It is easy to suppose that the celebration of Christmas has always been a part of American life. Yet, this is not the case. Puritans regarded Christmas and its customary practices of exchanging gifts and warm greetings as downright Satanic. In 1651, the legislature of the Boston colony ruled,
For preventing disorders, arising in several places within
this jurisdiction by reason of some still observing such festivals as were
superstitiously kept in other communities, to the great dishonor of God and
offense of others: it is therefore ordered by this court and the authority
thereof that whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas or
the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way, upon any
such account as aforesaid, every such person so offending shall pay for every
such offence five shilling as a fine to the county.
From the records of the General Court, Massachusetts Bay
Colony May 11, 1659 (source)
Puritans’ anti-Christmas sentiment extended to all religious
holidays. The Puritans believed that “They for whom all days are holy can have
no holiday.” Still, they tended to
single out Christmas for contempt, referring to it as “Foolstide.” Sixteenth
century churchman Hugh Latimer declared, “Men dishonor Christ more in the 12
days of Christmas than in all the 12 months besides (source).”
Puritans spent December 25th the way they spent
any other day (excepting the Sabbath), by engaging in hard labor. If a person
was not a Puritan, he or she was still expected to refrain from any activity
that would suggest festiveness. Non-Puritans caught playing “stoole-ball” — an
early precursor of baseball —were punished by Gov. William Bradford, who
declared, “My conscience cannot let you play while everybody else is out
working (source).”
Christmas belonged to the Catholics, and Puritans would have none of it.
By the 1680’s, the Puritan influence in England had subsided
and some colonists were bold enough to openly observe Christmas. Still, when
Sir Edmund Andros, Royal Governor of Massachusetts, sponsored a Christmas Day
service at the Boston Town House, he knew he was taking a terrible chance. Fearing
a violent backlash the governor requested the protection of redcoats as he
prayed and sang Christmas hymns (source). Despite
his caution, Andros would eventually be captured by an angry mob and
imprisoned. The Crown had to negotiate for his release.
In the first decade of the 1800’s, the public celebration of
Christmas was still a novelty:
A few years earlier, several Boston
Congregational churches had started to hold Christmas services and decorate
their interiors with evergreen boughs. In Hartford, the first non-Episcopal
Christmas service took place in 1823 with a sermon in the Congregational Brick
Meetinghouse, the place of worship of most of the city's prominent families.
The Connecticut Courant, the newspaper that served as the voice of
Connecticut's elite, urged that business be suspended during the day (source).
Unitarians were among the early adopters
of a Christmas celebration. Even though Unitarians regard Jesus Christ as a prophet
rather than a divinity, they embraced the holiday in part – it is believed – to
differentiate themselves from the joyless Puritans.As the 19th century wore on, Puritans suffered from dwindling congregations, and Catholic immigrants from Ireland poured into the country bringing with them their Popish inclination to enjoy Christmas.
As late as the 1860’s, rural counties
still shunned Christmas while city dwellers had fully embraced the holiday. Authors
such as Theodore Parker satirized the rural folks’ perseverance in Puritan
values, and their revulsion and holy terror upon observing the urban practice
of decorating homes and exchanging gifts. Country folk are, and ever have been, conservative with respect to social innovations.
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