Chapter 36

A Little Bit of U.S. History

When the pilgrims first started arriving in this country they were fleeing
religious persecution in England and Europe. They held no observance of the
Christmas Holiday.

ìThe Puritans had brought to New England a Cromwellian

detestation of Christmas. Because of the Puritan influence,

the festive aspects of Christmas, including the tree, were not

accepted in New England until about 1875.î 1

Christmas was generally outlawed in this country until the end of the 1800ís.
Because of the lawlessness that occurred on Christmas Day, New York City
would hire extra police to maintain the civility of the public. In Boston, celebrating
Christmas was banned for a period of 22 years. Up until 1870, anyone missing
work on Christmas Day would be fired. Factory owners customarily required
employees to come to work at 5 a.m. on December 25th to insure they wouldn't
have time to go to church. Any student who failed to go to school on that day
would be expelled. The magistrates of many townships fined anyone that
participated in any form of the holiday known as Christmas.

ìFor preventing disorders, arising in several places within

this jurisdiction by reason of some still observing such

festivals as were superstitiously kept in other communities,

to the great dishonor of God and offense of others: it is

therefore ordered by this court and the authority thereof

that whosoever shall be found observing any such day as

Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting,

or any other way, upon any such account as aforesaid, every

such person so offending shall pay for every such offence

five shilling as a fine to the county.î 2

Many of those of Puritan heritage also settled in Pennsylvania.

ìIt will be somewhat of a shock to learn that in the

eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, most

Pennsylvanians did not celebrate Christmas either.

Puritanism is a thing of the spirit, and Pennsylvania's

Puritans ñ who included the Quakers, Scotch-Irish

Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists, as well as the

Mennonites and other plain groups, who were Puritans in

spirit ñ shared New England's aversion to paying a special

honor to the 25th of December.î 3