By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —
Christmas lights and decorations are going up all over town. I love all the green, the red, the shiny and the bright. Our German town founders did too.
The tradition of putting up a Christmas tree goes back to 16th century Europe. Germanic-speaking Christians brought fresh-cut evergreens into their houses and decorated them. Not the first time that people celebrated with trees; older cultures like the Druids, Romans and Vikings used trees to celebrate during winter solstice festivals. The German Christian Christmas tree had evolved from the Medieval practice of the “Paradise Tree”. A fir tree was decorated with apples and communion wafers on Christmas Eve and used as the central prop in the “Paradise Play” which told the story of Adam and Eve’s fall into sin and the promise of the coming Savior, Jesus. A tree, the cross, figures in this story as well.
The 16th century Christmas trees were decorated with baked goods and fruit. The first recorded decorated tree was in Riga, Latvia, in 1510.
The first recorded Christmas tree with a New Braunfels connection was reported by our well-known teacher, mayor and lawyer Hermann Seele, in his book, Assembled Writings. It was on December 14, 1843, that Seele’s ship landed in Galveston. A stranger in the Republic of Texas, Seele was feeling a bit lonely and homesick on Christmas Eve. He attended the Episcopal church Christmas Eve service. It was decorated with fresh dark green cedar garlands and well-lit with lamps and candles. Seele delighted in the feeling of his home country and in the choir’s beautiful songs.
Nostalgia set in and Hermann Seele found himself strolling the streets of the East End to see if perchance there was a Christmas tree he could glimpse through the window of a home. He did find a candle-lit tree and after gazing at it for a while, he returned to his lodgings a happy and more settled young man.
Also in Assembled Writings, Seele records the story of December 24, 1844. Here, Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels is the hero by providing Christmas spirit and cheer for the children encamped with their parents at Indianola. The immigrants of the Johann Dethardt were camped in a grove of live oak trees for protection from the foul weather and access to firewood. Prince Carl decorated a small live oak with candles and presents for the children on their first Christmas in Texas. To accomplish this wonderful gift, Prince Carl had to have bought small presents and Christmas candles in Galveston before he sailed down to meet the immigrants at Indianola. Surely, that Christmas on the beach in 1844 was a precious and delightful memory for all.
Ferdinand Roemer, in Roemer’s Texas, wrote about his Christmas experience in New Braunfels. It is the first recorded Christmas that was celebrated on the Sophienburg Hill. For those who do not know, the Sophienburg Museum stands on that hill and is where the Adelsverein (Association) built their log headquarters. Named the Sophienburg by Prince Carl in honor of his fiancé Sophie, this is where the officers of the “Verein” were quartered. In 1846, geologist Ferdinand Roemer was passing through New Braunfels and was told by John O. Meusebach to ask Lt. von Coll for a place to stay within the “Verein Building”. Roemer writes, “According to a custom at home, Christmas Eve was celebrated in the company of the jolly companionship of the Verein’s officers around a richly decorated and candle-lit Christmas tree, for which a young cedar (Juniperus virginiana L.) was used.”
No mention is made of what was going on in the immigrant homes within the town, but I suspect that they, too, were gathering around their own freshly cut cedar trees. The tradition of cedar Christmas trees decorated with cookies, fruit, small gifts and candles was widespread in our founder families and carried on even after the addition of shiny glass ornaments. Funny thing, they used to sometimes use Spanish moss as icicle-like decoration.
Today our decorations go up around Thanksgiving. Back then building fronts were festooned with green cedar garlands the week of Christmas. The Christmas trees were put up that week as well, but no child ever saw the tree, or their gifts, until Christmas Eve. The big reveal of the decorated and candle-lit Christmas tree with presents was a magical and wonderful moment.
The Sophienburg Museum invites you to another precious, time-honored Christmas tradition in New Braunfels. On Friday, December 5, our German-speaking St. Nikolaus will visit on the eve of his feast day. It’s just $10 a family and a fun way to learn the story of St. Nikolaus, get a chance to take a photo and chat with him, make a kid’s craft and enjoy the Christmas decorations throughout the museum. Sophie’s Shop will also be open for purchasing German and other gifts.
Please RSVP at 830-629-1572 to reserve your family’s place at the 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. session.
My wish for you is that during the flurry of events and things we do during this holiday season, you stop and experience at least one moment of wonder and magic. Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Sources: Sophienburg Museum: Assembled Writings, Herman Seele; Roemer’s Texas, Ferdinand Roemer; Oscar Haas Collection.
“Around the Sophienburg” is published every other weekend in the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung.
Great Job Alan King & the Team @ Sophienburg Museum and Archives for sharing this story.
