of the time and turned into a snow storm on our return.”

Another year, McEntee’s usual places for a tree were so wet that he settled for a small hemlock on the side of the hill where he lived. It was a hill that offered a panoramic view of the entire village as well as the Rondout Creek and the Hudson River. His father James, an engineer who had helped build the nearby Delaware and Hudson Canal, had built the first house on the hill and the family still lived there. [Read more…] about A Christmas in Kingston in the 1880s

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Art History, Christmas, Cultural History, Hasbrouck House, Holidays, Hudson River School, Kingston

Remembering The Christmas of 1945 in Northern NY

December 24, 2019 by Lawrence P. Gooley Leave a Comment

1945 Ad Welcome Home VetsAmong the finest Christmas seasons in America’s long history took place in 1945. We’re constantly bombarded with how special the holidays are, so it’s tough for any one year to stand out as extra special, but 1945 makes the list.

Events across the Adirondacks that year epitomized the nation’s attitude. Surprisingly, it wasn’t all about celebrating, even though the most destructive war in history had just ended a few months earlier. We often mumble mindlessly that we’re proud to be Americans. But the first post-World War II Christmas was the real deal, worthy of the word “pride.” [Read more…] about Remembering The Christmas of 1945 in Northern NY

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Christmas, Essex County, Holidays, Military History, World War Two

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Support Our 2022 Fundraising

Subscribe to New York Almanack

Subscribe! Follow the New York Almanack each day via E-mail, RSS, Twitter or Facebook updates.

Recent Comments

  • Katie L Williams on “Labor’s Slaves in the Adirondacks”: Building the Adirondack Railroad
  • Edythe Ann Quinn on Slug Slime: A Secret Weapon
  • Stefani on Jet Ski Invasion of NY Harbor Rounds Manhattan’s Tip
  • Debby Starck on Coyotes: Decoding Their Yips, Barks, and Howls
  • Sean on A Brief History of the Mohawk River
  • Helise Flickstein on Susan B. Anthony Childhood Home Historic Marker Dedication
  • Art and Fashion Teachers Opportunity: Quilts, Textiles, & Fiber Exhibitions Looking For Entries DEADLINE August 14, 2022 – Keeper of Knowledge on Quilts, Textiles, & Fiber Exhibitions Looking For Entries
  • Margaret on Catskills Resort History: The Beginning of the End
  • Kathleen Hulser on Georgia O’Keefe At Wiawaka On Lake George
  • Alison, descendent of Thurlow Weed on Albany’s Thurlow Weed: Seward, Lincoln’s Election, & The Civil War Years

Recent New York Books

off the northway
Horse Racing the Chicago Way
The Women's House of Detention
Long Island’s Gold Coast Warriors and the First World War
Public Faces Secret Lives by Wendy Rouse
adirondack cabin
Spaces of Enslavement and Resistance in Dutch New York
ilion cover
Spare Parts

Secondary Sidebar

preservation league
Protect the Adirondacks Hiking Guide