Christmas has been an official state holiday in Iowa for 163 years.
The Iowa Legislature declared Christmas a state holiday in 1862, eight years before Congress made Christmas a federal holiday. Michael Swanger, editor of the Iowa History Journal, says the roots of Iowa’s holiday traditions go back even earlier, as immigrants brought customs from Europe.
“It goes back to even before statehood in terms of the roots of the traditions,” Swanger says.
Swanger says some familiar traditions, like candlelight church services on Christmas Eve, were influenced by Moravian settlers from a region now part of the Czech Republic.
“The Moravian congregations in eastern Iowa, they really helped shape the way that we celebrate Christmas in Iowa still today,” Swanger says.
The Iowa History Journal reports Moravians began coming to the United States in the 1700s, and many brought with them the figures used in Nativity scenes. The town of Moravia in Appanoose County was founded by Moravian families just five years after Iowa became a state.
Sunday is also Iowa’s 179th birthday. Iowa became the 29th state on December 28, 1846.
