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It is not surprising that some members of the clergy objected to the way in which Christ's birth was being commemorated; aside from the gluttony and games, they worried about observing Jesus' birth as if He were a person rather than the Incarnate God. Celebrations of the Nativity should be more spiritual, they argued, or perhaps abolished outright.
The more Christmas became established in the customs and hearts of the people, the more worried the clergy became. Old worries about the pagan elements of the celebration began to surface again, and some church officials questioned the prudence of having allowed them to continue in the first place; should they put a halt to all this before things went too far?
With the Protestant Reformation, these objections gained the backing of an organized power. Beginning in 1517 with the posting of Martin Luther's 95 theses, the Reformation attacked religious feasts and Saints' Days, among other things, as corrupt practices. Christmas was outlawed in Scotland in 1583.
The Protestants and Puritans of England also condemned the gluttony, drinking and partying associated with Christmas celebrations and argued for all pagan customs to be done away with. Most Protestants observed Christmas as a day of quiet reflection; the Puritans, however, did not observe it at all. Strict interpreters of the Scriptures, the Puritans pointed to the commandment to devote six days for work and one day for rest. Unless Christmas happened to fall on the Sabbath, it was considered a work day.
By the middle of the seventeenth century, the holiday was under fire. The feelings of previously small pockets of objectors began to have mass impact as the political situation in England became increasingly unstable. From 1642 to 1649 the country was engaged in civil war as a result of the power struggle between the Stuart kings and Parliament; over this time England entered its Commonwealth period and was ruled by Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans. Christmas's enemies began taking the first steps towards defeating the holiday. The government issued official policies outlawing all religious festivals.
"Whereas some doubts have been raised whether the next Fast shall be celebrated because it falleth on the day which, heretofore, was usually called the Feast of the Nativity of our Saviour, the lords and commons do order that public notice be given, that the Fast appointed to be kept on the last Wednesday in every month, ought to be observed until it be otherwise ordered by both houses; and that this day particularly is to be kept with the same solemn humiliation because it may call to rememberance our sins and the sins of our forefathers, who have turned this Feast, pretending the memory of Christ, into an extreme forgetfulness of him, by giving liberty to carnal and sensual delights."
---- 1644 English proclamation outlawing public Christmas revelries
The era of the Puritan reign was filled with such laws, updated over the years to be even more strict. At first such declarations caused a great deal of upheaval among the people, who were unprepared for such a step and objected to the idea to begin with. In the initial days of these ordinances, the people tried to disobey, and there was even some rioting. Gradually, however, the Puritans won out.
Technically, the Puritans objected to Christmas not as a Christian event but as an excessive festival with pagan roots; apparently, they believed the only way to deal with such impious doings was to abolish the day and everything associated with it. They meant to banish this "wrong" not only from the country but from the hearts of its subjects. And they came very close to succeeding--but then came the Restoration.
Christmas was legitimized again when the monarchy, led by Charles II, returned to power in 1660. The holiday could be observed freely again, and people were happy. The popular sentiment of the time was expressed in this verse:
Now thanks to God for Charles' return,
Whose absence made old Christmas mourn;
For then we scarcely did it know,
Whether it Christmas were or no. [1]
---------
In Colonial America, the Puritans of New England shared radical Protestant disapproval of Christmas. Celebration was outlawed in Boston from 1659 to 1681. The ban by the Pilgrims was revoked in 1681 by English governor Sir Edmund Andros, however it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in the Boston region.
At the same time, Christian residents of Virginia and New York observed the holiday freely. Pennsylvania German Settlers, pre-eminently the Moravian settlers of Bethlehem, Nazareth and Lititz in Pennsylvania and the Wachovia Settlements in North Carolina, were enthusiastic celebrators of Christmas. The Moravians in Bethlehem had the first Christmas trees in America as well as the first Nativity Scenes. Christmas fell out of favor in the United States after the American Revolution, when it was considered an English custom. George Washington attacked Hessian (German) mercenaries on the day after Christmas during the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776, Christmas being much more popular in Germany than in America at this time. [2]
---------
While public celebration of Christmas faced both religious objections and adverse social conditions in England, the German people were enjoying a wonderful and expansive Christmas tradition that had been building up over the centuries. It is very likely that the American love affair with Christmas that began in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, so influential in the way the whole world now views the holiday, might never have occurred if it had not been for the enthusiastic influence of Christmas-loving German immigrants.
The Germans have long espoused the idea of keeping the spirit of Christmas alive inside--in one's heart, mind and spirit---and turning that feeling outward in mass celebration. The traditional German Christmas is a Christmas of trees, gingerbread houses, cookies, feasts, and carols; most of all, it is the Christmas of childhood wonder and joy.
Other German contributions to the world's celebration of Christmas include the timeless carols O Tannenbaum ("O Christmas Tree") and Silent Night.
The German people have had an enormous part to play in shaping Christmas into the form we know and love today. It has been said that the Germans had "such an abundance of Christmas spirit that they gave some of it to the rest of the world."
One of the beneficiaries of the German love of Christmas was Victorian England. Queen Victoria assumed the throne in 1837 at the age of eighteen; three years later she married Prince Albert, who became Prince Consort. Prince Albert, being of German descent, brought with him to England many of the wonderful Christmas traditions of his homeland. Christmas soon became a special occasion for the Royal Family; their celebration of it emphasized the importance of family closeness and an appreciation of children, and revived the idea of the holiday meal and holiday decorations. In 1841 Prince Albert introduced the first Christmas tree to Windsor Castle; he was largely responsible for the later popularity of Christmas trees in England. Since Victoria and her family enjoyed an astonishing popularity that verged at times on religious adoration, much of what they did was widely emulated. Newspapers and magazines such as The Illustrated London News provided a hungry audience with chronicles of the royals' daily activities. Anything seen in the castle, it seemed, was soon copied in homes throughout the country, providing the English Christmas with a much-needed boost.
Gradually, over the course of Victoria's reign, the tide turned. Christmas once more had an important place in English life.
The Victorian Christmas was quaint and warm, highlighted by family togetherness. Christmas became more than a party. It commanded a special spirit, full of kindness and charity. More prevalent than the excesses of the past was the idea of giving, and of concern for others, particularly those less fortunate. As Charles Dickens said, Christmas was "the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely." [3]
---------
The custom of giving gifts on Christmas Day did not come about until the last few decades of the century; before that, England adhered to the old Roman traditions of waiting until New Year's Day. When Christmas eventually became the day for gifts, it was England's turn to borrow from America, whose Santa Claus became the model for the English Father Christmas.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, Christmas was fully re-established as a holiday, steeped again in tradition and spirit. The Victorians had helped to mold a Christmas tradition that would forever alter the way Christmas was celebrated in England and America. [4]
[1.] The Everything Christmas Book, 1996; Ch. 1, p. 10-11
[2.] Excerpt from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas (3: History; 3.3: Reformation into the 19th Century)
[3.] The Everything Christmas Book, p. 13-14
[4.] Ibid., p. 15
The more Christmas became established in the customs and hearts of the people, the more worried the clergy became. Old worries about the pagan elements of the celebration began to surface again, and some church officials questioned the prudence of having allowed them to continue in the first place; should they put a halt to all this before things went too far?
With the Protestant Reformation, these objections gained the backing of an organized power. Beginning in 1517 with the posting of Martin Luther's 95 theses, the Reformation attacked religious feasts and Saints' Days, among other things, as corrupt practices. Christmas was outlawed in Scotland in 1583.
The Protestants and Puritans of England also condemned the gluttony, drinking and partying associated with Christmas celebrations and argued for all pagan customs to be done away with. Most Protestants observed Christmas as a day of quiet reflection; the Puritans, however, did not observe it at all. Strict interpreters of the Scriptures, the Puritans pointed to the commandment to devote six days for work and one day for rest. Unless Christmas happened to fall on the Sabbath, it was considered a work day.
By the middle of the seventeenth century, the holiday was under fire. The feelings of previously small pockets of objectors began to have mass impact as the political situation in England became increasingly unstable. From 1642 to 1649 the country was engaged in civil war as a result of the power struggle between the Stuart kings and Parliament; over this time England entered its Commonwealth period and was ruled by Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans. Christmas's enemies began taking the first steps towards defeating the holiday. The government issued official policies outlawing all religious festivals.
"Whereas some doubts have been raised whether the next Fast shall be celebrated because it falleth on the day which, heretofore, was usually called the Feast of the Nativity of our Saviour, the lords and commons do order that public notice be given, that the Fast appointed to be kept on the last Wednesday in every month, ought to be observed until it be otherwise ordered by both houses; and that this day particularly is to be kept with the same solemn humiliation because it may call to rememberance our sins and the sins of our forefathers, who have turned this Feast, pretending the memory of Christ, into an extreme forgetfulness of him, by giving liberty to carnal and sensual delights."
---- 1644 English proclamation outlawing public Christmas revelries
The era of the Puritan reign was filled with such laws, updated over the years to be even more strict. At first such declarations caused a great deal of upheaval among the people, who were unprepared for such a step and objected to the idea to begin with. In the initial days of these ordinances, the people tried to disobey, and there was even some rioting. Gradually, however, the Puritans won out.
Technically, the Puritans objected to Christmas not as a Christian event but as an excessive festival with pagan roots; apparently, they believed the only way to deal with such impious doings was to abolish the day and everything associated with it. They meant to banish this "wrong" not only from the country but from the hearts of its subjects. And they came very close to succeeding--but then came the Restoration.
Christmas was legitimized again when the monarchy, led by Charles II, returned to power in 1660. The holiday could be observed freely again, and people were happy. The popular sentiment of the time was expressed in this verse:
Now thanks to God for Charles' return,
Whose absence made old Christmas mourn;
For then we scarcely did it know,
Whether it Christmas were or no. [1]
---------
In Colonial America, the Puritans of New England shared radical Protestant disapproval of Christmas. Celebration was outlawed in Boston from 1659 to 1681. The ban by the Pilgrims was revoked in 1681 by English governor Sir Edmund Andros, however it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in the Boston region.
At the same time, Christian residents of Virginia and New York observed the holiday freely. Pennsylvania German Settlers, pre-eminently the Moravian settlers of Bethlehem, Nazareth and Lititz in Pennsylvania and the Wachovia Settlements in North Carolina, were enthusiastic celebrators of Christmas. The Moravians in Bethlehem had the first Christmas trees in America as well as the first Nativity Scenes. Christmas fell out of favor in the United States after the American Revolution, when it was considered an English custom. George Washington attacked Hessian (German) mercenaries on the day after Christmas during the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776, Christmas being much more popular in Germany than in America at this time. [2]
---------
While public celebration of Christmas faced both religious objections and adverse social conditions in England, the German people were enjoying a wonderful and expansive Christmas tradition that had been building up over the centuries. It is very likely that the American love affair with Christmas that began in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, so influential in the way the whole world now views the holiday, might never have occurred if it had not been for the enthusiastic influence of Christmas-loving German immigrants.
The Germans have long espoused the idea of keeping the spirit of Christmas alive inside--in one's heart, mind and spirit---and turning that feeling outward in mass celebration. The traditional German Christmas is a Christmas of trees, gingerbread houses, cookies, feasts, and carols; most of all, it is the Christmas of childhood wonder and joy.
Other German contributions to the world's celebration of Christmas include the timeless carols O Tannenbaum ("O Christmas Tree") and Silent Night.
The German people have had an enormous part to play in shaping Christmas into the form we know and love today. It has been said that the Germans had "such an abundance of Christmas spirit that they gave some of it to the rest of the world."
One of the beneficiaries of the German love of Christmas was Victorian England. Queen Victoria assumed the throne in 1837 at the age of eighteen; three years later she married Prince Albert, who became Prince Consort. Prince Albert, being of German descent, brought with him to England many of the wonderful Christmas traditions of his homeland. Christmas soon became a special occasion for the Royal Family; their celebration of it emphasized the importance of family closeness and an appreciation of children, and revived the idea of the holiday meal and holiday decorations. In 1841 Prince Albert introduced the first Christmas tree to Windsor Castle; he was largely responsible for the later popularity of Christmas trees in England. Since Victoria and her family enjoyed an astonishing popularity that verged at times on religious adoration, much of what they did was widely emulated. Newspapers and magazines such as The Illustrated London News provided a hungry audience with chronicles of the royals' daily activities. Anything seen in the castle, it seemed, was soon copied in homes throughout the country, providing the English Christmas with a much-needed boost.
Gradually, over the course of Victoria's reign, the tide turned. Christmas once more had an important place in English life.
The Victorian Christmas was quaint and warm, highlighted by family togetherness. Christmas became more than a party. It commanded a special spirit, full of kindness and charity. More prevalent than the excesses of the past was the idea of giving, and of concern for others, particularly those less fortunate. As Charles Dickens said, Christmas was "the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely." [3]
---------
The custom of giving gifts on Christmas Day did not come about until the last few decades of the century; before that, England adhered to the old Roman traditions of waiting until New Year's Day. When Christmas eventually became the day for gifts, it was England's turn to borrow from America, whose Santa Claus became the model for the English Father Christmas.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, Christmas was fully re-established as a holiday, steeped again in tradition and spirit. The Victorians had helped to mold a Christmas tradition that would forever alter the way Christmas was celebrated in England and America. [4]
[1.] The Everything Christmas Book, 1996; Ch. 1, p. 10-11
[2.] Excerpt from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas (3: History; 3.3: Reformation into the 19th Century)
[3.] The Everything Christmas Book, p. 13-14
[4.] Ibid., p. 15
