When Christmas Was Legally Banned for 22 Years by the Puritans in Colonial Massachusetts

Com­plaints in regards to the com­mer­cial-age cor­rup­tion of Christ­mas miss one crit­i­cal truth: as a mass pub­lic cel­e­bra­tion, the hol­i­day is a somewhat current inven­tion. Whether or not we cred­it Charles Dick­ens, Bing Cros­by, or Frank Capra—males not against advertising and marketing—we should reck­on with Christ­mas as a prod­uct of moder­ni­ty. That features the sacred concepts about fam­i­ly, piety, and grat­i­tude we connect to the ocean­son.

The Puri­tans of the Mass­a­chu­setts Bay Colony “despised Christ­mas,” notes Boing Boing. They asso­ci­at­ed it with debauch­ery: heavy drink­ing, glut­tony, riots, “row­di­ness and sin­ful behav­ior.” Not solely that, however they “noticed it as a false hol­i­day with stronger ties to pagan­ism than Chris­tian­i­ty,” writes Rebec­ca Beat­rice Brooks on the His­to­ry of Mass­a­chu­setts weblog, and “they had been cor­rect, accord­ing to the ebook The Bat­tle for Christ­mas.”

The His­to­ry Dose video above informs us that in 1659, “the Gen­er­al Courtroom of Mass­a­chu­setts made it ille­gal to cel­e­brate Christ­mas.” Feast­ing, and even tak­ing off work on Decem­ber twenty fifth would lead to a effective of 5 shillings. It appears excessive, however the hol­i­day had a automobile­ni­va­lesque rep­u­ta­tion on the time. Not solely had been rev­el­ers, on the finish of a protracted yr’s work, wanting to benefit from the spoils of their labor, however their automobile­ol­ing may even flip right into a form of vio­lent trick-or-treat­ing.

“On some occa­sions the automobile­ol­ers would turn into row­dy and invade rich properties demand­ing foods and drinks,” Brooks writes. They “would van­dal­ize the house if the personal­er refused.” The Puri­tans’ writer­i­tar­i­an streak, and respect for the sanc­ti­ty of pri­vate prop­er­ty, made can­cel­ing Christ­mas the one appear­ing­ly log­i­cal factor to do, with a ban final­ing 22 years. In any case, explic­it ban or no, spurn­ing Christ­mas was com­mon prac­tice for 2 hun­dred years of New England’s colo­nial his­to­ry.

Ultimately, for all its sup­posed intru­sions into the snow globe of Christ­mas purism, “we are able to par­tial­ly thank com­mer­cial­iza­tion for sus­tain­ing the domes­tic model of Christ­mas now we have at the moment”—the model, that’s, that ensures we are able to’t cease discuss­ing about, learn­ing about, and listen to­ing about Christ­mas, what­ev­er our beliefs, within the sev­er­al weeks lead­ing as much as Decem­ber twenty fifth.

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Relat­ed Con­tent:

Behold! The Very First Christ­mas Card (1843)

John Waters’ Hand-Made, Odd­ball Christ­mas Playing cards: 1964-Current

Watch Björk, Age 11, Learn a Christ­mas Nativ­i­ty Sto­ry on an Ice­landic TV Spe­cial (1976)

Langston Hugh­es’ Residence­made Christ­mas Playing cards From 1950

Josh Jones is a author and musi­cian based mostly in Durham, NC. Fol­low him at @jdmagness.