On Christmas Day 1647, a riot broke out in Canterbury, a town 60 miles southeast of London. The triggering event? Mayor William Bridge had order arrested a merchant and tried to hit him in the fence, all for having closed his store for the holidays.
A crowd of spectators refused to stand idly by and do nothing. They attacked Bridge, then began to revolt. They smashed the windows of shops that remained open, looted them and quickly took control of Canterbury. They even have capture the city depot, where gunpowder was stored. One of their least violent acts: putting holly in town.
The Canterbury Christmas Riot was one battle in a Christmas War raging in 17th-century England – and it was Christians who led it.
Hybrid vacations
Although Christmas honors the birth of Jesus, early Christians did not celebrate the holiday until the fourth century, when pagan traditions, such as Rome’s Saturnalia and, eventually, Yule, a Germanic midwinter festival, began to mix with Christian beliefs to create a joyous Christmas time. festivities.
In the 16th century, the English celebrated Christmas for 12 days, from December 25 to Epiphany with competitions, parties, Christmas carols and holly and candle decorations. Even after England separated from the Catholic Church in 1534 and formed the Protestant Church of England, Christmas remained a popular holiday season.
(How Christmas has evolved over the centuries.)
However, not everyone has embraced the Christmas spirit. The Puritans, or Protestants who wanted to purify the Church of England, believed that Christmas highlighted everything that was wrong with the Church. They were horrified that people celebrated the holiday with all kinds of mischief, such as gambling, sports, and bad rules, including drinking and role-playing. Christmas celebrations were too secular, too Catholic and too pagan for their taste.
“The Puritans were right when they pointed out – and they often did – that Christmas was nothing more than a pagan holiday covered with a Christian veneer. » observed the historian Stephen Nissenbaum in his book The battle for Christmas.
Indeed, the Bible – their ultimate source of religious truth – did not mention December 25 as Jesus’ birthday, nor did it indicate that his birth day should be celebrated.
Their hatred of Christmas reached new heights during the reign of King Charles I, who came to the throne in 1625. His royal court embodied the godless decadence of the holiday, celebrating Christmas with great pomp. with parties, music, dancing, playsand masks.
Ban Christmas
The Puritans were not the only ones unhappy with Charles I, who believed he was divinely appointed to rule. The king insisted that his authority trumped that of Parliament, which earned him enemies within that legislative body.
Tensions between the crown and Parliament escalated into civil war in 1642. Royalists took up arms to defend Charles; The parliamentarians formed their own army. By 1645 the Parliamentarians had gained the upper hand and henceforth it was they, not the king, who governed much of England.
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Puritans in Parliament used their authority to launch a full-scale attack on Christmas. Among their goals: Ensure that no religious services take place over Christmas and ensure that December 25 is a working day.
Closing churches at Christmas turned out to be the simplest solution. In 1645 Parliament published Directory of Public Worshipsa new text which excluded Christmas from holidays requiring religious services.
Two years later, Parliament went further by banning all celebrations of Christmas. Parliament itself deployed his soldiers to tear down defiantly erected Christmas decorations and dismantle clandestine services.
Riots for Christmas
Overall, ordinary people reacted to Parliament’s Christmas ban with a mixture of disbelief, anger and defiance.
As in Canterbury, residents of several towns took to the streets to protest against the war waged by Parliament over Christmas. Riots broke out in Norwich, Bury St. Edmund and Ipswich on Christmas Day 1647, as many defied the official ban and attempted to force merchants to keep their shops closed for the holiday.
(It’s Not Just Christmas: Here’s Where Valentine’s Day Was Banned.)
Not all protests turned violent. Writers used the power of the press to criticize and ridicule the ban in pro-Christmas publications such as The world upside down and the leaflet A justification for Christmas. Among the latter complaints: how the ordinance of Parliament had besieged “our high and mighty Christmas bier which once would overthrow Hercules and stumble at the heels of a giant.”
The ban provided an opening for royalists, who capitalized on the country’s pro-Christmas sentiment to advance their cause. According to historian Jonathan Healeythey “enjoyed returning to an old era of warm hospitality and debauchery, contrasting with what they saw as the cultural austerity of the Puritan regime.”
Oliver Cromwell comes to power
In 1653, Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. Cromwell had been a relatively undistinguished MP in the reign of Charles I, but the civil wars made him a military commander and leader of the parliamentary cause.
History has often blamed Cromwell, the face of the Protectorate, for banning Christmas, but Parliament’s bans predated his rise to Lord Protector. In fact, all that can be said of Cromwell’s role in the ban is that he chose not to reverse what Parliament had already done.
Cromwell’s death five years later brought an end to England’s republican experiment. Parliament soon invited Charles I’s son to reign as king in 1660, restoring the monarchy.
Christmas Renaissance
King Charles II restored much more than the monarchy. He reopened theaters, revived court culture, and resurrected Christmas in 1660 with familiar traditions such as terrace churches with holly. Christmas games, banquets, dances and gambling also returned, notably to the royal court.
(How Christmas is celebrated around the world.)
Recognized chronicler of life in the 17th century, Samuel Pepys brand the return of Christmas in his famous diary. He celebrated this festival in 1660 by going to church twice a day, once in the morning and again in the evening after a meal of mutton and chicken. Although Pepys found the evening sermon “boring” and lamented that it “made me sleep,” it was clear that the old ways had returned for good.
Parliament’s ban ultimately failed to wrest the Christmas spirit from the hearts of English men and women. But it did something else: it underlined the fact that Christmas has long been in the political crosshairs.
