On the first Christmas in the New World, 25 December 1620, the Mayflower passengers stranded in Plymouth, Massachusetts spent the day working on building their new settlement, building homes and finding food. There was no celebration. The following year, in 1621, a group of laborers were seen playing "stoole-ball" (an early version of baseball), and Governor William Bradford punished them. He believed that his conscience could not let them play whilst others were working. In his journal he wrote "One the day called Christmas Day, the Governor called [the settlers] out to work as usual. However, the most of the new company excused themselves and said it went against their consciences to work on that day. So the Governor told them that if they made it [a] matter conscience, he would spare them till they were better informed". When he later found them playing stoole-ball he confiscated their ball, forbade reveling, and sent them home.
We can't confuse the Separatists with the Massachusetts Bay Puritans, but remember that like the Presbyterians and other religions, all were Calvinists. All believed in a strict interpretation of their religion, which included turning away from "Papist" holidays. None celebrated any religious holidays - no Easter, no Christmas, no Lent. And believe it or not, no other holidays, religious or civic. Why?
1659 Massachusetts statute: "For preventing disorders arising in several places within this jurisdiction, by reason of some still observing such festivals as were superstitiously kept in other countries to the great dishonor of God and offence of others; It is therefore ordained by this Court and the authority thereof, that whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas and the like, either by forbearing labor, feasting, or any other way upon any such account as aforesaid, every such person so offending shall pay for each such offence, five shillings as a fine to the Country."
In 1712 Reverend Cotton Mather gave a famous anti-Christmas sermon. He argued against play, excessive drinking, and inappropriate behaviors, but allowed for the possibility of marking the day.
A quote from Judge Samuel Sewell's (1652 - 1730) diary: "Decr. 25, 1685. Friday. Carts come to town and shops open as is usual. Some somehow observe the day; but are vexed I believe that the body of the people profane it, and blessed be God no authority yet to compel them to keep it." The following year, on Christmas of 1686 the Royal Governor, an Anglican no doubt, Sir Edmund Andros, held a Christmas service in Boston with prayers and Christmas hymns. He was escorted by redcoats to assert his authority in the matter.
In 1722, also from Judge Sewell's diary: "Decr. 19. His Excellency took me aside to the South-east window of the Council Chamber to speak to me about adjourning the Gen. Court to Monday next because of Christmas. I told his Excellency I would consider it."
However, Judge Sewell had already made up his mind to not keep Christmas, but he remained very diplomatic, see his diary entry the next day: "Decr. 20. I invited Dr. Mather to Dine with me. After Dinner I consulted with him about the adjournment of the Court. We agreed that 't would be expedient to take a vote of the Council and Representatives for it."
Of course, in 1722, the Royal Governor of Massachusetts was Samuel Shute (1662 - 1742), and was of course a member of the Anglican church. Shute argued for keeping Christmas. He was a controversial figure in Puritan Boston due to his attendance at Anglican services, and his habit of hosting many parties at his mansion. [Michael Batinski, Jonathan Belcher, Colonial Governor, 1996 University Press of Kentucky, p. 29]
The matter was argued in the Council the following day, with both sides giving their opinions. In the end, the governor proclaimed a Christmas holiday. This only set up decades of controversy in New England. Shute soon left the colony and returned to England in January 1723, where he was free to celebrate Christmas. He never married, and died in England on 15 April 1742. [Henry Wilder Foote, John Carroll Perkins, Warren Winslow, 1882, Annals of Kings Chapel, Little, Brown Co., p. 267]
Why did the Puritans dismiss Christmas? Was it because it was based on a pagan holiday? Because it was no biblically based? No, it was because it promoted play and waste at a time when people should be working. Thus, they had no holidays except Sundays, and on days of fasting, and days of Thanksgiving. The matter became controversial again at the time of the American Revolution, when the colonials in Boston saw Christmas as a royalist celebration. The King, as the head of the Anglican church, represented everything the Patriots were fighting against.
The Massachusetts senate gathered for work on Christmas Day in 1797. In New England school was held on Christmas day until the 1850s. But soon after, the Puritan sentiment against making merry began to wane. In 1856 Christmas became a holiday in Massachusetts.
For the truly curious:
The Not-Quite Puritans, by Henry W. Lawrence, 1928, Boston, Little, Brown Co.
"Christmas in Early New England, 1620- 1820: Puritanism, Popular Culture, and the Printed Word", by Stephen W. Nissenbaum, Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 106: 1: 79 (January 1996)
Are you curious about how the early Presbyterian Scots Irish settlers celebrated Christmas in Nutfield? Click on this 2014 blog post to read all about it! https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/12/how-did-scots-irish-celebrate-christmas.html
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Cite/Link to this post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The Puritans and Christmas", Nutfield Genealogy, posted December 22, 2020, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-puritans-and-christmas.html: accessed [access date]).
It is important to remember the history of those early immigrants. They left England because they were religious puritans and wanted to live outside the bureaucracy of the powerful Church of England. Coming to the “New World” allowed them that and to subjugate the people already living here.
ReplyDeleteRhode Island Colony, the only secular democracy in the Americas, held their quarterly legislature and court during and on the week of Christmas. They were former Anglicans and Puritans, and many had been followers of Anne Hutchinson or Roger Williams, so there was no lack of spiritual convictions among them--but they were "all in" on separation of church and state and "soul liberty." The point is that with religious freedom guaranteed by their royal charter, and the diverse religious practices of the many faith traditions that had taken refuge there, they could have celebrated Christmas, but didn't. Maybe, as you wrote, they were not wasting time on decorating, feasting, and gift-giving when they could be working. Or maybe they just didn't care about religious festivals.
ReplyDeleteSeveral American denominations trace their origins to New England, and Christmas celebrations in churches remained muted for 300 years. It's only been the last 50-75 years that some churches brought the "pagan" traditions into the sanctuary, though they had celebrations at home.