Hello.

I will throw in my $.02 here if you don't mind.

My grandmother continued to refer to Christmas Eve as "Birth Night" until her
death in 1960. She was a lifelong Virginian of very old stock (pre-1620), but
I doubt that the term was local. I do not remember her talking of "Birth
Night Balls", but we also never mentioned cotillions and such either.

Could anyone look into the pre-1900 Christmas traditions to see if this was a
popular reference to that occasion? It seems strange to us in 2002, but
Christmas was NOT celebrated the same way before 1900, having been affected
many times by the melding of cultures here... and the consequent amelioration
of the terminology, etc.

I hope this helps in some small way.

Jon

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