While Christmas has come and gone according to the calendar, the celebration continues at Sycamore Shoals State Park as the historic site presents it’s annual Old Christmas at Fort Watauga event next weekend.
The event focuses on sharing the Christmas traditions the early settlers in the region would have observed. Each cabin inside Fort Watauga will feature a different cultural background — including Scottish, French, Dutch, German and English Christmas traditions.
In Colonial times, Christmas was be a 12-day long celebration which began on Dec. 25 and ended on Jan. 6, which was then known as Twelfth Night due to it being the twelfth night of the holiday. The Old Christmas celebration at Fort Watauga is set to align with that tradition.
There are many different Christmas traditions which were brought over from the old world — some of which remain to this day while others fell out of practice.
Some of the traditions park visitors will have the opportunity to learn about during the Old Christmas event will be the Yule Log, which had a home in many cultures; the Christmas guns; putting candles in the windows; putting shoes by the fireplace or outside the door to the home; and even which culture was the first to introduce the idea of the Christmas tree. Visitors will also learn about different versions of Santa Claus – including the Dutch Sinterklass and the French Père Noël.
The Old Christmas event has been a very popular celebration at Sycamore Shoals.
This year, the event will be held on Saturday, Jan. 2 and Sunday, Jan. 3. Events will run from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Saturday and from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Contact Sycamore Shoals State Park for a detailed schedule or for more information by calling (423) 543-5808.