Long ago, when Whidbey Island settlements were young, and bare survival was high on the priority list of sea captains and others who had chosen to make their homes on Puget Sound, it took some doing to get enough settlers together for a holiday dance, let alone transport them to a central location.

It was 1865, and the Civil War was a long way off as well as the former homes of the islanders. Whidbey and Camano Islands at that time had a common bond; their tall trees were in demand all over the world for ships’ spars.

Camano Island’s Utsalady had a sawmill settlement, and was just across the Saratoga Passage from Coupeville, “The Port of Sea Captains,” on Penn’s Cove.

With winter looming, a group of Camano settlers and a group of Coupeville settlers decided that Christmas would be a good day to get together in Coupeville for an all-day celebration and an all-night dance.

It was as early as October when planning began with Captain Thomas Coupe heading the arrangement committee, John Robertson in charge of invitations, and H. R. Hatch and Captain Morse elected to be floor managers for the dance.

Invitations went out with young Joe Alexander on horseback to Oak Harbor and Crescent Harbor settlers. To go to Coupeville to dance all night meant going by boat or horseback, a perilous journey in rough weather and dark nights. Invitations went by canoe and sailboat to Utsalady to the settlers there, and anticipation was high among those who planned to attend.

Dugout canoes were the usual transportation between Coupeville and Oak Harbor, as a trail through the woods was the only other way to get there. Dancers had to make the journey before the early night fell, and dance all night until daylight the next day, when the trip home was made.

Mrs. William Robertson was in charge of the banquet, an excellent cook whose roast chicken and trimmings, cakes and pies were the best. Tickets for the bash were $4 for a couple - a handsome sum, which probably kept many a pioneer family from attending.

When Christmas morning dawned, a heavy gale from the northwest was blowing and it was evident that no one would attempt a canoe voyage. Captain Coupe, intrepid seafarer, and his son George, undaunted by inclement weather, headed their sloop the Keturah into the wind toward the harbor to pick up the merrymakers.

A crowd of Oak Harbor and Crescent Harbor settlers had gathered at the home of Captain Ed Barrington, and soon the Keturah was loaded and ready to run before the gale to Coupeville.

It was a wild ride. The gale had increased, and as the Keturah rounded Blowers Bluff into Penn Cove, she caught the full fury of the storm. A heavy gust heeled her over until her keel was almost exposed. The passengers clutched each other, terrified they would all be drowned, but they did not reckon with the seamanship of Captain Coupe.

The Captain righted his vessel with jib and mainsail close-reefed and made the crossing all the way on the wind! On the beach at Coupeville were watchers of the crossing being executed that day. They too were frightened, knowing that the passengers aboard were among the most important people of the pioneer settlements to the north.

Among the familiar pioneer names of people who made that perilous crossing were Captain and Mrs. Edward Barrington, Mr. and Mrs. John Izett, Captain George Morse, Mrs. Mary O’Leary, Chris Williams and William Jeffers.

Dancers from Utsalady made another stormy crossing aboard the J. B. Libbey, but all landed safely and were received thankfully by the settlers in Coupeville.

The women had worked for many weeks making proper costumes for the Christmas Ball, with pieces of lace and ribbon added to ball gowns, while a few had dresses made of silks and brocades brought by the sea captains from overseas.

The old town hall on Coupeville’s Front Street was lighted and crowded when dancing began at dusk. Violins lilted their best toe-tickling tunes, and the Christmas dance of 1965 began.

At midnight, a banquet was served by Mrs. Robertson. She had hired Sam, Captain Coupe’s Chinese houseboy, and Davie Snapps, a local Indian lad, to be waiters. Neither understood the other, or much English either, and their efforts to communicate with the diners added to the merriment.

Captain Barrington insisted that the Greek and Latin tongues originated in just such a situation!

It would be a long time before anyone forgot that wonderful Christmas Ball of 1865, knowing that such happenings could only be few and far between in the grim business of surviving on a sparsely settled Island in Puget’s Sound.

Christmas Past

In addition to being a religious holiday, the tradition of celebrating Christmas is rooted deeply in the cycle of the year. It is the Winter Solstice that is being celebrated, seed-time of the year, the longest night and shortest day. Christmas as we know it was not celebrated in many parts of Europe until just before the tenth century. However, many European countries had their own mid-winter celebrations of Yuletide.

The word “Yule” comes from the Anglo-Saxon “Yula” meaning “wheel” of the year. These pre-Christmas Winter Solstice celebrations included bringing in the Yule log, wishing on it, and lighting it from the remains of last year’s log.

The Yule log was made of ash and lighted on the eve of the solstice and had to be kept burning for twelve hours for good luck. Later the Yule log was replaced by the Yule tree but instead of burning it, burning candles were placed on it.

Along with the evergreen, the holly, the ivy, and the mistletoe were important plants of the season, all symbolizing fertility and everlasting life. Riddles were posed and answered, magic and rituals were practiced, wild boars were sacrificed and consumed along with large quantities of liquor, corn dollies were carried from house to house while caroling, fertility rites were practiced, and divinations were cast for the coming spring.

Christmas was once made illegal by the Pilgrims because of its association to Paganism and Celtic fertility rites! However, some of these traditions have now become part of what we think of as a traditional “Christmas.” By the 6th Century AD, Christmas had become a civic holiday, and all work or public business was prohibited. Christmas in the Middle Ages was not a single day, but rather a period of twelve days from December 25 to January 6, hence the Twelve Days of Christmas. In 527AD the Council of Tours proclaimed the 12 days from December 25 to Epiphany as a sacred, festive season.

Lee Brainard moved to Whidbey as a Navy wife in 1961 and worked for the local paper. She moved onto the base in 1970 where she spent the next 15 years as editor and reporter for the Navy Crosswind. During that time she started working for Dorothy Neil, editing and publishing nine of Dorothy books and editing Spindrift Magazine. In 1990 she and her husband published the Town Crier, an Oak Harbor community newspaper. She is also an active member of the Oak Harbor Soroptimist club.