We are quickly closing in upon the Christmas season. Many people believe that there is a war on Christmas. I've seen the governor of Rhode Island on television talking about his state's "holiday tree." A large number of Americans are put off by this point. Some Americans would like to avoid having any public displays of religion. However, the purpose of this post is not to talk about the contemporary war on Christmas.
Many Americans trace their religious heritage back to the Puritans in New England (although most Americans today would not fit into the Puritan society). What many Americans do not realize, however, is that the Puritans on both sides of the Atlantic were among the first to start a war on Christmas. During the Interregnum in England, Christmas was banned. There were no holiday trees or Christmas trees. Oliver Cromwell's attempt at a Christian theocracy thought that the holiday was too closely related to Catholic superstition. They also thought that the celebration was nowhere to be found in the Bible. Christmas feasts were replaced by Christmas fasts.
Puritans in the wilderness of New England similarly banned Christmas by legal means. A Massachusetts law actually fined citizens of the colony for celebrating Christmas. It was not until the mother country restored the Stuart monarchy and set up the Dominion of New England in 1680 that laws banning Christmas were repealed. In spite of the new legal status for the holiday, many in New England decided to celebrate quietly to avoid offending the sensibilities of the dominant Puritan cultures. It was actually after the Civil War that Christmas became an official American holiday. Therefore, the idea of a war on Christmas goes back a long way in American church history.
Showing posts with label Christmas in America. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas in America. Show all posts
07 December 2012
22 December 2011
Christmas in American History
Different Christian groups throughout American history have celebrated Christmas in many different ways. Some have totally ignored the holiday, others have been quite festive. Christmas itself was not a national holiday until declared so by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1870. That is not to say that many people totally ignored the holiday before this date.
Just today, I read an article on Christmas in Revolutionary America by Thomas Kidd. Apparently, some people at this time had a major problem with the revelry, especially from the lower sort. Kidd points out some of the gifts that people gave (mostly wealthier individuals to relatively poorer people) and the signs that commercialism was becoming a characteristic of Christmas at that date.
The accounts that Kidd listed were based in New York, a cosmopolitan town even at this early date. Other groups viewed Christmas as a pagan ritual that true Christians should avoid. In New England, the early Puritan settlers had a legal ban on the celebration of Christmas. Celebration of Christmas could apparently lead to fines of up to five shillings. The ban on Christmas ended in 1680, but many people continued downplaying the holiday. Schools in Boston scheduled classes on Christmas day until the 1870s and punished those who skipped out to celebrate.
Baptist groups tended to downplay Christmas until the late nineteenth century, as well. A short article by Bruce Gourley on Baptist celebrations of Christmas indicated that early American Baptists continued their general day-to-day lives on Christmas. The first Baptist educational endeavor in America, Isaac Eaton's Hopewell Academy, scheduled classes on Christmas in 1757. Eaton refused to celebrate Christmas because Jesus was not born on that day. Gourley's article points out some interesting changes in Baptist churches over the nineteenth century that tended to follow trends in American society.
It would seem that the legitimization of Christmas by President Grant helped in removing some of the stigma associated with the holiday in some circles. Even today, however, some groups claiming to be Christian refuse to celebrate the Christmas holiday. I am not among these groups, and although I have a major problem with the commercial aspect of things, I still celebrate with friends and family at this time of year. So, to those who read this, I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Just today, I read an article on Christmas in Revolutionary America by Thomas Kidd. Apparently, some people at this time had a major problem with the revelry, especially from the lower sort. Kidd points out some of the gifts that people gave (mostly wealthier individuals to relatively poorer people) and the signs that commercialism was becoming a characteristic of Christmas at that date.
The accounts that Kidd listed were based in New York, a cosmopolitan town even at this early date. Other groups viewed Christmas as a pagan ritual that true Christians should avoid. In New England, the early Puritan settlers had a legal ban on the celebration of Christmas. Celebration of Christmas could apparently lead to fines of up to five shillings. The ban on Christmas ended in 1680, but many people continued downplaying the holiday. Schools in Boston scheduled classes on Christmas day until the 1870s and punished those who skipped out to celebrate.
Baptist groups tended to downplay Christmas until the late nineteenth century, as well. A short article by Bruce Gourley on Baptist celebrations of Christmas indicated that early American Baptists continued their general day-to-day lives on Christmas. The first Baptist educational endeavor in America, Isaac Eaton's Hopewell Academy, scheduled classes on Christmas in 1757. Eaton refused to celebrate Christmas because Jesus was not born on that day. Gourley's article points out some interesting changes in Baptist churches over the nineteenth century that tended to follow trends in American society.
It would seem that the legitimization of Christmas by President Grant helped in removing some of the stigma associated with the holiday in some circles. Even today, however, some groups claiming to be Christian refuse to celebrate the Christmas holiday. I am not among these groups, and although I have a major problem with the commercial aspect of things, I still celebrate with friends and family at this time of year. So, to those who read this, I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)