The
Man who stole Christmas
The man who stole Christmas was Oliver Cromwell.
Well to be honest it had to more to do with the Puritans
who supported Cromwell. In the 1640's most people loved
Christmas as much as we do today. But the English Puritans
and the Scottish Presbyterians had two problems with
it. One was that they thought a religious festival was
being hijacked by people who just wanted to get drunk.
But they were also suspicious of any religious festivals
which seemed to them to be part of the Catholic teaching
they rejected.
In 1644 Parliament passed a law that Christmas was
to be a fast and a penance rather than a celebration.
For twelve years the law was rigorously enforced. Shopkeepers
were arrested for closing on Christmas Day. Evergreen
decorations were prohibited. Parliament sat as usual
on Christmas Day. Even churches were not allowed to
open.
What happened in practice was that people still celebrated
Christmas at home and found reasons not to be at work.
What lost out was the religious observance of Christmas,
while the secular Christmas survived.
Nowadays most Christians are happy to be part of
the secular celebration of Christmas and most churches
make room for a Christmas tree. Some will even include
Father Christmas as part of their services. Most Christians
are happy to combine the birthday of Jesus with the
old midwinter festival. It is true that more people
go to church at Christmas time than any other time of
the year, which shows that British people still want
something of the Christian festival as well as the secular
one that goes alongside it. Even many Jews and Muslims
in Britain celebrate Christmas, exchange presents and
have the traditional trimmings of the day. British Christmas
these days is not wholly religious or secular it's a
mixture of the two, as it has been ever since it began.
