Christmas in August. What’s happening in Yellowstone National Park?

Christmas occurs twice a year- once at home and once up here

Have you heard this phrase? No. Well you probably have not been in Yellowstone National Park on August 25th then.

That’s right, Christmas is on August 25th in Yellowstone National Park and you are invited to the celebration.

In a normal year, which this is not thank to covid, you would find all of the hotel lobby’s sporting Christmas decorations, employees wearing Christmas shirts, and Christmas music being played in stores around the park.

Unfortunately, this year Yellowstone is a little lacking, and most people who visit the park will not even be aware of the tradition they are missing out on.

So, I wanted to let you in on the secret if you find yourself surround by Christmas in August while surrounding the park in future years.

There are two main theories of how Christmas came to be celebrated on August 25th, but no proof has been found on if either of them are two.

For theory #1, the stagecoaches that brought visitors to the park in the early 1900’s became stranded at the Old Faithful Inn due to a freak snowstorm. With so many people stranded in one place, they wanted a way to keep spirits high during the time. One of the visitors said how it looked like Christmas outside with all the snow. So they decided since it looked like Christmas, they should celebrate Christmas. They had caroling, they made Christmas decorations, and the toasted to Christmas cheer.

It was a magical moment that park employees wanted to continue, so they began celebrating Christmas every year on that same date.

For theory #2, in the early 1900s the park employees wanted to celebrate Christmas with all of their friends before the season ended and they had to each go their separate ways. In those times, park employees were known as ‘savages’. They used that term to create Savage Days, which ended with a Savage Christmas. During this time, they would have parties, decorate for Christmas, hold a Christmas parade, and end with an employee going around dressed as Santa on Christmas Day. They referred to it as Savage Christmas to exclude the park visitors who may be around at that time and keep it to themselves.

In an attempt to commercialize on this Christmas celebration, and to make it inclusive of park visitors, the park concessionaires began to spread the stranded in the snow story and the savage days story became very hush-hush.

Even though Christmas may not be a big celebration this year, I still know it is occurring, and I wanted you to know too.

Merry Christmas, I hope you are blessed this day.