When Christmas Was Illegal – My article from the Bourne Enterprise

Back in the 1700’s Christmas was known for a time of excess drinking, disorder, begging, misrule and chambering. It was a time when social roles were reversed. The workers told the bosses what to do. The servants acted like the masters. Men dressed like women and women dressed and acted like men. Often people darkened their faces or disguised themselves as animals and cross-dressed in a protective cloak of anonymity.

Christmas psalms weren’t sung back in these days, but the practice of wassailing comes from this era. Roving bands of young men would demand to be let in to the wealthy homes singing ballads such as this:

We’ve come to claim our right…
And if you don’t open up your door,
We will lay you flat upon the floor

The Puritans of New England were so aghast at the customs of Christmas that they actually outlawed Christmas in most of New England. In 1651 the Massachusetts Bay Colony passed a law that levied a five-schilling fine on anyone who was found observing any such day as Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way. The point was reinforced by a provision in the law that threatened to impose a second five–schilling fine for gambling with cards or dice, a practice, the court noted that was frequent in many places at such times as Christmas.

However, this doesn’t mean that Christmas was suppressed completely. Laws are not enacted unless there are people who are engaging in the forbidden activity. Traditions with such deep roots in English culture could not simply be erased by fiat. They always hovered just beneath the surface of New England culture, emerging occasionally into plain sight. Those who celebrated Christmas were called Christmas-Keepers. It’s really mind boggling to think that celebrating Christmas was a forbidden activity.
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Who were those who celebrated Christmas? Evidence suggests that they were mostly on the fringes of official New England culture. Many were fisherman and mariners who had the reputation of being the most incorrigible sinners in New England, festering in decadent enclaves such as Nantucket and Marblehead.

Eventually, the Puritans realized that they were never going to eliminate Christmas, but they could change how it was celebrated. They began to call for moderation and temperance. Others, like Benjamin Franklin and Nathanael Ames, New England’s most popular Almanac-makers took up the call to combine mirth with moderation. It only took the next two hundred years for it to become a Hallmark Christmas..

Yet the Puritans held out, continuing to ban Christmas in New England. Schools in Boston were forced to stay open on Christmas day through 1870. They even expelled students who stayed home. It wasn’t until 1912 for the first illuminated trees to appear in Boston’s public areas. Outdoor Christmas trees quickly became commonplace in North America. Most towns have a display. This year is the 93rd anniversary of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.

I fondly recall our yearly winter trip to the Boston Common as a boy growing up in South Boston. We’d bundle in winter clothes and spend a few hours strolling through the park gazing at the lights. The highlight of the visit was the eight live reindeer the city put on display. How many names of Santa’s reindeer can you remember? Without cheating. I remembered six of them. Rudolph doesn’t count because he only led the sleigh on that one foggy Christmas Eve when Santa made a special request. After we were cold enough and numb enough my parents took us over to the Pewter Pot Muffin House for a piping hot chocolate with whipped cream, and a warm blueberry muffin dripping with butter.

Last Christmas we went back to the Boston Common to see the Christmas Tree all lit up. Here’s an interesting fact, since 1971, Nova Scotia has sent a tree to Boston to thank them for the help they provided after the Halifax Explosion in 1917. A disastrous explosion triggered when two ships collided, and one had high explosives on board. Nearly 1800 people were killed resulting from the blast, fires and tsunami that the explosion caused.

One of my Cape fun things to do at Christmas time is to attend the Falmouth Christmas parade. It was a drizzly day last year and my favorite groups were the young dancers who braved the cold rainy weather. Over on the village green we especially enjoyed the elevated Santa sleigh. Along with Santa’s mailbox, the children’s choir complete with a large organ, the colorful Carolers and the large Menorah.

At the other end of the Cape, we attended our first Holly Folly celebration in Provincetown. It’s a farcical 3-day event of music, live shows and festive PJs. My Golden Retriever, Franklin and I dressed in bright red scarves wrapped around our necks and me in my Santa cap. We especially loved that the Grinch was a woman and Mrs. Clause was a man. An only in Provincetown event. This year we’re attending the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus holiday concert called BYOB – Bring Your Own Bells at Town Hall. We just hope Franklin doesn’t decide to sing along with them.

I wish everyone a warm bright Solstice, a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa. And a Happy New Year’s wish from our home to yours.
May PEACE prevail on Earth.