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(last updated on 1/15/2002)
(Note: Click on the headings to see more pictures.)
Introduction
People celebrate Christmas throughout the United States, but New Yorkers have a wider variety of ways to celebrate Christmas than most. Many of New York's Christmas celebrations, including the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center and Macy's Christmas windows, are symbols of the Christmas season not only for New Yorkers but for all Americans.
Perhaps the best known symbol of Christmas in New York -- perhaps even the best known public symbol of Christmas in the entire United States -- is the lighted Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, which is located at 5th Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets. There is an ice skating rink there, which is used throughout the year, and a golden statue of Prometheus (the Greek god who according to myth gave fire to humans).
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The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and the trumpet-blowing angels
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Above the statue from late November to early January is a lighted Christmas tree, one of the tallest Christmas trees in the US. It is lighted in a ceremony in late November, attended by thousands of people. In the plaza leading up to the Christmas tree and skating rink are large white, lighted angels blowing horns.
Throughout the Christmas season, people crowd around the plaza at night, watching the skaters, looking at the Christmas tree and other Christmas decorations, etc.
The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is the best known in New York, but it is not the only one. There are also large Christmas trees at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (which uses decorations with musical symbols), at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, Washington Square Park, 46th and Broadway, the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum, the Natural History Museum, Union Square, Park Avenue, and Bryant Park. In addition, there are countless smaller trees on the streets and in public and commercial buildings.
Metropolitan Museum of Art has a Christmas tree surrounded by an elaborate scene of Christ's birth. It shows not only Christ and his parents and the wise men and shepherds who visited them but also people from the village, buildings, etc. It was the best Christmas tree we saw, and it reminds us that the origin of Christmas is the celebration of Christ's birth.
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Trees with white lights
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In addition to traditional evergreen Christmas trees, some trees that have lost their leaves are decorated with strings of lights, usually white, that outline the shape of the tree's branches. Often, there is a long row of these trees, and they look very striking against the background of the dark night.
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Giant Christmas tree ornaments
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Stores and buildings in every American city decorate for Christmas, but New Yorkers seem to go in for decorating in a particularly big way. Two buildings on Fifth Avenue have what must be the world's largest Christmas tree ornaments. Some buildings have huge wreathes or masses of lights in the shape of a Christmas tree. The stone lions out in front of the New York Public Library have wreaths around
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The stone lions in front of the New York Public Library
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their necks. Many buildings have large wreaths or other greenery with red ribbons and lights. Another type of decoration is lights in the shape of a Christmas tree. Even the Empire State building is specially decorated, with its tower illuminated in Christmas colors red and green. Some of the decorations are conventional, and some are very creative. One building had a giant red ribbon around it, with a giant red bow, as if the building were a giant Christmas box. We found that one amusing.
Christmas Shows
Because New York City is a center of theater, there are Christmas shows between late November to early January. One of the best known is the Radio City Music Hall Christmas show, which features music and dance.
Another tradition is a musical based on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, the story of a greedy man who is visited on Christmas Eve by three ghosts of Christmas who shows him the past, present, and future. As a result, he learns to be generous in the Christmas spirit. The musical has been performed every Christmas since 1994.
The Nutcracker Suite is another Christmas tradition. It is a ballet by Tchaikovsky, and it is performed every Christmas by the New York City Ballet.
Christmas Services
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Riverside Church decorated for Christmas
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Many New York churches have special services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. New York's largest Catholic church, St. Patrick's Cathedral, has mass at midnight. The service is so popular that it is necessary to get a ticket in advance.
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A choir at a Christmas service at St. Bartholomew's Church
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Other churches have Christmas services on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, usually with emphasis on Christmas music, sung both by the choir and by the people attending.
Most stores decorate their windows for Christmas, with a few lights if nothing else, but some stores decorate their windows so beautifully that people line up to see them. There are three stores that are particularly famous for this. The windows attract a lot of viewers, and lines of people walk by them day after day before Christmas. The three famous stores compete to make the most beautiful and interesting windows. For Christmas 2001, Kathi thought that Lord and Taylor had won the contest.
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A 19th-century house decorated for Christmas
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Lord and Taylor, located on 5th Avenue between 38th and 39th Streets, is said to be the most elaborate and popular display, and for Christmas 2001, we thought they were the best windows of the three major department stores. The scenes shown were related to the beginnings of Christmas traditions. There was a scene of a Christmas party in the 19th century, in the year Lord and Taylor was founded. There was a Victorian street scene out in front of the printer where the first Christmas cards were printed. There was a scene of the front of the Radio City Music Hall the first year that a Christmas show was held there.
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A window at Macy's Department Store showing the Macy's Santa Claus from Miracle on 34th Street
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Around the US in general, Macy's Christmas windows are probably the best known. In 2001, some of the windows depicted the traditional Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, showing the giant floating balloons of cartoon characters that are used in the parade. Other windows had scenes from the Christmas movie Miracle on 34th Street, a famous Christmas movie that involves a Santa Claus at Macy's.
Saks Fifth Avenue is across Rockefeller Center, and in recent years, this department store has been making efforts to compete with the other two famous department stores.
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The Rafters Room at the Tavern on the Green
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Many New Yorkers eat out on Christmas Day, and one very popular place to eat out is the Tavern on the Green, which is located on the edge of Central Park between 66th and 67th Streets. During the Christmas season, more than 140,000 people eat there. The restaurant has six different rooms (the Crystal Room, which is the largest and best known; the Crystal Pavilion; the Chestnut Room; the Rafters Room; the Terrace Room; and the Park Room), each with a different decor, and each lavishly decorated for Christmas. The Rafters, where we had our Christmas dinner, had rafters wrapped in Christmas greenery and blue and green crystals in the chandeliers.
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Christmas carolers at the Tavern on the Green
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Two of the rooms -- the Crystal Room and the Chestnut Room -- have 14-foot Christmas trees decorated with more than 3000 ornaments from all over the world. Even the hallways leading to the rooms are decorated. One seems to be a sea of red, with mirrors and hundreds of poinsettias. In addition to the festive decorations, diners are treated to Christmas carolers in Dickensian costumes.
The Christmas menu includes a variety of choices, including a traditional Christmas dinner or turkey and stuffing, cranberry sauce, and sweet potatoes. However, having Christmas dinner at the Tavern on the Green is more about the experience than the food.
The trees on the patio of the restaurant are outlined with red, blue green, and white lights. Kenji thought those were the best Christmas tree lights he saw.
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