Scots-Irish settlers brought Old Christmas to the Appalachian region. Old Christmas arose out of the change from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar (Catholic calendar). Most of Europe began using the Gregorian Calendar a couple hundred years before Great Britain did (Protestants). When the English, Scots, and Irish finally adopted it, there was a twelve day difference between the Julian calendar they had been using, and the new Gregorian Calendar they were about to take on.
When they adopted it, many were upset that Christmas had been moved to twelve days earlier. Imagine thinking your Savior had been born on one day, then being told you had to celebrate the birth twelve days earlier; so many kept the date of Old Christmas as their main day of holiday festivities.
Parts of the Appalachians were settled by the Scots-Irish in the mid-1700s, so they missed the changeover in the calendar back home, and continued to celebrate Christmas on January 6th. They moved into pockets of Kentucky in the 1770s and brought this practice with them.
Old Christmas had its own traditions.
*It’s bad luck to do wash or heavy housework on Jan 6
*Shoes are left by the bed and filled with treats
*A peppermint log (giant straight peppermint sticks) were given
*Perfumes, soaps, bubble baths, and smell goods were given
*The first stepper – If a tall dark haired man is the first to cross your threshold on Christmas Day, he brings good luck into your home.
*The tree was taken down or else bad luck would befall the family
Old Christmas or Little Christmas
