Christmas, the Illegal Holiday

Posted by Mary Murray on November 29th 2010 | 0 Comments

Tags: museum

Victorian Yuletide at Fountain Elms

Did you know that in England, during the reign of Oliver Cromwell’s Puritan Council, Christmas was outlawed? I did not. That was in 1657, when Cromwell and company tried to eradicate all traces of Catholicism from their country.

Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658)

Puritan sentiments traveled to the new world. In 17th-century New England, it was also illegal to observe Christmas. If someone were caught fasting, abstaining from work, or feasting, he could be fined five shillings. I have no idea what that amount would mean to your average Puritan in 1600s Massachusetts, but I bet it was a lot of money.

Godey’s Lady’s Book, Christmas

Fortunately for the observance of Christmas in the United States, many other European immigrants followed the English and brought their own traditions with them. We can thank, especially, Lutheran Germans for helping to make the holiday what it is today. So, from the Puritans, jump forward in time about 150 years to 1836, when Alabama declared Christmas a state holiday. New York joined the fun in 1849, but Christmas didn’t become a national holiday until the 1890s.

I learned everything I’m writing this week from the Museum’s Decorative Arts staff, Anna D’Ambrosio, Curator of Decorative Arts and Museum Assistant Director, and Assistants Paula Caruana and Ruth Thomas. Anna, Paula and Ruth create the annual Victorian Yuletide exhibition in Fountain Elms and are infinitely resourceful with each display, and they always base their installations on historical precedents. They research traditions in decorations and gift giving that are documented in 19th-century periodicals such as Harper’s Weekly, Godey’s Lady’s Book, Vick’s Floral Guide, and The Successful Housekeeper. They also refer to the diaries of sisters Rachel and Maria Williams, written when they were growing up in Fountain Elms.

Godey’s Lady’s Book, Christmas Morning

This year the Fountain Elms Parlor and Dining Room are arrayed for a party called a kettledrum. It was a standing-around-for-an-hour open house kind of gathering to enjoy drinks, small bites of food and convivial conversation. Sound familiar? Cocktails, anyone?

You are cordially invited to celebrate the holidays at Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute with a visit to the Victorian Yuletide exhibition in Fountain Elms. It’s all very legal!