Clark County history: ‘The holidays are not forgotten in these far distant regions.’

The early European settlers and later soldiers living in this area re-created memories of home as they celebrated the winter holiday that stretched between Christmas and New Year’s. The food, frolic and fun during this time boosted community enthusiasm, morale and spirituality during the darkest time of the year.

Before Christmas, the Hudson’s Bay Company started the holiday period with food donations and spiritual events. In 1835, an American missionary, the Rev. Samuel Parker, noted, “The holidays are not forgotten in these far distant regions.” He added that between Christmas and New Year’s, “all labor is suspended,” and a time of indulgence and festivity began. The work stoppage gave employees time to gamble, sing, dance and race horses around the fort’s open areas.

The company distributed “regale,” or extra rations of food and drink, including flour, molasses, grease, pork and sometimes rum. Employees attended spiritual activities like midnight Mass. In 1842, Chief Factor John McLoughlin joined the Catholic Church and received his first communion. The priest, the Rev. Francis Blanchet, noted that the fort chapel was “beautifully decorated and brilliantly illuminated.” A choir of men and women alternately chanted canticles of Noel in French and then Chinook jargon, he added. The effect of the service he called captivating and elevating to the believers’ minds. In 1844, Hawaiian William Kaulehelehe read Christian services in his native language for the fort’s Hawaiian employees.

On Christmas Day, company employees dressed in their best clothes prepared themselves for dinners around the fort, passing the day with the “greatest profusion; and the day passes in mirth and hilarity.” Thomas Lowe, a clerk, walked the fort, wishing friends happy returns, but he complained when rain dampened his holiday spirit, saying he had a hard time. Then, like now, decorations festooned the place. When Blanchet noticed “garlands and wreaths of green boughs” adorning a church, he rejoiced.

While all ate better, and the fort staff often consumed lavish meals throughout the day, the officers’ meal was traditional. At 3 p.m. they feasted on roast beef and plum pudding. Aboard the HMS Modeste anchored in the Columbia River in 1845, Lowe noted that the ship’s table “groaned under the weight of food.” U.S. Army officers in 1849 invited the Bay Company’s staff to dinner, but Lowe reported the guests didn’t relish the meal due to its temperance. Their hosts provided nothing alcoholic to imbibe. Lowe claimed those attending made up for it after returning to the fort.

At the trading post, the upper class preferred to drink wine and the commoners drank rum. Both circulated freely during the holiday meals. Often, drunkenness ensued. As fort visitor Letitia Hargrave explained, “The ladies all behaved well; only my friend Betsy got drunk and was carried home.” Hearing the frivolity of the joyous sailors aboard the anchored ship going on past 10 p.m., the clerk groaned that inside the fort, activities were staid, offering “nothing better to do than amuse ourselves with cards.”

Christmas, however, was just the holiday kickoff that extended beyond New Year’s Day.