Photo by Becky Polaski Members of the Historical Society of St. Marys and Benzinger Township put together story boards featuring some of the Christmas customs and traditions in St. Marys. Several of the boards were on display at the Historical Society’s recent banquet and the Historical Society plans to develop a Heritage Room dedicated to Christmas traditions as well as other traditions of area residents.

By Becky Polaski

Staff Writer

Christmas has been an important time in St. Marys throughout the history of the community. 

The Historical Society of St. Marys and Benzinger Township held their 47th annual banquet on Sunday night in celebration of the 167th anniversary of the founding of Sancta Marienstadt. During the banquet Historical Society Director Jeanne Dostal presented a program on a variety of Christmas customs and traditions from throughout St. Marys’ history.

Dostal began by explaining that the first settlers of the area arrived on December 8, 1842 after leaving Philadelphia and Baltimore in October. The families stayed in Kersey while the men traveled to what would become Sancta Marienstadt to build the first shelters.

“There were exactly 14 men, three women and eight children who came here on December 8 to settle in the first house that they had built,” Dostal said. “They celebrated Christmas just three weeks later. Some of them had brought ornaments from Germany, but they still had very meager supplies.”

According to Dostal, the first mass at St. Mary’s Church was said on Christmas in 1853.

“From the very beginning of this town Christmas was very important, Dostal said. “When we decided this year to do something about Christmas we started talking about what made Christmas special in St. Marys. In the last two months I have talked to literally hundreds of people and I’ve probably got 100 answers. So tonight is not going to be a definitive answer of what Christmas is in St. Marys or what it means, but what I really learned was Christmas is a season in St. Marys.”

As a result of talking to area residents, Historical Society members made story boards and had 15 on display throughout the banquet area.

“We’re going to develop a Heritage Room at some point at the Historical Society about Christmas traditions in St. Marys and about the other traditions we have before we forget who we are and where we came from,” Dostal said. “There are so many things that are indicative of this town that make us special. Every town has things that make them special but St. Marys has some really wonderful traditions dating back to the very first time the settlers came here and we don’t want to forget those.”

Dostal discussed some of those story boards during her presentation, beginning with one featuring Belsnickle and Santa Clause. Dostal discussed the history of Belsnickle and how he has been represented over the years in St. Marys. She also named some of the area residents who have portrayed Santa Claus over the years and noted that the Historical Society is trying to gather the names of all those who have played that role throughout the history of St. Marys.

“I have a list of 30 people. That’s only the tip of the iceberg,” Dostal said. “Everybody told me of somebody else and up to (Saturday night) when we finally finished that board that’s how many we had and I heard five more (Sunday).”

She added that women, as well as men, have portrayed Santa Claus and Belsnickle over the years.

Dostal also talked about various traditions carried out by local families including feather trees, Christmas cribs, and nativity displays. She also discussed train displays, Christmas store ads, and Christmas parades that used to be held in St. Marys.

“I think people have forgotten, but it wasn’t that long ago. Thousands of people came downtown for the Christmas parades,” Dostal said. “They were often in the afternoon or early evening. They weren’t like Light Up Night. They were early and then they had activities for the kids and both high school bands participated.”

Dostal also noted that the nativity scene found on the Diamond has been in use since 1960.

“I know the K of C is talking about at some point and time redoing them because they have been there, as you know now, for 50 years,” Dostal said. “It is a wonderful thing when you go downtown and see that they’re still there. Some of the churches also have outdoor scenes. If you drive around St. Marys right now there are beautiful displays everywhere on all the streets.”

Some of the story boards put together by Historical Society members also feature photographs of Christmas light displays at area homes in the 1920s and 1930s.

Dostal also noted that many individuals commented that they associated the Christmas season in St. Marys with Christmas sausage.

“In my mind, Advent and hunting and sausage are all sort of together because I came from a family of hunters and, they started planning it in September, but once hunting season came my dad and my uncles and my granddad all went hunting for two weeks in December,” Dostal said. “We were the lucky house where they got to make the sausage. Many a night I would fall asleep listening to my uncles and my dad laughing and somebody running up the stairs to try out the sausage. It had to have the right amount of spice in it and then they would fry a little bit and then they’d agree or disagree and run down the stairs. So one of my happiest memories as a kid is of sausage making.”

Dostal also reminded attendees of the sausage bake off that took place in St. Marys in 1993 in which 30 sausage makers participated.

The research that has been done so far on holiday traditions in St. Marys is just the tip of the iceberg. Dostal explained that she did not have time to get into a lot of the holiday cooking traditions that are important to the community.

Dostal also described how, in the past, families would wait until Christmas Eve to put up their Christmas trees.

“Sometimes I wonder today if we haven’t lost some of the magic of Christmas because, from the very beginning people put their tree up and put their gifts under the tree. Some of the magic is gone, but the magic is gone because we let it happen not because somebody made it happen,” Dostal said. “I think if any of us want to go back to some of these things it is ok. I think television sort of gives us an idea of how Christmas should be and everybody tries to have a house like Martha Stewart or something. That’s kind of hard, but I think we owe it to our children and our grandchildren to either talk about some of these things we used to do or try to do some of them.”