Why was Christmas banned in 17th century England?

Question

And also in America?

Answer 1

The Puritans were very, very strict Calvinists, and thus were the Puritans led by Oliver Cromwell.  Their brethren on the other side of the pond were just as unyielding, and, while I won't go so far as to condemn them as killjoys, they certainly practiced a rather grim and forbidding type of the Christian faith.

However, not all Calvinists were so extreme.  The French Huguenots, for instance, did indeed celebrate Christmas (some Boston Puritans were censured by their churches for having accepted invitations to join their French co-religionists in the festivities).

The problem with the Puritans was their inability to grasp a very elementary fact:  you can't coerce people to be pious.  You can close the playhouses, forbid dancing in the streets, and ban the celebration of Christmas, but over the long haul it won't work.

Look how quickly people welcomed Charles II after Oliver Cromwell's death and his son Richard's attempt to keep the Commonwealth alive.

Answer 2

From approximately 1647 to 1660,  during the rule of Oliver Cromwell,  the celebration of Christmas was banned in Great Britain. For a time, shops actually were ordered to remain open on the holiday. Even the consumption of mince meat pie was outlawed!

Cromwell became ruler after the execution of King Charles I, eventually taking the title of Lord Protector. Cromwell and his faction in Parliament, called the Godly party, were Puritan Protestants who challenged many of the practices of the Roman Catholic faith. The boistrous celebration of Christmas common at the time affronted Puritan sensibilities, who preached a more reserved and staid life. While the Christmas ban remained on the books until the restoration of the monarchy by Charles II in 1660, it was difficult to enforce and some people continued to celebrate Christmas when no one was looking.

Answer 3

History records that when the Puritans came to power in England, Parliament, in June,1647, passed legislation abolishing Christmas and other holidays. In this legislation, they wrote the following: "For as much as the feast of the nativity of Christ, Easter, and other festivals, commonly called holy days, have been here-to-fore superstitiously used and observed; be it ordained that the said feasts, and all other festivals, commonly called holy days, be no longer observed as festivals." Again, New England was also Puritan, and so followed the ban.

It was the pagan origins of the celebrations that Puritans objected to, as well as the pagan originals of such rituals as Easter eggs, Christmas trees, yule logs, wassailing, etc.

Answer 4

The Calvinist-Puritan fringe that took power in England in the 17th century caused the ban on Christmas.  The Calvinists believed in a radical form of Christianity that sees everything in terms of black and white, either one is saved or not.  This comes from their belief in predestination, i.e. God already knows who will be saved and who will be damned in the end.  For this reason, all Christians must abhor merrymaking and all forms of frivolity.  Even bereavement when a loved one dies is considered frivolity and was therefore shunned. The Puritans, who were the English offshoot of Calvinism, wore sombre colors, abhorred all forms of personal adornment and banned the theatre.  

Answer 5

Because it is a pagan festival  

Answer 6

Christmas was banned in 17th century England when Oliver Cromwell and his puritan followers gained temporary rule, forbidding what was called the "heathen celebration of Christmas."

The holiday similarly was banned in colonial New England. Christmas wasn't made a legal holiday in Massachusetts until 1856.