Puritans were original Scrooges and Grinches

They had theological and practical reasons for their ban on Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

That is not something you would hear on the lips of our forebearers if the Ghost of Christmas Past were to take us back to 17th Century Massachusetts.

In fact, the Puritans almost killed Christmas in America.

As pious and devout as they were, one would think Christmas Eve would be a most holy night and Christmas morning would bring joy to their world.

But that is wrong. The Puritans banned the public celebration of Christmas for years – making it punishable by a fine of five shillings – and still held it in contempt for many years after it became legal again.

Why? Their motivation was partly religious and partly practical. According to Christopher Klein, writing for History.com, the Puritans believed there was no Biblical basis for a celebration of Christmas.

“The Puritans tried to run a society in which legislation would not violate anything that the Bible said, and nowhere in the Bible is there a mention of celebrating the Nativity,” author Stephen Nissenbaum told Klein.

The Puritans noted that scriptures did not mention a season, let alone a single day, that marked the birth of Jesus, the author said.

The Puritans – staunchly anti-Catholic – also objected to the way the Church had in the Fourth Century adopted the timing and some rituals of the holiday from pagan celebrations.

Increase Mather, the famous Puritan preacher and one-time president of Harvard, wrote that Christmas occurred on Dec. 25 not because “Christ was born in that month, but because the heathens’ Saturnalia was at that time kept in Rome, and they were willing to have those pagan holidays metamorphosed into Christian (holidays).”

According to Nissenbaum, “Puritans believed Christmas was basically just a pagan custom that the Catholics took over without any biblical basis for it. The holiday had everything to do with the time of year, the solstice and Saturnalia and nothing to do with Christianity.”

That was their theological argument. But what I found remarkable in researching the history of Christmas in America was the way people celebrated. No wonder the Puritan leaders were concerned.

As Klein put it in his History.com piece, for many years Christmas was more like a rowdy modern spring break than a sacred occasion.

“Men dishonor Christ more in the 12 days of Christmas than in all the 12 months besides,” lamented clergyman Hugh Latimer.

Christmas revelers used the holiday as an excuse to feast, drink, gamble on dice and card games and engage in licentious behavior, Klein wrote.

“In a Yuletide twist on trick-or-treating, men dressed as women, and vice versa, and went doorto-door demanding food or money in return for carols or Christmas wishes.”

Revelers would bang on the doors of wealthy people and demand to be given food and drink the wealthy would serve to their families, and those who refused had their homes vandalized.

None of this was keeping with proper Puritan rectitude, so Puritan leaders banned the public celebration of Christmas.

Once King Charles II came to throne and restrictions on Christmas celebrations were relaxed back in England, there was pressure on the Puritans to do the same.

They grudgingly repealed the ban, but celebrations were still frowned upon for years, and shops remained open for business on Dec. 25.

It was not until 1870 that Christmas became a national holiday in the United States.