After the death of King Charles the First during the civil war in the seventeenth century, England was ruled by a strict Puritan government led by Oliver Cromwell. His ‘Roundhead’ supporters were anti-royalist and fought against monarchy and the absolute right of a king over his people. They wanted instead to install a parliamentary democracy.
During this period many people, especially the more religious Christian worshippers, disapproved of the increasingly riotous and extravagant Christmas celebrations which they thought were sinful. Puritans also disapproved of a festival encouraged by the pope and the Roman Catholic church because they held different views on how God should be worshipped. They believed that excessive pleasure was a sin and as the ‘pagan’ behaviour enjoyed by the masses had no basis in the bible, believed it should be forbidden.
On June 10th in 1647, parliament declared that the celebration of Christmas was a punishable offence. There were pro-Christmas riots up and down the country in response. It was even said that at a riot in Ipswich, in Norfolk, one of the protestors killed by the government-backed men was actually called ‘Christmas’. This death was therefore regarded as richly symbolic of the way that Cromwell’s parliament had ‘killed’ Christmas.
Fortunately for today’s celebrations, in 1660 when King Charles II was restored to the throne after Oliver Cromwell’s death, Christmas came back!
Esther Lafferty's Inkwell 