Origins: Breakin up Christmas

Subject: RE: Origins: Breakin up Christmas
From: cnd
Date: 20 Feb 22 - 11:22 AM

Thanks for the correction, Hoot. I mixed Paul up with his cousin, Kirk Sutphin, who is a prolific fiddler. Should've read more carefully!

Subject: RE: Origins: Breakin up Christmas
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 20 Feb 22 - 05:49 AM

CND

A correction re Paul Sutphin, he was not a fiddler but a singer and guitar player a long time member of the Camp Creek Boys, often later playing with fiddler Benton Flippen, and usually found playing in sessions at Mount Airy every year usually at a Benton Flippen session or a Paul Brown Session. A wonderful man. I saw him on a number of occasions. You can hear him on You Tube.

Subject: RE: Breakin up Christmas
From: cnd
Date: 19 Feb 22 - 05:46 PM

Turns out I was mistaken in my previous post: the 1997 Paul Brown NPR recording can be heard on Blue Ridge Mountain Holiday - The Breaking Up Christmas Story, County Records - CO-CD-2722, which I recently purchased.

Towards the end of Track 2 (Tommy Jarrell And Fred Cockerham - Old Bunch Of Keys), regionally-renowned fiddler Paul Sutphin (aged 78 at the time of recording) and his neighbor Eleanor Colson* (aged 74) are reminiscing on the history of the tradition. After mentioning that their family would put up the beds in the house for more dancing room, they name a few dances. They listed the following three dances:

Chasing the Squirrel (probably, Chase that Rabbit, Chase that Squirrel), though it may be a different dance
Lady Around the Lady
Adam and Eve (Let's Square Dance by Claude Chadwick, PDF page 14, actual page 12)

They noted that "they don't do that no more" in reference to Adam & Eve. Testament to its obscurity is the fact that the only description of the dance I could find is from circa 1940. Because the PDF doesn't seem to have been captured on archive.org's servers, I'll transcribe the relevant section here.

16. ADAM AND EVE.
Calls:
1. Circle left; now right.
2. Swing old Adam,
3. Swing old Eve.
4. Now old Adam before you leave.

Description: At call "2" odd lady swings the even gent while the even lady is swinging the odd gent. At call "3" the two ladies swing. At call "4" each lady swings her partner, and the odds move up to a new couple without circling.

* spelling is uncertain

Subject: RE: Breakin up Christmas
From: cnd
Date: 08 Apr 21 - 12:39 PM

You can read more about the history of the song here

Paul Brown investigated the tune in detail in 1997; though his original recording seems to be unavailable (at least that I can find), you can hear modernized versions here and here

Fiddle Hangout has a great discussion about the song and traditions behind it here

As for the dancing, you can see a version of the dance here, though my understanding is that it was more or less called as the caller felt it and that though there may be a standard set of moves, the dance varied a bit each time.

Subject: RE: Breakin up Christmas
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 15 Dec 16 - 06:34 AM

Breaking up Christmas is a tradition from south west Virginia / North Carolina area and I guess that this is the tradition referred to in the OP.
Paul Brown did a one hour radio show on it which was released on a CD "Blue Ridge Mountain Holiday" County CO-CD.-2722.
There doesn't seem to be a specific dance but there is a specific tune and believe it or not it is called "Breaking up Christmas".

The CD will tell you all you wish to know told by Paul and various musicians that still carry it on, These include Tommy Jarrell's son the late Wayne Jarrell who was one of the most popular dance callers on these occasions.

Subject: RE: Breakin up Christmas
From: Sean Belt
Date: 14 Dec 16 - 12:06 PM

I didn't know there was a specific dance for Breakin' Up Christmas. I know a few dance callers and will check with them to see if I can dig up the figures for you. So far, all I've found from a Google search is that the dance is done with men and women facing each other in lines (like a contra, I guess) and the steps are like the Virginia Reel mixed with a minuet.

Subject: RE: Breakin up Christmas
From: BobL
Date: 13 Dec 16 - 03:49 AM

In Victorian times, the party traditionally finished with "Sir Roger de Coverley", a dance which more or less went viral across Europe at a time when ECD was at the height of its popularity. Virginia Reel was one spin-off, another was named something like "Zarucha".

Some years ago, at a conference jointly run by EFDSS and the Dolmetsch Society, a paper was presented on this very topic. I'll have to see if I can dig it out.

Subject: Breakin up Christmas
From: GUEST,Jeff Long
Date: 13 Dec 16 - 01:14 AM

Does anybody know the traditional Breakin up Christmas Dance? I've heard it was a cross between the Virginia Reel and an old European Dance? We're planning a Breakin up Christmas Celebration and would like to do the traditional dance if anyone knows the movements to it?