Christmas in Rhode Island History: Many Times, Many Ways

Christmas in Rhode Island has never been a single story – and that isn’t a modern development. Diversity in belief, practice, and culture has shaped how winter is marked here since before Rhode Island was Rhode Island at all. What makes this place different isn’t just how Christmas evolved, but why it evolved the way it did.

Before Colonization: Winter, Balance, and Community

Winter has long been a season of meaning – not just a date on a calendar.

Dugout canoe under construction at the Tomaquag Museum in Exeter

Long before European settlement, Indigenous peoples of this region lived within a pluralistic seasonal worldview. For the Narragansett and neighboring Indigenous nations, winter was not defined by a single holy day, but by a season of balance, survival, and shared responsibility. These practices were shaped by relationships among people, the land, and the spiritual forces understood to animate the world.

The winter solstice mattered as a turning point of light and renewal, but observance was not rigid or uniform. Practices varied by community and circumstance. Storytelling, the sharing of stored foods, and collective care were central to sustaining both physical life and cultural continuity. Diversity was not an abstract concept. It was a lived experience expressed through local adaptation.

Winter was also a time of movement. Many communities shifted away from exposed coastal areas and traveled inland to sheltered valleys or denser forests where firewood, game, and protection from harsh winds were more accessible. This seasonal mobility reflected a deeper understanding of balance. Winter invited quietude, reflection, and attentiveness to ongoing relationships between people, land, and Manittoo. These relationships required care even – and especially – in stillness.

Early Rhode Island: Religious Freedom by Design

Rhode Island’s early identity was built on choice – not uniformity.

The kitchen at John Hunt House in Riverside

When Europeans arrived in the seventeenth century, Rhode Island immediately diverged from the rest of New England. While colonies like the Massachusetts Bay Colony enforced religious conformity and even banned Christmas outright for a time, Rhode Island did not.

Founded on Roger Williams’ principles of religious freedom and separation of church and state, the colony never required residents to observe Christmas, nor punished them for doing so.

In early towns like Providence, many Baptists and Quakers chose not to celebrate Christmas at all. December 25 was often treated as a normal workday. Shops stayed open. Life continued. This restraint, however, was a matter of personal conviction, not law.

Meanwhile, in Newport, Anglican families, merchants, and seafarers quietly observed Christmas through church services and meals shaped by English traditions and global trade.

Rhode Island didn’t ask “What should everyone do?” but “What will you choose?”

The 18th Century: Many Faiths, No Single Calendar

By the 1700s, Rhode Island’s religious diversity was already well established. Baptists, Quakers, Anglicans, Jews, and Congregationalists lived side by side. There was no single winter calendar, and Christmas meant different things – or nothing at all – depending on household and belief.

Winter storms, frozen harbors, and war often overshadowed any holiday observance.

Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze, MMA-NYC, 1851

On Christmas night, 1776, Rhode Island native Nathanael Greene (circled in the painting above) spent the holiday preparing for the Delaware River crossing with George Washington. Raised in a Quaker household that emphasized duty over religious holidays, Greene’s Christmas was shaped by service and sacrifice. Back home, families of many faiths waited through winter storms and uncertainty, marking the season quietly.

The 19th Century: Christmas Arrives, Diversity Remains

The 1800s softened Christmas across Rhode Island, influenced by Victorian ideals that emphasized family, children, and sentiment. Christmas trees, candlelight services, and gift-giving became more common, but they did not replace existing traditions.

Catholic families marked Advent and Midnight Mass. Jewish families continued to observe Hanukkah, particularly in Newport and later in Providence. In mill towns, religious practice often blended with necessity: church halls doubled as warming spaces, and charity crossed denominational lines.

Winter still set the tone. Bitter cold, frozen pumps, and coastal gales shaped many Christmases as much as belief did.

The Early 20th Century: Weather, Community, and Adaptation

The Gothic room in Rosecliff, Newport

By the early 1900s, Christmas had become a dominant cultural holiday, but nature still had authority. The Great Christmas Blizzard of 1909 buried streets, halted transportation, and isolated communities across Rhode Island.

Churches of many denominations opened their doors. Neighbors helped neighbors. Christmas wasn’t canceled – it was adapted.

Delekta Pharmacy, Warren

In homes across the state, traditions overlapped. Christmas trees stood near menorahs. Some households celebrated devoutly, others culturally, others not at all.

Christmas in Rhode Island Today: Exuberant, Layered, and Shared

Glocester, Rhode Island

Today, Christmas in Rhode Island can be exuberant – lights blazing, music loud, tables full, families gathered late into the night. At the same time, the winter season holds space for many traditions.

• Italian-American Feast of the Seven Fishes tables
• Portuguese family gatherings
• Caribbean and Latin American winter celebrations with late meals and music
• Black church pageants and gospel services
• Advent, Hanukkah, Yule, solstice observances, and secular gatherings rooted simply in warmth and connection

Indigenous voices continue to share seasonal knowledge tied to land, light, and continuity. Some folks attend Midnight Mass. Others greet the solstice sunrise. Others mark nothing at all – and still feel the pull of winter community gathering.

Why Rhode Island Is Different – and Always Has Been

Lobster trap tree in Bristol

Across centuries, Rhode Island has never practiced winter holidays in one way. Diversity here isn’t a modern concept; it’s a foundational trait, shaped by Indigenous lifeways, protected by colonial choice, and carried forward by generations who understood there is more than one way to find light in the dark.

That’s not just Rhode Island history.
It’s Rhode Island culture.

Although it's been said, many times, many ways, Merry Christmas to you.

More to explore:

Rhode Island’s approach to belief and daily life shows up again and again in its built environment and communities. You can see that legacy reflected across the state in our guide to places to go and things to see in Rhode Island.

That mix of history and celebration still shows up in local traditions today. One favorite example is our recent visit inside the Bristol Santa House, a holiday stop that blends community spirit with Rhode Island nostalgia.