Christmas Traditions and the O’Connors

Tradition plays a large role during the Christmas season. What one does, celebrates, or even eats
often has historical origins and customs that bring meaning to the holiday. As a practicing
Catholic, many Christmas traditions would have been familiar to Flannery, who referenced some
within her letters to friends during the season. Through her correspondence, we can observe what
customs she followed and relate them to the history behind such traditions.

When writing to her friend William in 1956, Flannery states: “Me I am glad that at least half of
the holidays are over and I hope we soon get rid of the fruit cake and turkey. We had our
Christmas dinner on Sunday and for Christmas I demanded and got meatballs and turnip
greens.”1 Christmas meats and treats are a highlight for many during the holidays, with classics
including glazed ham and, as Flannery mentions, fruit cake. According to tradition, however, the
Christmas ham was once a wild boar! Connected to the pagan tradition of Saturnalia that
honored Saturn, the god of harvest, wealthy families would often have a boar as the centerpiece
of the holiday meal. For those who couldn’t afford specialty boar, domesticated ham (often
already on the farm) became an equally delicious option. Today, Christmas ham remains one of
the cornerstones of holiday menus in many parts of the world, with turkey often being associated
with Thanksgiving.2

Bringing sweet with the savory, the fruit cake is one of the oldest holiday classics. The ancient
Romans made a mix of barley, pomegranate seeds, nuts and raisins, but the modern fruitcake can
be traced back to the Middle Ages when dried fruits became more widely available.3 Although
variations of the cake began to appear throughout the years, it was in the 18th and 19th centuries
when the tradition of making fruitcakes for special occasions gained in popularity. Considered a
Christmas classic, this cake has become more of a joke or cliche in recent years, but its
popularity continues to grow regardless.

Two years later, Flannery focused more on the drinks than the meal. According to a 1958 letter
Flannery wrote to Robert Lowell on Christmas Day “it is mighty unseemly of you to enshrine me
in your memory falling up the steps with a bottle of gin. I recollect the incident. It was not gin
but rum (unopened) and the steps were slick.”4 Rum is one of the key ingredients of Eggnog, one
of the most famous Christmas drinks. Though it comes from posset, a medieval England drink

1 Flannery O’Connor, “Letters of Flannery O’Connor: The Habit of Being,” Ed. Sally Fitzgerald, (Farrar, Straus,
and Giroux: New York, 1979), 189.
2 Mira Rotkovitz, “Traditional Christmas Foods,” The Spruce Eats, last modified August 28, 2020,
https://www.thespruceeats.com/traditional-christmas-specialty-foods-1665645.
3 Jesse Rodes, “Fruitcake 101: A Concise Cultural History of This Loved and Loathed Loaf,” Smithsonian
Magazine, last modified December 21, 2010,https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/fruitcake-101-a-concise-
cultural-history-of-this-loved-and-loathed-loaf-26428035/
4 Flannery O’Connor, “Letters of Flannery O’Connor: The Habit of Being,” Ed. Sally Fitzgerald, (Farrar, Straus,
and Giroux: New York, 1979), 311.
made with hot curdled milk and ale, it was American colonists who supposedly added rum and
made it the popular yuletide cocktail we know today. Even George Washington had a recipe!5

In 1961, Flannery seemed to ditch the booze and gained the birds. In a letter to John Lynch on
December 31, 1961, Flannery wrote “This fall I acquired a pair of swans and I plan to become as
great an authority on swans as I now am on peacocks.”6 Though she was most excited about this
early present, the tradition of gift giving is one of the oldest during the holidays and has multiple
origin stories. To many Christians, the gifts given at Christmas are connected to those given to
the baby Jesus by the Three Wise Men. The Bible’s New Testament describes the Three Magi —
Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar — following a star to Jesus’s nativity and presenting him with
gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. However, the tradition of gift giving extended long before
the founding of Christianity, with roots in the festivals of the ancient Romans — in particular the
festival of Saturnalia.7

Mentioned above in the history of Christmas meals, Saturnalia is where thanks were given to the
bounty provided by the agricultural god Saturn. The festivities traditionally took place in
December, and were celebrated with banquets, gift-giving, and partying. The Roman Emperor
Constantine’s conversion to Christianity started the end of pagan celebrations in the Empire, but
Saturnalia wasn’t banned right away. Many of the festival’s traits (including gift giving) were
slowly brought into the Christmas tradition, which switched from celebrating Saturn to
commemorating the birth of Jesus. Rationalised in Christianity through association with the gifts
of the Magi, gift giving was also influenced by the life of Nikolaos of Myra, a 4th century saint
who was recognized for his fondness of giving people gifts. When he was venerated as a saint,
he became known as Saint Nicholas, one of the origins of the name ‘Santa Claus’.8

Two years after her great present, Flannery would spend the Christmas of 1963 dealing with her
ailments from Lupus. On Christmas Day, Flannery wrote how she “Didn’t even get to Mass
Christmas Day. I fainted the Monday before Christmas and have been in bed ever since.”9
Missing midnight mass was worth noting, as this was an important Catholic Christmas tradition
that honors the birth of Christ, widely believed to have occurred at night. Another custom that
celebrates the birth of Jesus was the nativity scene and Christmas pageants. Flannery’s 1963
Christmas letter also states that “Ernest [a donkey from the farm]--that is Equinox’s pa--did the
honors for the burros this Christmas and went both to the Christian manger and the Methodist

5 Leslie Kennedy, “How 25 Christmas Traditions Got Their Start,” History, last modified December 18, 2020,
https://www.history.com/news/christmas-traditions-history.
6 Flannery O’Connor, “Letters of Flannery O’Connor: The Habit of Being,” Ed. Sally Fitzgerald, (Farrar, Straus,
and Giroux: New York, 1979), 459.
7 “Gifts Unwrapped: The History Of Christmas Presents,” Gifts International, accessed on June 22, 2021,
https://www.giftsinternational.net/knowledge-hub/guide/gifts-unwrapped-the-history-of-christmas-presents.
8 Ibid.
9 Flannery O’Connor, “Letters of Flannery O’Connor: The Habit of Being,” Ed. Sally Fitzgerald, (Farrar, Straus,
and Giroux: New York, 1979), 555.
pageant. He did very well in the Christian manger--in which there were also a cow a pig a
Shetland pony & some sheep and he did all right at the Methodist dress rehearsal but when the
big moment came and the church full of Methodists, he wouldn’t put his foot inside the door.”10

Christmas of 1963 would be the last holiday season Flannery would celebrate. Though she
passed in August of 1964, her letters over the years helped reveal many treasured traditions of
the Christmas season. We hope you enjoyed the history of these customs, and wish you all a
merry holiday season!

10 Flannery O’Connor, “Letters of Flannery O’Connor: The Habit of Being,” Ed. Sally Fitzgerald, (Farrar, Straus,
and Giroux: New York, 1979), 555.