The story begins in England, just before Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell came to power. After crushing royalist uprisings throughout England, Wales and Scotland in the English Civil Wars and overseeing the trial and execution of King Charles I, Cromwell declared himself Lord Protector of the Realm in 1653. He ruled for a brief five years, but during that time did what he could to do away with "papist" elements, implementing his Puritan reforms with zeal.
Among those reforms included the banning of Christmas festivities. Fiercely Calvinist Scotland had already banned Christmas since the 1560s, and now with the king deposed in neighboring England and Parliament full of Puritan sympathizers, the English government also set about to do the same.
The war was not so much against Christmas as it was against Catholicism; one of the distinctive marks of the Catholic faith is the celebration of feast days — days marked for special celebration in the Catholic liturgical calendar. Solemnities, first-class feasts, octaves — to Puritans, all of this was so much nonsense, nothing more than "popish" celebrations with no scriptural foundation. A common Puritan maxim went: "They for whom all days are holy can have no holiday."Full story HERE
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The History of Christmas in Timeline Facts [infographic]
BY PEDIA TEAM ·
Have you ever wonder what is the origin and history of Christmas? How December 25 did officially became the world important most grandeur festive day in the calendar. We all know that Christmas is being observed around the world and generally commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ among Christian communities. The word Christmas is from the old English “Crīstesmæsse”, the pre historic Christian churches referred the meaning to “Christ’s Mass” the Eucharistic feast celebration of Christ birthday. CLICK HERE
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