Did you ever wonder how Jacksonville celebrated the New Year? Historic Jacksonville, Inc. learned that local celebrations ranged from costume balls and gift giving to “the shooting of anvils and guns, the explosion of firecrackers, and the ringing of the school bell.” Saloons “kept their eggnog,” and “young folks lavished the customary ‘Happy New Year’ tribute,” and homes were open for social calls.
We also learned that New Year’s traditions changed significantly over the course of the 19th Century. Before Christmas made a holiday “comeback” (many thanks to Moore’s “T’was the Night Before Christmas” and Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”), New Years was the primary gift-giving day. A favorite gift was an orange stuck with cloves, floated in the “wassail” bowl—i.e., a serving of spiked wine punch.
In New York and some cities, it became a reverse “Sadie Hawkins Day.” Gentlemen became responsible for making social calls on the ladies rather than calling normally being the ladies’ role. Before long, the men apparently made it a competition to see how many visits to ladies they could rack up. (Of course, they were typically rewarded with sherry or eggnog at each stop.)
Toward the end of the 1800s and continuing into the 1930s, the President even held a New Year’s Day reception at the White House—first receiving diplomats and government officials and then throwing the doors open to the general public, “who for the space of two hours paid their respects to the Chief Magistrate of the Nation.”