Christmas: Yule, Saturnalia, Winter Solstice; What's The Deal? - (Part 5 - V)

Christmas: Yule, Saturnalia, Winter Solstice; What's the deal? - (Part 5 - V)

NO CHRISTMAS FOR YOU!

This is part five in my Winter holiday essay series, part six if you count my brief article on some of the Origins of Santa Claus.

Here Are Links To My Previous Entries:

Christmas: Yule, Saturnalia, Winter Solstice; What's the deal?

Christmas: Yule, Saturnalia, Winter Solstice; What's the deal? (Part 2 - II )

Christmas: Yule, Saturnalia, Winter Solstice; What's the deal? (Part 3 - III)

The Feast Of The Nativity and The Birth Of Jesus. - Christmas: Yule, Saturnalia, Winter Solstice; What's the deal? (Part 4 - IV)

Here are some other articles that readers who enjoy this series may find interesting as well:

Santa Claus! Who is he? Where did he come From? (A Brief History)

Open Letter To The People Who Presume There Is A "War" On Christmas....

In the last official essay in this series we discussed the birth of Jesus and the feast of the Nativity. We discussed that The Roman Catholic Church and a Roman Emperor moved the celebrations to December 25th in attempt to overshadow previous Pagan festivities that took place this time of year. This went on without a hitch for many centuries, around twelve centuries until the 1600s and the Puritan era.

Can you believe there was a time in our Modern History that after there was a day rededicated for the birth of Christ, that that day was actually looked down upon and even outlawed? You Can’t? Well there was. There was about a 200 year span of time when no one hardly celebrated Christmas…and it was by choice.

In an effort to stamp out the influences of the Catholic and Anglican Churches, when Oliver Cromwell and his band of Puritan reformers saw the Pagan influences of the holiday and they also wished to end the old traditions of the Catholic and Anglican Churches. Cromwell wishes to rid England of the excess and the decadence and part of their efforts was to get Christmas in England canceled. (1)

Meanwhile in America the Pilgrims were even more orthodox than their Puritan brethren still in England, and they not only simply chose not to celebrate Christmas but it was actually outlawed, and anyone found to have celebrated the holiday would be fined.

“The Puritans who immigrated to Massachusetts to build a new life had several reason for disliking Christmas. First of all, it reminded them of the Church of England and the old-world customs, which they were trying to escape. Second, they didn't consider the holiday a truly religious day. December 25th wasn't selected as the birth date of Christ until several centuries after his death. Third, the holiday celebration usually included drinking, feasting, and playing games - all things which the Puritans frowned upon. One such tradition, "wassailing" occasionally turned violent.

The older custom entailed people of a lower economic class visiting wealthier community members and begging, or demanding, food and drink in return for toasts to their hosts' health. If a host refused, there was the threat of retribution. Although rare, there were cases of wassailing in early New England. Fourth, the British had been applying pressure on the Puritans for a while to conform to English customs. The ban was probably as much a political choice as it was a religious one for many.” (2) – As Quoted From: Source.

After the American Revolution, English customs fell out of favor all together, this of course included Christmas. (1) It wasn’t until the Victorian Era that the traditions of Christmas became popular again in America, It started to become celebrated in England again when Charles II was restored to the throne, and the American’s ( Some of whom grew up in the Colonies and the new fledgling country – and never knew a Christmas celebration) became curious about these celebrations that were occurring across the “pond.” Christmas did not become a federally recognized holiday in America until the 1870s. (1)

Sources – References: (1) – The history Channel’s History Of Christmas Mini site.

(2) - Once upon a Time when Christmas Was Banned. From The Massachusetts Travel Journal.

Here are some other links to check out: Colonial Christmas - Women.About.Com

History Of Christmas *dot* com.

Also, if you are interested check out the History Channel’s Special “Christmas: Unwrapped” the first showing of the season should be on tonight on the History Channel at 11PM Eastern Time. Check your local listings for times in your area and also for encore presentations.