#puritans

The Puritan War on Christmas lasted until 1660 (so before the events in Gravesfield.) Under the Commonwealth, mince pies, holly and other popular customs fell victim to the spirited Puritan attempt to eradicate every last remnant of merrymaking during the Christmas period.

PLEASE READ:

Mind you, most of this is copy-pasted and compiled from various sites I've read and saved bits and pieces from, putting together only the relevant parts of information. I apologise in advance for not sourcing, as I stupidly did not save the websites, only the text itself.

During the twelve days of Christmas, buildings were dressed with rosemary, holly and ivy and families attended Christmas Day mass.

It's no surprise that the daily celebrations often led to drunkenness, promiscuity, gambling and other forms of excess.

As well as marking the day's religious elements, there was also non-stop dancing, singing, drinking, exchanging of presents and stage plays.

The population indulged in feasts of roast beef, plum porridge, minced pies and special ale. Twelfth Night, the final day of celebration, often saw a fresh bout of feasting and carnivals.

A surprise to NOBODU AT ALL, Puritans frowned on what they saw as a frenzy of disorder and disturbance. in the famed book The Anatomie of Abuses, it is noted:

'More mischief is that time committed than in all the year besides ... What dicing and carding, what eating and drinking, what banqueting and feasting is then used ... to the great dishonour of God and the impoverishing of the realm.'

The Puritans believed that you would be welcomed in to heaven as long as you worked hard in your lifetime, thus, enjoyment for enjoyments sake was highly disapproved of.

Cromwell (a leader within the Puritan society in ca 1630s-1650s) ordered for inns and playhouses to be shut down, most sports were banned and those caught swearing would receive a fine.

In 1656 a legislation was passed to ensure that Sundays were more stringently observed as the Lord's Day and, thus, a day of rest.

Women caught working on the Sabbath could be put in the stocks. They had to wear a long black dress, a white apron, a white headdress and no makeup.

The men had an equally sober appearance, dressed head to toe in black and sporting short hair. (all this was ca. 1650s)

The regular monthly fast day had always been hugely unpopular and impossible to enforce, and was subsequently dissolved.

Despite the threat of fines and punishment, many people continued to celebrate Christmas clandestinely.

The ban had never been popular, and many people still held mass on the 25th December to mark Christ's nativity also marked the day as a secular holiday.

In the late 1640s Cromwell tried to put a stop to these public celebrations and force businesses to stay open. As a result, violent encounters took place between supporters and opponents of Christmas in many towns, including back in London, Canterbury and Norwich.

Once Charles II was restored to the throne, all legislation banning Christmas -- enforced from 1642 to 1660 -- was dropped and the common people were once again allowed to mark the Twelve Days of Christmas.

Old traditions were revived with renewed enthusiasm and Christmas was celebrated throughout the country as both a religious and secular festival.

NOW I WILL ADMIT!!

I am not super confident if all this also counts for the American puritans or not. I believe it does! But I feel I must stress that I am not confident.

Twelfth Night aka Epiphany Eve

Depending on the denomination and what they considered the first day of Christmas, January 5th is known as Twelfth Night, the last night of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

In England during the 17th century the Christmas season was a twelve day long celebration that led up to Epiphany.

In many places Twelfth Night, rather than Christmas, became the bigger night of revelry and festivities.

There are many traditions from this time period associated with the season, but we will focus on two; Wassailing and the Lord/Lady of Misrule, and how they helped influence the way the Pilgrims perceived the holiday.  

Wassail is a word derived from Old English and Norse phrases used to toast to one’s good health and fortune. By the 17th century it became synonymous with the spiced drink used to give such toasts.

The act of wassailing, as it became called, is an ancient tradition where it's one part Christmas carolling, one part trick or treating; Wassailers go from house to house singing festive songs and offering toasts in exchange for food and drink. The wassailers were of a lower social class than the more affluent houses they visited.

Another tradition of Twelfth Night is..

The baking, and sometimes eating, of a Twelfth Night Cake. This cake was often eaten either on Twelfth night or the next day during Epiphany.

While having cake during the 17th century was in itself something special, this cake had a particular surprise baked inside, a bean. Whoever found the bean was made the Lord/King of Misrule. A later addition to this game was a pea, and whoever found it was the Lady/Queen of Misrule.

These traditions were not popular with Puritans and Separatists. Which brings us to the Pilgrims and how they may have viewed Twelfth Night and the Christmas season in general.

The reformed church that many of the Pilgrims belonged to only recognized Sabbath (for them Sunday) to be holy. As such, they felt that while many of the things celebrated during Christmas are in the bible, a specific date was not.

In addition, reformed churches and Puritans both in England and New England felt many of the traditional festivities, such as wassailing, revelry, and general idle game playing, to be superstitious, pagan and sinful.

To them, unless the holiday fell on a Sunday, in which case people should be at church all day, people should be working.

HOWEVER, it can be seen in reports (such as diaries and documents) how both the reformed church Pilgrims and the Church of England Pilgrims viewed the Christmas season in both disdain and enjoyment.

Yet despite their differing opinions on the matter, Governor Bradford decided to keep the situation on Christmas a matter “…of mirth rather than weight” and only forbid open revelry, thus keeping the peace between all disagreeing parties.

So, we don't know if Pilgrim families who were not members of the reformed church continued to keep their Christmas traditions, quietly and inside their homes.

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And there ya go! At risk of this becoming too long, I will end it there.