By Starrlette L. Howard History lends itself to the charm of Christmases today. The legends, the traditions, and the roots of an American celebration arouse the curiosity and kindle the heart with its own kind of magic!
Come with me to a Colonial Christmas at Williamsburg, Virginia. You’ll find a Christmas charm there that will never be forgotten.
The Historic Area of Williamsburg is decorated for Christmas by Dec. 14. On Dec. 16, there is an annual “Grand Illumination.”
The houses are decorated with plain wreaths and elaborate wreath creations of fruit and cones. You can walk the actual street where Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson once walked!
At the Governor’s Palace, famed flower arrangers will have the windows, doorways, balconies, wrought-iron entrance gates and cupola (high above the roof) decorated with pine roping and pomegranate wreaths.
Cannons, mortars and muskets roar at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 16, and crowds of visitors observe the igniting of 2,000 candles.
The “White Lighting” (or “Grand Illumination”) that takes place in Williamsburg gives off a special yuletide glow. There is a candle in every window of every home, shop and public building in the Historic Center. On Dec. 16, candles are lit in all windows down a mile-long Duke of Gloucester Street. The Christmas glow continues with music, dancing and a fireworks display.
Historic researchers tell us that the great occasion of “Grand illumination” began on the birth night of the King of England. Williamsburg’s tradition is kept in commemoration of the night of the birth of The King of Kings.
Along Gloucester Street, the Saint James Pipe Band, Colonial Williamsburg Fife and Drum Corps, and local church choirs provide the historical area with holiday music. The very feeling of Christmas ignites within all during the festivity in the celebration of Colonial Christmas!
Until Jan. 2, there are tours for exhibition buildings, a Colonial play, and the sights and sounds of Christmas everywhere! There’s an enlightening and enjoyable tour “for the kid in all of us” at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center—one can go back in history and view “The Toys, and Joys, of Christmas” there.
Other activities span morning, noon, and night with caroling, concerts, plays, militia musters, parties, and Colonial sports and games.
A fortnight of holiday gaiety marks each Christmas season in Colonial Williamsburg’s Historical Area. Typical of the ornate decorations are the white pine roping and boxwood wreath with pomegranates that adorn the gate at the Governor’s Palace. Chiseled in stone, the English lion and the Scottish unicorn flank the gilded wrought-iron crown of England and cypher of Queen Anne. A wreath and candle accent each window of the elegant residence of seven royal governors and the first two elected leaders of the Commonwealth, Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson.
All homes, public buildings and shops along Williamsburg’s mile-long Duke of Gloucester Street display candles in their windows during the Christmas fortnight, and many old Colonial customs are revived.
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