other Puritan leaders instantly imposed their religious will on everyone else. Nicholas and Felix werenât surprised in December 1620 when Christmas was hardly mentioned. The new colonists were spending every waking minute trying to build shelters and find food in the harsh winter. But in 1621 the Puritan leaders decreed that Christmas would not be celebrated at all in Plymouth.
âThis has made Nicholas and Felix so furious that theyâve left Plymouth and joined Dutch settlers in their colony of Fort Orange,â I told Arthur and Leonardo as I read a letter from my husband that had arrived by ship. âThey say that, as awful as it sounds, Christmas has been made completely against the law in Plymouth, and celebrating it will result in severe punishment.â
âIâm sorry, but not surprised,â Arthur observed. âI suppose, in all their excitement of going to the New World, Nicholas and Felix forgot this has already happened in an entire country. Christmas has been against the law in Scotland since 1583.â
This was very sad, but still a fact. In Scotland, a nation separate from England to the north, Puritans were especially anxious to rid themselves of anything to do with the Catholic Church. Christmas, their leaders insisted, was more than just a bad Catholic name for a holiday. In fact, when people celebrated Christmas with singing and dancing and feasting, they violated the way Puritans thought Jesus should be worshipped. They felt people should sit quietly and think about all Godâs blessings, especially sending his son among us. And choosing December 25 as Jesusâ birthday was, to their minds, an insultâJesus was better than any ordinary person, and only ordinary people had birthdays. They were certainly entitled to these opinions, but they wanted everyone to share them. So the Scottish Puritans and elected leaders made celebrating Christmas a crime. And, as Arthur pointed out, if it happened in Scotland, it could certainly happen in England.
âOur current King James ruled in Scotland before Queen Elizabeth of England died without children in 1603,â he reminded me. âSo James has allowed Christmas to be banned in one country already. Puritans donât yet control government in England, but they are louder than anyone else, and if they ever are in charge I suspect Christmas will be the first target of their wrath.â
âChristmas means too much to too many people in this country,â I said firmly. âFor poor families in particular, December 25 is the only day of the year when they can feast and dance and sing and forget, for just a little while, how hard they have to work, and how little they have to call their own. Itâs just a different way of thanking God for Jesus than sitting quietly in a room, thinking. I canât believe the Puritans want to prevent others from having a little holiday happiness.â
Arthurâs eyes narrowed, and he looked quite grim.
âLayla, weâve both lived long enough to realize something,â he said. âThere are always those who want to control the way everyone else lives, including how, when, and why they are happy.â
âWell, the Puritans have picked the wrong place for a fight over Christmas,â I replied. âNo country celebrates Christmas better than England. Of course, no country needs Christmas more, either.â Then, upset at the possibility of the holiday being taken away, I donned my cloak and hurried outside. I walked for hours through the London streets, and everywhere I looked I was reminded why the ordinary people of Britain should not be deprived of their beloved holiday.
The London where Arthur and I fretted about the Puritans and Christmas almost four hundred years ago was a much dirtier, desperate place, where most citizens lived in poverty and seldom survived past the age of fifty.
CHAPTER Six
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L ondon in the 1600s was
Laury Falter
Lynn Raye Harris
Matthue Roth
Bethany-Kris
Johnny O'Brien
Blake Pierce
M. William Phelps
Stolen Charms
Darlene Panzera
Richard Parks