by Jane
On this fifth day of Christmas, I offer you not Five Golden Rings but (a few more than) Five Christmas Wreaths from Colonial Williamsburg (CW).
(Well, it was the fifth day of Christmas when I started this post . . .)
These wreaths and other door decorations have become such a fixture in CW that people come from all over the country, some every year, to see them, and the style has become known (at least according to CW) as "Colonial Williamsburg door decorations" (catchy name, that). And I have to say, I find them totally charming.
I did learn, however, that while most of Colonial Williamsburg is period correct, these wreaths, etc., are not. For one thing, they go up in Advent (the days encompassing the four Sundays before Christmas), not Christmas (the 12 days from December 25 through January 5). Remember that the colonists were British citizens and that there was no separation between the Anglican church and the state. For them, as for many Christians today, Advent was a time of self-examination and repentance, not of deck-the-halls jollity, as evidenced by the collects (a form of prayer) for the four Sundays of Advent. Here is the collect for the second Sunday of Advent in The Book of Common Prayer (you can read all the Advent collects here):
Merciful God, who sent thy messengers the prophets to
preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation:
Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins,
that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our
Redeemer; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation:
Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins,
that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our
Redeemer; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Even during the 12 days of Christmas, colonists likely wouldn't have any decorations on their doors; more likely, any decorations would have been centerpieces on the dining table. In fact, I've heard tell that one historical interpreter, charged with making door decor, placed forks and spoons around his creation as a subtle way of insisting on historical integrity.
And as for the fruit and vegetables that are the hallmark of Colonial Williamsburg style, "no one in the eighteenth century would have been caught dead with real fruit tacked to his front door. Anyone hanging fresh fruit outdoors in the middle of winter to rot or be devoured by squirrels would have been thought, at best, highly eccentric by his neighbors"—so write M. M. Theobald and L. H. Oliver in "Deck the Doors," a short article well worth reading. And apparently the squirrels do indeed devour the fruit in the wreaths; one CW staffer told us that the fruits and vegetables are replaced daily!
Some of the decorations reflect the nature of the shop they adorn. These two with oyster shells are from a tavern and a restaurant.
This wreath hangs on the door of a shop that sells, among other things, toys.
Look closely at this swag over the dressmaker's door, and you'll see that her fruit and vegetables are sewn of fabric.
A few of the buildings in CW are rented as private residences (mostly to CW employees), and those tenants are "encouraged" (which I'm pretty sure means required) to decorate their doors as well. Perhaps this home houses a gambler, or maybe royalty? Or maybe this wreath is simply a witty take on "decking" the halls.
And of course a lot of the decorations are simply pretty, with nothing representative about them.
Our Christmas celebration is uber-minimalist this year. We didn't take any holiday decorations with us when we hit the road, but all these decked doors motivated me to make one Christmas centerpiece, using a bowl and tealight we already had, shells from the beach, and pinecones and greenery from the campsite. I leave you with a photo of it and the collect for the first Sunday after Christmas Day.
Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of
your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our
hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our
Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
