Wipe away the winter blues with this handkerchief artifact. This handkerchief was partnered with a Christmas card, a traditional gift that donor Barbara Dorosh’s grandmother would give for Christmas and New Year at their family’s annual New Year’s Day donner. Her grandma would arrive and set up the card and handkerchief before anyone else. The gift-giving, in general, is a tradition often associated with the Christian feast of Christmas. Christianity became widespread when the Roman empire made it the official state religion, and around 336 CE, the date December 25 became most associated with the day of Jesus of Nazareth’s birth. People began to practice gift-giving on Christmas as the three wise men gave gifts to Jesus on his birthday. The earliest mention of a Christmas in Indigenous tradition in Canada dates to 1641, when Jean de Brebeuf composed a Christmas carol in their language telling the story of Jesus’s birth. Christmas as we think of it today, is widely attributed to Queen Victoria’s marriage to the German-born Prince Albert, which introduced some of the most familiar Christmas aspects, including Santa Claus, mistletoe, carol singing, and Christmas trees.
Happy Holidays from the Heritage Museum.