Cromwell’s Christmas

By Christy Hogan, ESB Power Generationr

The festive season of Christmas is upon us once more. Everyone is in a panic buying pressies for loved ones. It’s shop till you drop. With gusto lash back the turkey, the ham, the roast spuds and the Brussels sprouts. Throw back the Hino, the Bud and the Harpic. Stick the feet up, turn on the box and watch Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Or maybe there’ll be a real Christmassy one, like Michael Collins.

As usual, the clichéd lament 'It's all gone too commercial' will be reiterated. Well, one time, Christmas was seen as so objectionable it was banned. In the 17th century Oliver Cromwell and his buddies pulled the shutters on Christmas. While Cromwell did not personally make Christmas illegal, he certainly took a shine to that idea. It was the “Puritan Party” that pushed the ban through parliament.

The dampener on Christmas was introduced in the 1640s and stayed in place until the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660. During the period 1653 to 1658, Cromwell was Lord Protector and he ensured the ban on Christmas celebrations stayed in place.

Before the ban, the early 17th century celebration of Christmas was similar to today’s celebrations: Christmas Day, December 25th was a holyday and recalling the birth of Christ; People went to church; Shops and businesses closed and the day marked the beginning of 12 days of merriment. There were visits to family and friends where over eating and drinking was the norm.

In those days, in England and Ireland, the New Year officially began on the 25th of March, as dictated by the Julian calendar, which was still in use in England. However, the majority of people regarded the 1st of January, as the New Year, as per the Julian calendar, which was already in use on the continent and they happily celebrated New Year’s Eve in the middle of the Christmas celebrations, which came to an end on ‘Twelfth Night’ with further feasting and shenanigans.

During Christmas, shops only opened occasionally for a few hours at a time. Churches, chapels and family houses were decked out in holly and ivy. Crowded taverns were raking it in. The portly ‘Father Christmas’ was seen as a benign figure who watched over and delighted in the celebrations, but he was not known at this time as one who gave pressies to deserving children Cromwell, the Puritan Party and a large section of society disliked all these celebrations. They saw them as wasteful, sinful and over-indulgent. They also viewed it as a survival of the Roman Catholic faith. This was a Popish celebration, they declared: Christ had never suggested his Nativity be celebrated in this way. They wanted a clampdown on Christmas celebrations.

In the 1640s, the ‘Long Parliament’, as it was known, introduced the clampdown and decreed that Christmas, Easter and other holydays be abolished. Sunday, the Lords day, was for religious services, fasting and praying. Shops and business premises were ordered to stay open on December 25th.

Any person found attending a church service on Christmas Day was liable to a hefty fine. On paper at least it appeared that Christmas celebrations had been axed. The Long Parliament‘s ban on Christmas was the law. However, many people continued to celebrate Christmas. Secret religious ceremonies took place and enjoyment and feasting continued.

In the late 1640s there were riots and disturbances between supporters and opponents of Christmas. Some people tried to force shops to stay open at Christmas. When the Parliament’s members met on December 25th 1656, they were extremely annoyed at the number of shops that had remained closed that day.

Writers to newspapers suggested that the secular government had no right to make laws concerning Christmas and people continued to celebrate Christmas in a religious and festive manner.

Following the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, all laws banning Christmas celebrations were abolished. Christmas festivities could continue once more. Cromwell and the Long Parliament’s ban on Christmas was over.