A Spirited Holiday Past

Library of Congress

"Over the river, and through the wood, To Grandfather's house we go; the horse knows the way to carry the sleigh through the white and drifted snow" -Lydia Maria Child, 1844

Welcome!

Welcome to A Spirited Holiday Past at Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site! Each year the park rings in the holiday season with a special event featuring festive decorations, skits, music, and cooking demonstrations. This year's event has gone virtual, but there is still much to enjoy!

Below you will find virtual programming including gingerbread cooking demonstrations, 19th-century holiday music, and a special holiday-themed craft activity. Enjoy these videos and craft project with your loved ones from the comfort and safety of your own home.

Although much of our program has moved online this year, you are still welcome to visit the park, pick up a craft kit, and see President Grant's home White Haven decorated in splendid greenery for the holiday season.

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- ♪ Dashing through the snow ♪ ♪ In a one-horse open sleigh ♪ ♪ O'er the fields we go ♪ ♪ Laughing all the way ♪ ♪ Bells on bobtails ring ♪ ♪ Making spirits bright ♪ ♪ What fun it is to ride and sing ♪ ♪ A sleighing song tonight ♪ ♪ Jingle bells, jingle bells ♪ ♪ Jingle all the way ♪ ♪ Oh, what fun it is to ride ♪ ♪ In a one-horse open sleigh ♪ ♪ Jingle bells, jingle bells ♪ ♪ Jingle all the way ♪ ♪ Oh, what fun it is to ride ♪ ♪ In a one-horse open sleigh ♪ Happy holidays, everyone. Greetings. I am here to help you celebrate the winter holidays with us here at White Haven. My name is Kristine Sneeringer. I am currently a volunteer at Ulysses S Grant National Historic Site and formerly an interpreter at this park. Welcome to our program today. We are excited to take a look into what past celebrations may have been like here at White Haven and around the nation in the 19th century. Use your imagination to experience the laughter and the music such as the rendition of Jingle Bells which we have just heard as we wind our way through the home of Julia and Ulysses S Grant and revel with some songs of the era with you. Speaking of music, as folks awaited the imminent arrival of their holiday guests, they may well have heard the merrymaking from afar. Did you hear it? In our imagination, we perceived the joyful cries and laughter along to the sounds of jingle bells. Now we might we'll hear the excitement of the guests upon their anticipated arrival at the farm or home of grandma and grandpa for a wonderful day of visiting and play. The grandchildren of Colonel and Mrs. Grant probably never had the opportunity to visit from afar at Christmas, but seems like the following one played out around the country and indeed the world, certainly the Grants and their children spent Christmases at White Haven, probably along with not only their grandparents, both other family members as well. ♪ Over the river and through the woods ♪ ♪ To grandmother's house we go ♪ ♪ The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh ♪ ♪ Through the white and drifted Snow ♪ ♪ Over the river and through the woods ♪ ♪ Oh, how the wind does blow ♪ ♪ It stings the toes and bites the nose ♪ ♪ As over the ground we go ♪ ♪ Over the river and through the woods ♪ ♪ To have a first-rate play ♪ ♪ Oh, hear the bells ring, Ting-a-ling-ling ♪ ♪ Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day ♪ ♪ Over the river and through the woods ♪ ♪ Trot fast, my dapple gray ♪ ♪ Spring over the ground ♪ ♪ Like a hunting hound ♪ ♪ For this is Thanksgiving Day ♪ Once arrived and greeted, guests would made their way to the comfort and warmth of the food and drink at the dining table, which would be laden with holiday delicacies and beverages, according to custom and affordability. Very likely more singing would ensue. For example, there might have been arousing story and song of good King Wenceslaus and how he brought food and warmth to a poor man's abode. Let's do it now to commemorate the good deeds that we leaned toward performing even now during the holiday season. ♪ Good King Wenceslas looked out ♪ ♪ On the Feast of Stephen ♪ ♪ When the snow lay 'round about ♪ ♪ Deep and crisp and even ♪ ♪ Brightly shone the moon that night ♪ ♪ Though the frost was cruel ♪ ♪ When a poor man came in sight ♪ ♪ Gath'ring winter fuel ♪ ♪ Bring me flesh and bring me wine ♪ ♪ Bring me pine logs hither ♪ ♪ Thou and I will see him dine ♪ ♪ When we bear him thither ♪ ♪ Page and monarch forth they went ♪ ♪ Forth they went together ♪ ♪ Through the rude wind's wild lament ♪ ♪ And the bitter weather ♪ ♪ In his master's steps he trod ♪ ♪ Where the snow lay dinted ♪ ♪ Heat was in the very sod ♪ ♪ Which the Saint had printed ♪ ♪ Therefore, Christian men, be sure ♪ ♪ Wealth or rank possessing ♪ ♪ You who now will bless the poor ♪ ♪ Shall yourselves find blessing ♪ Following of food, the guests would likely have made their way to the parlor for additional entertainment, taking with them perhaps their delicacies and drink, but most especially their holiday spirits. The room like the dining room and other rooms in the home would have been simply but joyously decorated for the year's favorite celebration. Singing would probably have continued with sounds of Deck the Halls With Boughs of Holly, plants growing nearby on the farm or in neighborhoods, including such things as holly and magnolia, if they were available, may have been used to spruce up the environment of the home and add to the festive nature of the day. The ancient carol was very apt to have been employed to note the festive array of the home and people in it. ♪ Deck the halls with boughs of holly ♪ ♪ Fa la la la la, la la la la ♪ ♪ 'Tis the season to be jolly ♪ ♪ Fa la la la la, la la la la ♪ ♪ Don we now our gay apparel ♪ ♪ Fa la la la la, la la la la ♪ ♪ Troll the ancient Yuletide carol ♪ ♪ Fa la la la la, la la la la ♪ ♪ See the blazing yule before us ♪ ♪ Fa la la la la, la la la la ♪ ♪ Strike the harp and join the chorus ♪ ♪ Fa la la la la, la la la la ♪ ♪ Follow me in merry measures ♪ ♪ Fa la la la la, la la la la ♪ ♪ While I tell of Yuletide treasure ♪ ♪ Fa la la la la, la la la la ♪ But there was then as now a serious side to the holidays and Christmas, as this revealed in the lyrics of I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day, this poem written by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1863 during the trials of the Civil War and subsequent to the recent death of his wife, reveals the universality of a troubled time and express the spots often evoked in our world today about the difficulties of the present and the hope for the future. The thoughts and hearts of war era Americans identified with the lyrics of Longfellow's poem and the corresponding song. ♪ I heard the bells on Christmas day ♪ ♪ Their old familiar carols play ♪ ♪ And mild and sweet their words repeat ♪ ♪ Of peace on earth, good-will to men ♪ ♪ I thought as now this day had come ♪ ♪ The belfries of all Christendom ♪ ♪ Had rolled along the unbroken song ♪ ♪ Of peace on earth, good-will to men ♪ ♪ And in despair I bowed my head ♪ ♪ "There is no peace on earth," I said ♪ ♪ "For hate is strong and mocks the song ♪ ♪ Of peace on earth, good-will to men" ♪ ♪ Then pealed the bells more loud and deep ♪ ♪ "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep ♪ ♪ The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail ♪ ♪ With peace on earth, good-will to men" ♪ The troubles, which our society is currently facing are not alone in gravitas. 19th century citizens felt the impact of danger as well. Imagine then, that visitors and family alike turned to the most serious side of the Christmas holiday with the famous German language carol known across the globe then and now: Silent Night, Holy Night. In the St Louis area, it was sung not only in English, but also in original German. ♪ Silent night, holy night ♪ ♪ All is calm, all is bright ♪ ♪ 'Round yon virgin Mother and Child ♪ ♪ Holy infant so tender and mild ♪ ♪ Sleep in heavenly peace ♪ ♪ Sleep in heavenly peace ♪ ♪ Silent night, holy night ♪ ♪ Shepherds quake at the sight ♪ ♪ Glories stream from heaven afar ♪ ♪ Heavenly hosts sing Al-le-lu-ia ♪ ♪ Christ the Savior is born ♪ ♪ Christ the Savior is born ♪ ♪ Silent night, holy night ♪ ♪ Son of God, love's pure light ♪ ♪ Radiant beams from Thy holy face ♪ ♪ With the dawn of redeeming grace ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lord at Thy birth ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lord at Thy birth ♪ As the party begins to settle down, the adults recognize that the children had been awfully well behaved but that they now crave attention. The adults may well have made their way to the sitting room where their children would have gathered for play, games and small gifts. Their enjoyment of the arrival of Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas can be observed. Now, the stockings hanging in a row near the fireplace. The daughter named in the following song as Nell. You may remember that Grant and his wife, Julia had a daughter named Nelly, too. Today's children are likely to know this song. ♪ Up on the housetop reindeer paws ♪ ♪ Out jumps good old Santa Claus ♪ ♪ Down through the chimney with lots of toys ♪ ♪ All for the little ones, Christmas joys ♪ ♪ Ho, ho ho! Who wouldn't go ♪ ♪ Ho, ho ho! Who wouldn't go ♪ ♪ Up on the housetop, click, click, click ♪ ♪ Down through the chimney with old Saint Nick ♪ ♪ First comes the stocking of little Nell ♪ ♪ Oh, dear Santa fill it well ♪ ♪ Give her a dolly that laughs and cries ♪ ♪ One that can open and shut her eyes ♪ ♪ Ho, ho, ho! Who wouldn't go ♪ ♪ Ho, ho, ho! Who wouldn't go ♪ ♪ Up on the housetop, click, click, click ♪ ♪ Down through the chimney with good Saint Nick ♪ ♪ Next comes the stocking of little Will ♪ ♪ Oh, just see what a glorious fill ♪ ♪ Here's a hammer and lots of tacks ♪ ♪ Also a ball and a whip that cracks ♪ ♪ Ho, ho ho! Who wouldn't go ♪ ♪ Ho, ho, ho! Who wouldn't go ♪ ♪ Up on the housetop, click, click, click ♪ ♪ Down through the chimney with good Saint Nick ♪ Had we been present in the 1850s or '60s here at White Haven and elsewhere in America, we might also have observed others celebrating Christmas. I have read that the enslaved were often afforded relief from their daily duties at Christmas time, when the farm workload was lighter due to the winter cold. We're still seeing today one of the carols that enslaved individuals might have sung during the holiday season here and elsewhere in the nation. ♪ When I was a sinner ♪ ♪ I prayed both night and day ♪ ♪ I asked the Lord to aid me ♪ ♪ And He showed me the way ♪ ♪ Go, tell it on the mountain ♪ ♪ Over the hills and everywhere ♪ ♪ Go, tell it on the mountain ♪ ♪ That Jesus Christ is born ♪ ♪ When I was a seeker ♪ ♪ I sought both night and day ♪ ♪ I asked the Lord to help me ♪ ♪ And He taught me how to pray ♪ ♪ Go, tell it on the mountain ♪ ♪ Over the hills and everywhere ♪ ♪ Go, tell it on the mountain ♪ ♪ That Jesus Christ is born ♪ ♪ Down in a lowly manger ♪ ♪ The humble Christ was born ♪ ♪ And God sent us salvation ♪ ♪ That blessed Christmas morn ♪ ♪ Go, tell it on the mountain ♪ ♪ Over the hills and everywhere ♪ ♪ Go, tell it on the mountain ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ is born ♪ All good things must come to an end, and the holiday party is no exception. As the guests departed the home of their host and hostess, arousing version of We Wish You a Merry Christmas could be heard in many a neighborhood as the visitors began to depart. Certainly there was enough happiness to carry over into the next period of the winter together with hope for a brighter day. We still cherish this season of the year for these benefits and in our current national and world climate, we continue to call for peace on earth, goodwill to men, just as cited in Henry Longfellow's words. ♪ We wish you a merry Christmas ♪ ♪ We wish you a merry Christmas ♪ ♪ We wish you a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ♪ ♪ Good tidings to you wherever you are ♪ ♪ Good tidings for Christmas and a Happy New Year ♪ ♪ Oh, bring us a figgy pudding ♪ ♪ Oh, bring us a figgy pudding ♪ ♪ Oh, bring us a figgy pudding ♪ ♪ And a cup of good cheer ♪ ♪ We won't go until we've got some ♪ ♪ We won't go until we've got some ♪ ♪ We won't go until we've got some ♪ ♪ So bring some out here ♪ ♪ We wish you a Merry Christmas ♪ ♪ We wish you a Merry Christmas ♪ ♪ We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ♪ Smiles, hugs, and goodwill are shared with the guests as they depart. They already are looking forward to a rejuvenated new year of health and happiness. This is circling a sentiment that we can share with them at this time in our own existence. As we hope that by the next holiday season, we might freely hug one another and feast safely in greater numbers at our own holiday celebrations. Thank you so much for participating in our little program. Our thoughts are with you as you enjoy your own smaller but very meaningful festivities this year. May much love, joy and peace be with you. Goodbye for now. We hope to meet you online or in the park in the near future.

Duration:

19 minutes, 25 seconds

Join park volunteer, Kristine Sneeringer for this holiday themed musical tour of President Grant's home White Haven. Kristine takes viewers room by room through the house, describing holiday traditions and performing music from the mid 19th-century. Sing along, and enjoy! Song List: 0:08-Jingle Bells 2:39-Over The River 4:10-Good King Wenceslas 6:23-Deck the Halls 8:04-I Heard the Bells 10:14-Silent Night 13:19-Up on the Housetop 15:12-Go Tell It On The Mountain 17:15-We Wish You a Merry Christmas

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- Welcome, I'm Suzanne Corbett. I'm a foodways interpreter with the Ulysses Grant Historic Site. I'm stirring up something fun today for the holidays. Something that the general or I should say the lieutenant when he was here enjoyed. It was one of his favorite cakes, ginger cake. And this ginger cake is very special because it's a light spongy cake as you can see, not the hard ginger crackers or cookeries that you might associate with gingerbread. But gingerbread was so popular that it was eaten all year long. Just not reserved for the holidays. No, no, no, no. And it's a very simple recipe to do and anybody could make it as long as you had a few simple ingredients. All you needed was molasses or in this part of the country you might've used sorghum molasses, which is still another grain that is crushed or say a grass that is crushed and then cooked to get the essence the sweet syrup out of it. And we're using a whole cup worth of this along with all about a quarter pound of butter or lard and mixing it together until it's nice and smooth. Now, the spices you would have had, kind of costly. So it was one of these types of recipes that you wanted to be sure that people enjoy the full flavor of these costly ingredients and we have ginger and cinnamon. Sift it into my batter. Mix it around. Don't get too wild. It'll fly out just like it did there. Add in a couple of eggs. And these are actually about the size of what an egg would have been in that timeframe when the Grant's lived here. Eggs were smaller, milk was richer. So if you're doing this today you really wouldn't wanna use an extra large egg. A large egg would be fine or better yet a medium egg. Stir that around. Now this particular recipe dates all the way to 1820 but there was one cook, one baker that Grant particularly enjoyed her gingerbread and her name was Lucy Latimer. Lucy was attached to one of his generals as his cook and he stole her just because of how well she did her gingerbread, asked if she wouldn't come and make gingerbread for him. And when he was elected to the white house, he took Lucy with him and her gingerbread was well thought of so much that she stayed on and baked for President Hayes all the way through the Cleveland administration where she varied the recipe just a little bit and added buttermilk instead of water. Now this, I just add a little bit of extra water to this to thin down the batter. And then we'll add in enough flour to make a nice stiff dough, that's about two cups. Any cook would know how much would be added into your mix. Stir until it looked right. It was stiff. Now, flour of this white would have been reserved for finer white cakes. Most of the flour of the day would have been more of a whole wheat unbleached. But the finer grades really didn't come about until the 1870s when the ruling system of the flour mills improved the texture and the color. This is looking good. It's just simply stirred about and then baked in a hot fire in a pan until it's set and dry. The fire is good, it'll take about 30 minutes to do. Spread it out. Bake it. Now, if I'm working out of a hearth like we have here I would use a smaller pan that would fit directly into my dutch oven. Add it, add your lid, put a little bit of the hot coals on the top of it to keep the heat even and then I would slide it back into the hearth on a spider, which is an implement that has three legs, a long handle that I could move in and out of the fire to control the heat. Then once it's baked, cool it off, slice it up and then serve it to Grant. The lieutenant would definitely like it.

Duration:

7 minutes, 15 seconds

President Ulysses S. Grant loved ginger cake more than any other dessert. In this video food historian, Suzanne Corbett demonstrates how to make an authentic 19th-century ginger cake. Along the way, she describes the history of this delectable holiday dessert and the cook that Grant hired to bake it at the White House.

General Grant’s Ginger Cake Recipe and History

General Grant’s Ginger Cake

• 1/2 cup butter or lard
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup molasses
• 1 Tablespoon ginger
• 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
• 2 cups flour, sifted
• 1 Tablespoons baking soda, dissolved in 1 cup boiling water
• 2 eggs, well beaten

Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper and grease with butter. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add molasses, ginger and cinnamon and bet thoroughly. Beat in flour; then mix in baking soda mixture and eggs. Pour batter into the prepared baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 50 –60 minutes. Makes one large cake.

President and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant hired African American cook Lucy Latimer based on her savory hot gingerbread. Latimer stayed on at the White House baking cakes for Presidents Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur and Grover Cleveland. which became known as “Cleveland gingerbread,” made with buttermilk, molasses, and baking soda with a sweet and sticky topping that included seasonal nuts.

To modify Grant’s Ginger Cake into Cleveland Gingerbread, replace water with 1 cup buttermilk.

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- Grant wasn't the only one who had an affection for gingerbread. Abraham Lincoln loved it too. Although he was particularly fond of ginger crackers. Haven't had a ginger cracker? I bet you have. The are gingerbread men ginger cookies, anything that was crisp that was a cracker. Something that the British still prefer to call their cookies. So what I have here again is molasses, but in this case the original recipe from the 1830s and 40s calls for Indian molasses, Western Indie molasses. So sorghum really well, you could use it but the recipe preferred West Indies molasses. So the molasses is stirred together with butter. You could use lard if you wanted, if you didn't have enough butter along with a little bit of brown sugar to sweeten it just a little bit more. Then add in a couple of eggs. Brown eggs. We always thought they tasted better. But brown the real right eggs you weren't gonna see 150, 200 years ago. It depends on what the chicken eat and the color of the shell along with the breed of the chicken, but just good fresh farm eggs. Mix that together. Go ahead add a little bit of flour along with a little bit of pearl ash, that's baking soda. Make it rise just a little bit. Then we're gonna add in our spices ground ginger, cinnamon and clove. Which by the way these spices were used in a lot of different applications meat, side dishes, just not for cake and sweets. Stir that. To a nice stiff dough 'cause remember we're gonna be rolling this out and cutting it into gingerbread man shapes. At this point, just continue mixing Lightly knead it. Add a little more flour until it gets stiff. I'm gonna pull it out on to a work surface. Take half of it. With just half of it right now. You can see it's a little soft. So I want it just a little stiffer just so it can cut a little bit easier. Flour your rolling pin, then roll it out. Then you can begin to cut your gingerbread man. Abe Lincoln had a story that when he was a young man he was coming home and he could smell the gingerbread baking. He ran into this mother's house and she gave him three gingerbread men to take out and eat under the tree. And he wrote and told the story on how he sat under that tree and along came a neighbor boy who he said was from a family that was even more poor than he was. And the young man said, "Abe, I want one of those men." So he gave him one 'cause Abe was a good hearted soul. And he gobbled it down before he could even have one of the legs bitten off one of his gingerbread men. So he gave him another one of those gingerbread men so it only left him with the one he was eating. Now the other guy had two. And he asked his friend he said, "You must really like gingerbread." Which his friend said, "I don't think that anybody likes gingerbread anymore than I do and gets lest of it." So anyway, you can kind of see how we're doing here. Transfer this to a baking sheet. Bake in a moderate oven or kind of a quick fire, not a hot fire but quick until it's nice and crisp and brown. And chances are you might have a friend just like Abe that says, "Can I have one of them gingerbread men?"

Duration:

7 minutes, 6 seconds

Ulysses S. Grant wasn't the only president who liked gingerbread. Abraham Lincoln loved it too! He especially loved ginger crackers. Ginger crackers were just like the crispy gingerbread cookies that we enjoy today. In this video food historian, Suzanne Corbett demonstrates how to make authentic ginger cracker men, and tells the story of Abe Lincoln and his love for this delicious holiday dessert.

Lincoln’s Gingerbread Recipe and History

Lincoln’s Gingerbread

Based on Ginger Crackers, from 1847 Eliza Leslie’s The Lady’s Receipt-Book

• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup molasses

Sift the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and baking soda in a bowl. In a large mixing bowl, blend the butter and brown sugar until combined. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and then the molasses. Slowly add the flour mixture. Mix well after each addition of flour. The dough will be stiff. Divide dough in half, flatten into 2 thick circles and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm enough to roll out. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out, cut into desired shapes and bake until golden brown.

The following is an account of Lincoln’s famous gingerbread story, which became part of the Lincoln legend, he repeated that began as a story from a debate with Stephen Douglas.

“When we lived in Indiana,” Lincoln said, “once in a while my mother used to get some sorghum and ginger and make some gingerbread. It wasn’t often and it was our biggest treat. One day I smelled the gingerbread and came into the house to get my share while it was still hot. My mother had baked me three gingerbread men. I took them out under a hickory tree to eat them. There was a family near us poorer than we were and their boy came along as I sat down. ‘Abe,’ he said, ‘gimme a man.’ I gave him one. He crammed it into his mouth in two bites and looked at me while I was biting the legs off my first one. ‘Abe, gimme that other’n.’ I wanted it myself, but I gave it to him and as it followed the first, I said to him, ‘You seem to like gingerbread.’ ‘Abe,’ he said, ‘I don’t s’pose anybody on earth likes gingerbread better’n I do — and gets less’n I do...’”

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- Hello, I'm Carmen. And I am a volunteer at the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis. And I'd like to talk to you today about how to make some paper fans, that are very similar to Victorian times, and that make nice decorations on Christmas trees or at any other time of the year. I have two samples here. One is a complete circle fan, and this one is from a 4th of July. And then this is a paper fan for a Christmas tree, or it could be for any time of the year. The very first thing I wanna talk to you about, are the supplies that you are going to need. You will need to, select paper for your fan and today's example is going to be the sort of small Victorian fan, not the complete circle. And I pick a number of different types of paper. I find pretty Christmas paper or any kind of wrapping paper. This you'll need to flatten out a section of it in order to use it. Here's another example, this one's a silver paper. It can't be too fragile, can't be old and will, break easily. I also use a lot of the papers that they sell in craft stores these days, including wrapping paper that's a flat fold. I use old music paper that I have found that I keep. The best weight for paper would be, paper that's used in like a book or the sheet music, typing paper is good. If it's a card stock paper like this particular one, it's a little harder, but you can do it. It's folding the nice pleats that you wanna be able to do. And that's why paper such as this, music paper comes in handy. You don't want to press too hard anytime you're using any kind of paper, unless it's that heavy card stuff. So if you have a pattern or if you have a piece of paper and it doesn't have a pattern on it, because you're using typing paper or construction paper, you can decorate it using either a pretty image that you wanna draw. I'm not a very good artist. So I just, use some pencils and some magic markers and drew something. Or you can use craft stamps, and you would just take your stamp and use usual stamp pad and then you can make the design on there such as I did, using this particular stamp, okay. The other thing, I've suggested you have on hand would be a ruler so you can measure, the width of your pleats. That's real important. A pencil, something that you can lightly mark on the top and bottom of the piece of paper that you're going to cut. You could have, a pair of scissors. I would suggest, if you're a sower or you're a child whose mother sows, be sure you're not using her fabric scissors, because those are important not to use on paper. It can destroy them. I also will sometimes make my edges fancy. And for that, you need one of these edging scissors that you can get them in a craft store. Sometimes you can find them in your drawers that you've accidentally put away, but the edges make nice finishes, to your fans. Such as that first fan I showed you, I used a special, edger in order to get that flurdly image. The other thing you'll need are some little clips, for when you're gluing your fan together, or it could be a paper, a clothes pin, and this is a smaller one than most people have to hang things up in a laundry room, but they come in handy. And then for finishing touches, I sometimes use pipe, paper punches, and those create images that I attached to the fan. Or you can put on a little bow, you can look for all of these sort of supplies at places like Dollar Tree or Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Joanne's. I always go after a holiday and I pick up some supplies, some extra tidbits that I can add to my fans. Here's one that says, it is the season. I also keep any older, craft kits that I make and the little tidbits that I don't use, in that particular craft, I will keep and then I can add them to my fans if I would like, okay. So the very first thing out, the other thing you need will be some glue or a glue gun. And I would suggest if you use a glue gun that you get a low temperature glue gun, a high temperature glue gun, you can burn your fingertips and it's a little harder. One more thing. If you have washi tape that you don't know what to do with, you can use it to decorate the fans as well. It's always kind of handy, okay. So, the first step in making your fan would be to mark out the pleats that you're going to fold. And so here we go. These are a quarter mark. You can see they're along the top, and then the bottom. And then one thing I want to show you is there, I did a quarter inch pleat on this particular fan and here's a half inch pleat. And they are, a little harder to fold if you do the quarter-inch pleat, unless you have really small fingers or really delicate long fingers. So, choose wisely what kind, how large you make your pleat or how small you make your pleat, okay. You start using your piece of paper that you've marked out and you fan fold it. And that's just one, at the pleat here you would fold. And then if the bottom pleat, you would fold in. And I made this piece of paper about four inches, because it'll give me a chance when I have finished the fan fold, to decide if I wanna cut it down some, make it a little smaller fan for our little Christmas tree, or if I want to make it a large fan fold. The length of your piece of paper can vary greatly. It can go from say a five inch piece of paper. This is a six inch piece of paper to about 12 inches. And that makes a nice full fan. The one thing I wanna show you, is that after I finished folding my pleats, and I gather them up to make the fan. If my last fold, it folds up and this one had folded down, I will cut this last pleat off, so it makes a much nicer edge, so that both of the plates at the far end, are folded down. So I know I have a right way to look at the fan. You don't have to do this. I just think it makes it look nicer. And it's pretty easy to just cut that off. I dropped my scissors on the floor so let me just tear this off and show you, makes them much prettier fold, here. And then you can decide how thick you want. This is where you would add the glue down here in your fan folds. And just wherever you want, to decide to, cut below it, put the glue in there, and then I use the paper clips, to hold the fan until the glue is dry. At which point I can then take either some washi tape and wrap it around, or I'll take some ribbon, and wrap it around, a couple of times. I'll glue it in place. And then you can put a little bow on the front or little decoration. And in the back after you've cut, the length of the end that you want, you can put a hook. Now, you can make a hook out of a piece of ribbon, or I sometimes cut down, older Christmas hooks that I get and just wrap them and make it about half the size of a normal hook. And I cut it in half and then I attach it to the back of the fan. At that point, then I'll add a little ribbon, or the little snowflake, bauble that I kept from another kit. However you'd like to do it. And your fan, will make a nice presentation on your tree. Can see here, this one, it has a little ribbon hook on the back, trying to get it up for you. And that's how I finished it off. And now it can sit on my Christmas tree. Thank you for watching.

Duration:

10 minutes, 55 seconds

Try this holiday craft activity at home! In this video park volunteer, Carmen King demonstrates how to make a Victorian paper fan decoration with common household materials.

Directions for Victorian Paper Fan Ornament

It is easy to create fan fold paper decorations for various holidays. To begin, assemble your supplies:

1. Paper which will not crack when folded (so not heavy cardstock or older, fragile paper). Construction paper, typing paper, gift wrap, sheet music, newspapers, index cards, even book pages from books no longer being used or read are all very acceptable types of paper you may use. (Make sure you are not tearing apart a library book for this craft project). If the paper does not have a pattern, you may use crayons or a marker to create your design or message on the paper.

2. Cut 1 ½ inch lengths of ribbon, yarn, or even old ornament hooks for the final step.
In addition to the paper, you will need regular scissors, a ruler, a pencil, a glue stick or liquid glue, ribbon to compliment your paper, and I sometimes use edging (or zig-zag) scissors to unique edges on the open end of the fan.

Directions:
1. Cut the width of the paper 2 ½ or 3 inches and at least 6 inches in length if you want to create a reasonably sized ornament. Longer lengths of paper will give the fan a ‘fuller’ look. Larger fan ornaments may be created by cutting the paper wider and longer (a rule of thumb I use is to double the width of the paper and use that number for the length of the paper.)

2. Use the ruler to mark lightly with the pencil ½ measurements on the backside of the paper’s long side (top and bottom). Note: This will help you create even folds in the paper. If you want to create an interesting edge along one length of the paper, I suggest making the light pencil marks extend about an inch in from the edge. Then use your special edging (or zigzag) scissors or freehand a pattern along the edge. The longer pencil mark will ensure that you can still see where to fold the pleats in the next step.

3. Now begin with the first fold going in one direction, then flip the paper over and fold in the other direction the pleat next to the one you just folded. Flip the paper over and over, creating accordion-style pleats until you run out of paper. Trim off any excess paper.

4. Lightly glue or run a glue stick along none edge of the accordion pleats and use a clothespin or a large paper clip to hold it in place while you allow it to dry. While the first fan is drying (5 minutes or so) you may make your next fan.

5. After 5 minutes you may run a little ribbon or twine around the clipped fan-folded end, this holds the fan pleats in place. Glue down the end of the ribbon or twine on the backside of the fan. At the same time, glue down a small loop of ribbon or old ornament hook for a hanger, also on the backside.

Additional decorations, such as bows, lace, glitter, etc. may be added to the front of the fan with glue or a hot glue gun. Then allow the fans to completely dry.

Paper rosettes (two fans joined at their sides to create a circle) were also popular in the Victorian period and make lovely ornaments on a tree. Increase the length of your paper to three times the width to create long enough fans to join two fans together with glue or double-sided tape. A ribbon hook may be added to the back of the rosette or a hole-punched and a ribbon run through the hole will allow you to use it on a tree or display.