‘Tis the Season: Celebrating the Holidays around the Smithsonian

Secretary Bunch shares some of the Smithsonian’s holiday cheer.

As is true for many families, Christmas was a big deal in my house growing up. My father went all out to decorate. As a scientist, he never bought anything—he made it all himself. He’d use aluminum foil on the door to craft an elaborate setup with lights and hang up his grandmother’s Charles Dickens-shaped candles all around the house. To him, the holidays were a time to embrace his innate sense of creativity. To me, the holidays were a time for presents. My favorite holiday gift that I ever received was an electric football game. Zooming around the field, knocking the little guys over—that was a thrill.

Now, my family has made new traditions: going out for Chinese food on Christmas Eve, heading to the National Christmas Tree to see trees from the different states where we’ve lived, and having a huge southern dinner with dozens of family and friends on Christmas afternoon. It’s a wonderful way to end the year: reflecting on where you’ve come from and celebrating together with the people who matter most.

At the Smithsonian, we have our own holiday traditions too, old and new. The lights are up at the National Zoo, the garlands are twining over banisters, and your coworkers are bringing in enough baked goods to feed you through the new year. And of course, when it comes to presents, we’re blessed to have acquired some amazing objects over the years. So here, from collections around the Smithsonian, are a few of the holiday objects that remind us why our traditions matter and to help us ring in the New Year with joy.

Smithsonian Garden’s Poinsettias

Each year, Smithsonian gardens cultivates around 20 different varieties of poinsettias at their greenhouses. In addition to the color and cheer it brings, I am delighted that our nation’s most ubiquitous holiday plant actually has deep ties to the Smithsonian. The physician, scientist, and diplomat Joel Poinsett, who first brought the plant back to the United States from a trip to Mexico in the 1830s, was also a co-founder of the National Institute for the Promotion of Science and the Useful Arts. Poinsett was deeply active in the debates around the Smithson fortune that had been left to the United States. While others pushed for a library, or a scientific institute, Poinsett was the first to argue that the funds should be used to create a national museum. Of course, we would eventually become all these things – libraries, scientific institutes, museums, and more. So, in the spirit of holiday gratitude: thank you for the suggestion, Joel!

Plus, who can resist flowers with names like Premium Polar, Christmas Princess Beauty, and Viking Cinnamon?

Courtesy Smithsonian Gardens

Statue of Liberty Menorah at the National Museum of American History

One of the more distinctive items in the collection, this Statue of Liberty Hanukkah Menorah unites the faith of its creator, Manfred Anson, and his loyalty to the country he immigrated to. Born in Germany in 1922, Anson was the only one of his family able to evade capture by the Nazis when they came to power, having escaped to Australia just prior to the start of World War II. After the war, Anson immigrated to the United States, where he avidly began to amass a collection of souvenirs and Americana. Anson used a Statue of Liberty souvenir figurine to cast the statuettes for each branch of the menorah.

In Jewish tradition, the menorah symbolizes a miracle of light: although the Jewish Maccabees only had enough oil to light their lamp for one night following their victory over the Syrian-Greek army, the oil miraculously lasted for eight days. With this menorah, Anson paired the spirit of hope and renewal he drew from his Jewish heritage with his pride in his new country.

Many immigrants sought to preserve their cultural heritage while at the same time embracing their new identity as Americans. Manfred Anson did so in designing this Hanukkah lamp to mark the centennial of the Statue of Liberty in 1986. Anson, who escaped Nazi Germany as a teenager, later reunited with family who had immigrated to the United States. For this lamp, Anson combined a traditional Polish menorah and figurines cast from a 19th century Statue of Liberty souvenir. (Courtesy National Museum of American History)

1987 Kwanzaa Flyer created by the Anacostia Community Museum

Soon after it opened, the Anacostia Community Museum began offering programming around Kwanzaa, a week-long celebration that honors African heritage in African American culture and concludes with gift-giving and celebratory feasting. Despite criticism from a member of the Board of Regents in 1974, Secretary Ripley supported founding director John Kinard’s belief in the importance of the museum as a place by and for the local community. ACM’s innovative Director of Education, Zora Felton, who is one of my personal role models, led workshops for teachers, high school students, girl scouts, and young children around the seven principles, symbols, and traditions of the holiday.

The celebration of Kwanzaa at the Smithsonian continues today, with the ACM’s annual family Kwanzaa Celebration featuring dancing, music, costumes, and arts and crafts.

Flyer promoting 1987 Kwanzaa celebration at the Anacostia Community Museum.

Gemini 6 Bells at the National Air and Space Museum

Nodding along to the radio, humming the lyrics at the supermarket, even watching those Lifetime holiday movies – I’ve never met a carol I didn’t like. Nothing puts me in the holiday mood like the sound of “Deck the Halls,” “Joy to the World,” or “Jingle Bells.” And here’s what makes this particular item so exciting to me: these bells jingled in space. In December of 1965, astronauts Walter Schirra and Tom Stafford played “Jingle Bells” with these bells and harmonica that they brought with them on the Gemini 6 mission, proving that holiday music is a universal delight.

These bells are part of the harmonica and bell set carried by astronauts Walter “Wally” Schirra and Tom Stafford aboard Gemini 6 in December of 1965. The mission was to test the docking and maneuvering capability of the Gemini spacecraft.
Approximately five hours after the successful maneuvering of the the two spacecraft to within six inches of each other, astronauts Schirra and Stafford played “Jingle Bells” with these instruments and pretended to see a UFO called Santa Claus. Astronaut Tom Stafford gave the bells and his harmonica to the National Collection in 1967. (Courtesy National Air and Space Museum)(

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