I will honor Christmas in my heart and I will try to keep it throughout the year, Charles Dickens
We recently had the opportunity to celebrate Christmas, date on which according to the Christian tradition, we celebrated the Nativity or Birth of Jesus, and which precedes the arrival of a new year.
However, not all countries celebrate these dates;Some like China or Thailand have their own millenary customs and tradition. Others on the contrary, prohibit any demonstration or public celebration to its inhabitants or visitors, under threat of being arrested and processed as criminals, such as the cases of Saudi Arabia, Somalia and more recently, the Sultanate of Brunéi and the Asian Republic of Tayikistanformer member of the missing Soviet Union, where Christmas trees, the exchange of gifts and costumes of Santa Claus are prohibited.
On the other hand, in North Korea any Christian activity has been prohibited since the communist regime was implemented in the 50s. In 2016, the dictator Kim Jong-un in addition to reiterating this prohibition, would order that the eve of Christmas, the people commemorate the birth of their grandmother, Kim Jong-Suk, a communist guerrilla who fought the Japanese.
In all previous cases, prohibitions are due to religious intolerance in countries where Islam predominates, or authoritarian regimes where individual freedom is banned, however, there are a couple of quite curious cases, where Christmas celebration would be associated withPagan or even satanic practices. If you do not know what I write, I invite you to continue reading this article.
The day that Christmas was "banned"
Christmas celebration would be legally prohibited in the Massachusetts colony for 22 years, between 1659 and 1681, but many more years would be necessary for them to be held openly as a day of rest and family meeting. Actually, it would not be until the mid -nineteenth century, in which Christmas would become fashionable in the city of Boston.
With the arrival of the first pilgrims, founding parents of the territory that is now known under the name of the United States, in 1620 aboard the Mayflower ship fleeing from persecution and religious intolerance of which they were victims in their native England;They would carry with them a simple and strict lifestyle protected under a rigid code of laws, in addition to their religious beliefs that included great contempt for Christmas, despite the fact that it was widely celebrated in the rest of Europe as a Christian party that markedJesus’ birth.
The Puritans saw Christmas as a false party day, more linked to paganism than to Christianity, it is enough to remember that this day would not be instituted as the date of the birth of Christ until several centuries after his death. As pious and reserved Christians, they had a strong aversion to drinking and dances associated with the holidays.
As the settlements in New England and particularly in the Massachusetts Bay, the tensions between the settlers also increased, especially between the Puritans and the Presbyterians who just arrived. In 1659, the ban would be official.
Previously, the English Puritan rulers in 1647 with the politician and military Oliver Cromwell at the head, who will establish a republic on the island under the denomination of Commonwealth of England;would prohibit Christmas celebration. The people would rebel against this law, making several riots until they take important cities such as Canterbury, where they decorated the doors of the houses with banners and writings that spoke of the holiness of the party. The restitution of the English monarchy in 1660 would end this absurd prohibition.
In New England, the General Court of the Colony would prohibit Christmas celebrations and other holidays, while prohibiting gambling and other behaviors that in their opinion, threaten morality and good customs. The Court ordered a fine of five shillings to whom they were found celebrating or celebrating the date paganly.
Public notice
The Reverend Increase Mather who was a Puritan clergy with great influence on the administration of the Massachusetts colony, during the infamous trials that due to witchcraft and sorcery will be held in the population of Salem between the years 1692 and 1693, would affirm in relation to the celebrationChristmas, the following:
‘The habit of maintaining and celebrating Christmas is a dishonor for the name of Christ. How few are comparatively those who spend those holidays (as they are called) in a holy way. But most are consumed in competitions, in interludes, in playing cards, in orgies, in excess of wine, in a crazy joy … ‘
Reverend Increasing Mathher
The prohibition of celebrating the Christmas holidays would be revoked in 1681 by a governor appointed by England, who would also raise another current Puritan prohibition, this time against the parties and night meetings on Saturday. However, even after the ban, most settlers would refrain from organizing celebrations and meetings.
The Puritan Vision of Christmas had rooted strongly in the inhabitants of New England and people preferred not to celebrate it, despite being legal. Almost two centuries would pass until 1870 when Christmas would become a federal holiday under the mandate of the eighteenth president of the American Union, Ulysses Grant.
The writer Charles Dickens author of the Christmas Song Story (to Christmas Carol) is recognized, having revived that festive spirit of yesteryear, not only in his native England, but also in the United States, a country in which his works enjoyedgreat popularity. His story would be published for the first time in December 1843, at the beginning of the Victorian era, an era characterized by a large burden of nostalgia for the old Christian traditions, combined with the introduction of new customs.
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was a renowned English writer and novelist born in 1812, and died in 1870. He was a teacher of the narrative genre, who would print certain doses of humor and irony, incorporating into his writings an acute social criticism. In his works, the descriptions of people and places, both real and imaginary.
He enjoyed great popularity, and even today, his stories are frequently edited and adapted for film scripts.
Dickens would use as sources to write his story, a story capable of moving the most demanding readers of all time and any age, and in which he emphasizes the family, goodwill, compassion and family celebration;Some personal experiences and anecdotes such as his humiliating experiences of his childhood, his sympathy for the poor, in addition to some Christmas stories and fairies of the time.
Bibliographical sources:
- Prohibition of Christmas celebration
- When Christmas was prohibited in Boston
- What are the nine countries that do not celebrate Christmas
- When Christmas was not celebrated in England
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