Rick Lee James shares how Puritans banned Christmas in the 16th and 17th centuries, prohibiting carols, decorations, and feasting. England lifted the ban in 1660; American colonies didn't until the mid-1800s. He contrasts this history with today's "war on Christmas" rhetoric.
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Welcome to Voices in My Head, the official podcast of me, Rick Lee James. I'm a recording artist, a singer, a songwriter, an author, a worship leader, and an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene. The Voices in My Head podcast is where I discuss music, movies, books, pop culture, theology, and more with friends, colleagues, and sometimes just by myself. Make sure to let me know what you think of today's episode by leaving me a review on iTunes or by tweeting at me @RickLeeJames on Twitter. And please join my mailing list at RickLeeJames.com where you can receive an email every time a new episode is released. By the way, in case you're interested in a daily dose of kindness and encouragement beyond this podcast, I also run the Twitter account @MrRogersSay where I post daily quotes from Fred Rogers, one of the voices in my head. Well, I guess that's it for the intro, so sit back, relax, and listen to the latest episode of Voices in My Head.
Mm-hmm. Well, good morning, friends. This morning I wanted to share with you a story that is fascinating. It's a true story, and it's a story that I've known for a while. I'm a Christian and a pastor and a student of church history, and, and I found this write-up online that writes it out very well, and it was written by Remy Molina, and I thought rather than just me recounting the tale, Remy wrote this so well that I just wanted to share the story as written. You can find this on, I think it's Live Science, it might be livescience.com, but the article is called The Surprising Truth: Christians Once Banned Christmas. So if you're interested in finding out more, fascinating article. But I thought just as a way to start the first Sunday of Advent, just a way to talk about kind of a fun fact story of history that is often forgotten. The first war on Christmas was actually waged by Christians to stop Christmas. It's kind of the opposite of what we often hear from the headlines today. So here it goes. And again, the story is written up very well by Remy Molina. And see, I'm having a little bit of trouble with my computer this morning with scrolling down for some reason, but we'll just hope that it goes on. If it freezes up, I'll just let you know it's frozen and we'll move on from there. But here we go. The Surprising Truth Christians once banned Christmas. It may seem like Christmas has always been celebrated in the United States, but that's not the case. In fact, the joyous religious holiday was actually banned in America for several decades by Christians themselves. The original war on Christmas was waged during the 16th and 17th centuries by Puritans, or Protestant Christians who believed that that people needed strict rules to be religious and that any kind of merry-making was sinful. All Christmas activities, including dancing, seasonal plays, games, singing carols, cheerful celebration, and especially drinking, were banned by the Puritan-dominated Parliament of England in 1644., with the Puritans of New England following suit. Christmas was outlawed in Boston, and the Plymouth Colony made celebrating Christmas a criminal offense, according to Once Upon a Gospel, 23rd Publications, in 2008. Christmas trees and decorations were considered to be unholy pagan rituals, and the Puritans also banned traditional Christmas foods such as mince pies and pudding. Puritan laws required that stores and businesses remain open all day on Christmas, and town criers walked through the streets on Christmas Eve calling out, "No Christmas! No Christmas!" In England, the ban on the holiday was lifted in 1660 when Charles II took over the throne. However, the Puritan presence remained in New England, and Christmas did not become a legal holiday there until 1856. Even then, some schools continued to hold classes on December 25th until 1870. Although the change was gradual, people began to once again embrace the holiday until Christmas as we know it today, complete with mistletoe, eggnog, and candy canes, was celebrated throughout the American colonies. Just a little bit about the writer of this article: Remy Molina was a staff writer for Live Science from 2010 to 2012, and she holds a bachelor's degree in communication from Hofstra University, where she graduated with honors. Just thought that would be a fun one thing to share this morning. It's interesting to think about the way that perspectives change over time, isn't it? How not so long ago, just a matter of a few hundred years ago, Christians in America were actually doing their best to ban Christmas and keep it out. And it was actually Christians waging war on Christmas. And now today it's, uh,. It seems to be quite the opposite of often Christians crying out that there's a war on Christmas to keep it out. Goodness. You know, my opinion on it is just, just enjoy the holidays, friends, however you celebrate. I know that not everybody's Christians. If you're a Christian and you choose to celebrate Christmas, I want to say Merry Christmas to you. Today is the first Sunday of Advent. So it's a very special season leading up to the season of Christmas, which doesn't start until Christmas Day. Today in my church, we're going to be beginning the season of Advent, celebrating today the season where we begin talking about the coming of Christ, not only as a child, as a baby, but the Second Coming as well. And then we lead up to Christmas Day On Christmas Day begins the 12-day season of Christmas, and then that leads into Epiphany, and then we go through all of our holy seasons in the church. But all that is to say, I realize there are a number of holidays that happen this time of year, and it's not only Christians. This country is made up of so many different people. And so many different faiths, and it's part of what makes this nation such a beautiful place, is our diversity. And it's wonderful that we have so much diversity, and I'm grateful for that. I have so many friends who are from the Jewish faith. I have so many friends who are, who are Muslims, and, and they have welcomed me, each in their own traditions, to be a part of their celebrations, and I have always felt so at home with them, so loved. They've been so generous to me, and they have been so open to allow me to share as well. And we've even in years past had interfaith Thanksgiving services together, which we just passed Thanksgiving this year, and I hope that we'll be able to do that again in the future. But I hope you enjoyed story this morning that we shared. Hope it helps you keep things in perspective this holiday season. And however you celebrate, I hope that you will be faithful to it. And I hope that whatever you claim to believe, that you will be firm in your beliefs and that you will seek those beliefs out with your whole heart. And that whenever you seek with your whole heart, you will find. And, um, that the truth will truly set you free. I believe that in my whole heart. So all that is to say, uh, if you celebrate Advent, I wish you a wonderful start to your Advent season today. Thank you for listening today here on the Wisdom App. It's been a few days since I was on. Things have been very busy between, uh, master's classes and between holidays, and it's going to get pretty busy going into the Christmas season. Season here too, so we'll see how much I'm on the Wisdom App in the coming days. But I want to wish you again a very joyous season of Advent and have a wonderful day. God bless you all. Thanks for listening in.
Thank you for joining me here this week on Voices in My Head. I hope you'll visit me on my website at rickleejames.com where you can find out more about me, get my music on vinyl and CD me, follow my blog, and even schedule me for a concert or a speaking engagement. Better yet, even a book signing in your neighborhood. You can find all that and more at rickleejames.com. Also, it would mean a great deal to me if you could write a review of this podcast on iTunes. The more positive reviews that we receive, the more visible this podcast will be online. And now for the benediction. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. God bless you, and thank you for listening to Voices in My Head.
