When Christmas was cancelled

No feasting. No drinking. No celebrations. Ian Morton explores what the festive period was like when Oliver Cromwell's Christmas clampdown gripped the nation

- Ian Morton

WHY do we celebrate Christ's birth in late December? All ancient cultures recognised the winter solstice. The Romans spent the seven days of Saturnalia in feasting and carousing, upending normality with masquerades, slaves posing as masters and masters posing as slaves. Norse communities lit bonfires and sat around eating, drinking and telling tales. In Britain, the Celtic priests cut and blessed mistletoe from sacred oaks and burned yule logs to banish darkness and evil spirits, firstly to encourage good fortune during the 12 days they believed the sun stood still and secondly to welcome its return.

When early Christians joined the party, syncretism occurred naturally. Many churches were located on already hallowed sites and, in an era of healthy paganism and widespread naturalistic tradition, when else in the year should the embryonic church establish its founder's birth? His Mass and its attendant festivities had arrived. However, in Britain during the fourth decade of the 17th century, the ancient tradition was under challenge. The country was in upheaval: the King had dissolved Parliament, Parliament had reasserted itself with a Puritan mandate, the first battles had been fought in the Civil War and, in the midst of this turmoil, Christmas was officially cancelled.