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Show YULE CELEBRATIONS WERE ONCE BANNED IN OLD NEW ENGLAND Christmas was not always merry in England and New England. The Puritans were scornful of the cheerful customs prevalent during the holiday season. In 1643 in England, Eng-land, anti-Christmas sentiments were enacted into law by the Roundhead Round-head parliament which abolished the observance of the three "grand festivals" Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, and during" the next 12 years Christmas was not celebrated in England. The restoration of the royalty in England brought about a revival of Christmas traditions along with the renewed observance of the feast. In America, anti-Christmas sentiments senti-ments accompanied the Pilgrims "when they disembarked from the Mayflower. On December 25, 1G59, Governor Bradford rebuked certain young men who, having.just arrived on the small ship Fortune, declined to work on "ye day called Christ- I mas." The governor allowed that "if they made it a matter of conscience he would spare them until they were better informed." Later, Bradford found these same youths sporting and playing in the streets. He sent them to their lodgings, telling them they should be allowed to keep their devotions if the same were kept privately but "there must be no gaming or revelling in the streets." The Massachusetts general court welcomed the tidings that parliament parlia-ment had outlawed Christmas and enacted a measure providing that "anybody who is found observing . . . any such day as Christmas, shall pay for every such oflensc a fine of five shillings." In 1681, the ordinance of '59 was repealed. However, in several New England communities the Puritan prejudice against the observance of Christmas persisted. |