Christmas was actually banned in England and America for several decades. The original war on Christmas was waged during the sixteenth and seventeenth century by Puritans who believed that celebration, carousing, and other such festivities were sinful. They believed that people needed strict rules in order to be a decent Christian citizen.
The Puritan community found no Scriptural justification for celebrating Christmas, and associated these celebrations with paganism and idolatry. Christians in both England and America helped pass laws making it illegal to observe Christmas, believing it was a slap in the face to God to honor a day associated with ancient paganism.
All Christmas activities; this includes dancing, play acting, singing carols, games, celebrations and especially drinking were banned by the Parliament of England in 1644. The pilgrims, English separatists that came to America in 1620, were even more orthodox in their Puritan beliefs than those in England and followed suit shortly afterward.
In New England a law was enacted in 1659 to punish anyone who:
” . . . is found observing, by abstinence from labor, feasting, or any other way, any such days as Christmas day, shall pay for every such with offense five shillings.”
Although the decree was repealed in 1681, the Puritan ministers continued spewing their full belief with their blazing sermons. Cotton Mather, a fire and brimstone clergyman gave quite a tongue lashing for his 1712 Christmas morning sermon preaching:
“Can you in your conscience think that our Holy Savior is honored by Mad Mirth, by long eating, by hard drinking, by lewd gaming, by rude reveling? … If you will yet go on and will do such things, I forewarn you that the burning wrath of God will break forth among you.”
Beginning in the 1700’s some of those families from New England began moving westward and although Christmas wasn’t outlawed outside of original colonies, several denominations were opposed to the celebration. In 1749, a visitor among the Quakers in Philadelphia noted that:
“Christmas Day. . . The Quakers did not regard this day any more remarkable than other days. Stores were open. . . There was no more baking of bread for the Christmas festival than for other days; and no Christmas porridge on Christmas Eve!”
Minor celebrations were varied from household to household as people began moving into northeastern Ohio. Most of those that descended from the colonies, like those here in Cuyahoga Falls, didn’t celebrate at all. Some of these families had small tokens to recognize the day that was once forbidden to celebrate. Many families read the Christmas Story from the Bible the evening before or the day of. A special meal may have been set on the table if they had the means to do so or perhaps small carved or sewn trinkets were exchanged within the family but more often than not – it was a regular work/school day for everyone.
But then traditions were passed on and many were started as immigrant families came into the area. Families began celebrating more than just reading the Bible on the evening of the 25th. Our Falls churches began preaching the birth of Jesus on or right before December 25th.
In the 1860’s children of Cuyahoga Falls began hanging up their stockings in hopes that Santa Claus would fill them with candy, nuts and oranges.
It wasn’t long until The Ohio General Assembly declared December 25th an official holiday in 1870.
By the 1880s, the businesses of Cuyahoga Falls were filled with Christmas shoppers.
Merchants had caught on early and declared their shop was the best for Christmas shopping. Advertisements began filling the local newspapers with various Christmas slogans and enticements.
One store owner recommended that ‘one gift be for fun, one useful, one a book and one be so fine.’ Another advertised that the earlier you shop, the better gifts were to be had.
*Most of this is pulled from my book Memories of an Akron Christmas.*
Merry Christmas!
Here’s a few photos and advertisements for you.
