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A Moravian Christmas

Welcome to the 19th century, and here in Old Salem, North Carolina, it’s Christmas. Spicy cookies hang on trees and windows, beeswax candles glow, and evergreens on doors and mantels say welcome. Throughout this restored Moravian town, you will find Christmas without glitz, the holiday done up in a personal yet reverent style seldom seen in today’s world

Old Salem in modern Salem

The Moravians founded their community in 1766, and laid out the town plan that exists today, though now it’s a part of the large, modern city of Winston-Salem. The original Salem was a congregational town run by the Moravian Church until 1856. Old Salem Inc., Old Salem retains the flavor of olden days, and that’s especially true for the holiday season.

John Caramia, who oversees Old Salem’s educational features, says the town showcases types of house and church decorations that the show would have been used between 1775 and the 1860s. “Christmas decorations change over time,” says Caramia. “When you describe what they did in 1775, and we go from there to 1840 … there’s a really wide gap in terms of what’s happening: The Moravian Christmas customs are ”

Authentic accounts

“One of the nice things about the Moravians: They kept lots and lots of records, many of which are in the Moravian archives,” Caramia says. Diaries, journals and other records proved important sources of lifestyle information, including how they celebrated Christmas. “The only is most of them are in German,” he says, noting that a few have been translated into English.

Vocabulary Focus

glitz (n)--- a showy appearance intended to attract attention

reverent (adj)--- showing great respect and admiration for someone or something

showcase (v)--- to show the best qualities or parts of something

drawback (n)--- a disadvantage or the negative part of a situation

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Specialized terms

Moravian (adj)--- 摩拉維亞（人）的 relating to a Christian group formed in 1746 in the former German state of Moravia

congregational (adj)--- 教會(huì)自治的 referring to a form of church government in which each local church is self-governing