Christmas in the time of The Puritans.
By Cryssa Bazos.
By Cryssa Bazos.
The Puritans who Abolished Christmas
Christmas has had
a long tradition of being under siege. There’s Ebenezer Scrooge with his humbug
attitude toward Christmas cheer, and the Grinch who tried to steal it. Yet
these literary examples pale in comparison to the English Parliament’s attempt
to abolish Christmas during the English Civil War. The blame often falls to
Oliver Cromwell, who is cast as both Scrooge and the Grinch for cancelling
Christmas, but the campaign to eradicate Christmas started years before he rose
to power.
Historical
Background
From 1642 to 1651,
England was gripped by three episodes of civil war. Parliament opposed the absolute
rule of King Charles I, and, for the most part, sought Parliamentary reform.
While the moderates who opposed the king were focused on curtailing the king’s
power, more extreme dissidents stepped into the ring to demand religious
reforms. These Independents (or Puritans) were seeking to reform the Church of
England. Their view was that the Reformation did not go far enough to break
from the idolatry of the Roman Catholic Church. During this time, they stripped
the churches of their altar rails, stained glass, and icons, all in an effort
to create a more godly society, cast in a strict Puritan mode.
But
why pick on Christmas?
Since Christmas celebrates
the birth of Christ and the Puritans were focused on church reform, you’d think
that they would want to celebrate Christmas, not abolish it. The reason lay in
its observation. Christmas was a time of revelry overlaid on pagan traditions.
Today many complain about the commerciality of Christmas, but then the
complaint from some quarters focused on the decadence and frivolity of the
season. The twelve days of Christmas lasted from Christmas Eve through to
Twelfth Night, the evening before Epiphany. Twelfth Night was particularly a
raucous affair, presided by the Lord of Misrule.
If you stepped
into the 17th century for Christmas, you would have seen many of the
churches and halls decorated with greenery that consisted of rosemary, bay,
holly, ivy, and mistletoe. The great Yule log was laid to burn in the
fireplace, while mince pies, plum pudding, cakes, and roasted meats would be
laid out for feasting. Women would go wassailing door to door on New Years Eve
singing songs of the season in exchange for coin, food or drink. The common
folk would gather for revels preformed by mummers, while the court favoured
extravagant masques with singing, dancing and plays. Professional actors and
courtiers would don elaborate costumes with elaborate stage sets to perform
before the King and Queen.
Mischief and
mayhem was certainly the order of the day and things often got out of hand.
 |
| "Christmas - The Wassail Bowl" ~ Hollis, Thomas (1818–1843) |
The
Christmas bans
The cancellation
of Christmas did not happen overnight. In September 1643, a year into the civil
war, Parliament signed a treaty with Scotland to provide military support for their
fight against King Charles I. One of the conditions imposed by Scotland was
that Parliament reform the Church of England. Seriously, a case of preaching to
the choir. They needed very little encouragement to tackle that.
The Saint’s days
were abolished and in their place, national fast days (not feast, quite the
opposite) were instituted. A line was drawn in December 1644 when a national
fast day landed on Christmas Day. Parliament posted a public notice confirming
the fast day was on and Christmas off. In the future, Christmas was to be a
normal working day. Not only that, they rubbed a little salt in the wound:
“And that this day in particular is to be kept with
the more solemne humiliation, because it may call to remembrance of our sinnes,
and the sinnes of our forefathers, who have turned this Feast, pretending the
memory of Christ into an extreame forgetfulnesse of him, by giving liberty to
carnall and sensuall delights.” Acts and
Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642 -1660; British History Online.
The people were
not amused. Over the next few years, there were scattered riots against shop
owners who were open for business on Christmas, and angry mobs showing up to
churches demanding a service. Apprentices led a revolt, having had their
holiday eliminated and their traditional alms on St. Stephen’s Day (the day
after Christmas) cut off. In defiance, greenery was draped over a public water
conduit at Cornhill, and the Lord Mayor of London was forced to bring
reinforcements to put the riot down.
An example of this
happened just after Twelfth Night in 1647. Mathew Clarke, the Minister of
Strettam from the Isle of Ely, petitioned Parliament for justice over his rough
treatment at the hand of his parishioners. By this time, Parliament had imposed
a penalty on ministers and churchwardens who did not comply with Parliament’s
ban against Christmas services. Mister Clarke complained that his people
brought in a soldier to preach to the congregation (because he wouldn’t risk
being fined) in the morning and afternoon. The minister pleaded with them to
cease, but they threatened to pull him down from his reading-seat and get the
soldier to preach again that evening if he didn’t do it himself.
In every sense,
the battle over Christmas divided the country as the war had.
It was really only
when King Charles was executed in 1649 that the Christmas controversy had the
wind knocked out of it. Parliament now controlled the entire country, and they
were determined to usher in the rule of Saints.
What
about Ollie?
With the execution
of the king, Oliver Cromwell became a leading voice for Parliament. He was
appointed Commander in Chief and sent to punish the Scots for supporting the
king’s heir, Charles II. After the last battle of the civil war in 1651,
everyone looked to Cromwell for leadership. In 1653, he became the Lord
Protector and a de facto king. Cromwell
had always supported abolishing Christmas and made a point of working on
Christmas Day as many other MPs did. Though he was not single-handedly
responsible for cancelling Christmas, he did enforce the law when he became
Lord Protector, thereafter earning a place in history as a bona fide Grinch.
 |
| Oliver Cromwell |
Final
good tidings
Fortunately, the
ban on Christmas only lasted until the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660.
When King Charles II ascended the throne, he ushered in a new era of merriment
and restored the holiday. Welcome Christmas, Christmas Day.
Media:
Image of people celebrating Xmas:
By T. Hollis (likely Hollis, Thomas
(1818–1843))R.W. Buss (1804 – 1875). "For Mr. Hogarth, of the Haymarket,
he painted four small subjects illustrative of Christmas, entitled, Tlu
Waits ; Bringing in the Boar's Head ; The Yule Log, and The Wassail
Bowl ; all afterwards engraved." [1] [CC BY 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
], via Wikimedia Commons
Picture of Oliver Cromwell:
By Peter Lely - Amgueddfa Cymru — National
Museum Wales, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2984325
Holly image- public domain from Visual
Hunt. No attribution required.
I am a historical fiction writer and 17th Century enthusiast, with a particular interest in the English Civil War (ECW) and romantic fiction. I blog about English history and storytelling at my site, the 17th Century Enthusiast, and I'm involved with the English Historical Fiction Authors blog site and a member of the Romantic Novelist Association (RNA) and the Historical Novel Society (HNS).
England
1650: Civil War has given way to an uneasy peace in the year since Parliament
executed King Charles I.
Royalist officer James Hart refuses to accept the tyranny of the new government, and to raise funds for the restoration of the king’s son, he takes to the road as a highwayman.
Elizabeth Seton has long been shunned for being a traitor’s daughter. In the midst of the new order, she risks her life by sheltering fugitives from Parliament in a garrison town. But her attempts to rebuild her life are threatened, first by her own sense of injustice, then by falling in love with the dashing Hart.
The lovers’ loyalty is tested through war, defeat and separation. James must fight his way back to the woman he loves, while Elizabeth will do anything to save him, even if it means sacrificing herself.
Traitor's Knot is a sweeping tale of love and conflicted loyalties set against the turmoil of the English Civil War.
I am a historical fiction writer and 17th Century enthusiast, with a particular interest in the English Civil War (ECW) and romantic fiction. I blog about English history and storytelling at my site, the 17th Century Enthusiast, and I'm involved with the English Historical Fiction Authors blog site and a member of the Romantic Novelist Association (RNA) and the Historical Novel Society (HNS).
Cryssa loves to hear from readers,
you can find her…
Traitor's Knot
England
1650: Civil War has given way to an uneasy peace in the year since Parliament
executed King Charles I.Royalist officer James Hart refuses to accept the tyranny of the new government, and to raise funds for the restoration of the king’s son, he takes to the road as a highwayman.
Elizabeth Seton has long been shunned for being a traitor’s daughter. In the midst of the new order, she risks her life by sheltering fugitives from Parliament in a garrison town. But her attempts to rebuild her life are threatened, first by her own sense of injustice, then by falling in love with the dashing Hart.
The lovers’ loyalty is tested through war, defeat and separation. James must fight his way back to the woman he loves, while Elizabeth will do anything to save him, even if it means sacrificing herself.
Traitor's Knot is a sweeping tale of love and conflicted loyalties set against the turmoil of the English Civil War.
