Today is Christmas Day! When the Puritans ruled in America, they strongly disapproved of setting aside any special day — except Sunday, “the Lord’s Day”. So, in the year 1652 they passed an act of Parliament to cancel Christmas. To show they meant it, they decided that Parliament would convene on Christmas Day just as on any other day of the year and everything related to Christmas was banned — from mince-pies to Church attendance. A writer named John Evelyn, together with his wife and some others, defied the ban and went to Church on Christmas Day. He recorded what happened: As they were receiving Communion, a party of musketeers broke in. They waited until the service was over, then arrested the worshippers. However, they were soon let go because the authorities were unsure of how to punish people for going to Church.
No one is likely to try cancelling Christmas again, but for many, perhaps, the real Christmas already is cancelled. Perhaps the…
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