It's a commonly held belief that Cromwell 'banned' Christmas. His reputation as a highly puritanical political leader has always been hotly debated, and as with all controversial figures, myths and legends about his famously zealous character have proliferated.
In 1647, the Puritan-led English Parliament banned the celebration of Christmas, replacing it with a day of fasting and considering it "a popish festival with no biblical justification", and a time of wasteful and immoral behaviour.
In 1647 Parliament passed an Ordinance which resulted in the complete abolition of Christmas celebrations. That the said Feast of the Nativity of Christ, Easter and Whitsuntide and all other Festival days, commonly called Holy-dayes, be no longer observed … within this Kingdom of England …
In 1659, the Massachusetts Bay Colony, of which Boston was a part, enacted a law that explicitly banned the celebration of Christmas. The law declared that anyone caught observing the holiday would be fined five shillings. The reasoning behind this prohibition was deeply rooted in the Puritan belief system.
Nevertheless, carol singing took something of a knock during the interregnum after the English Civil War. A Parliamentary Act in 1645 banned the observance of Christmas altogether. This was clearly an unpopular move and satirical pamphlets railed against it.
For them, the acts of toasting (especially with alcohol), gift giving, and even neighborly caroling had no place in honoring the birth of Jesus Christ. Why were the Puritans so opposed to these celebrations? In short, it came down to scripture and a Protestant desire to scrub Christian life of Catholic influence.
After Fidel's revolution, Cuba was declared to be an atheist nation, formerly having been Catholic like most Latin American countries. In 1969 Christmas was banned mostly because it got in the way of the sugar harvest. Gifts could still be given on January 6th, Epiphany.
Like many other Christian groups, the organization observed the festival until 1928. The 1993 book Jehovah's Witnesses “Proclaimers of God's Kingdom”, revealed that Christmas had its origins in “false religious beliefs or activities this discovery caused the Witnesses to eventually stop celebrating.
Countries in which Christmas is not a formal public holiday include Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bhutan, Cambodia, China (excepting Hong Kong and Macau), the Comoros, Iran, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Laos, Libya, the Maldives, Mauritania, Mongolia, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, the Sahrawi Republic, ...
While the Christmas holiday is not typically celebrated by Jewish people, some Jewish people who have come to know Jesus as Messiah develop a love for messianically-minded Christmas songs (many of which are written straight from the prophets' foretelling of his birth in Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6 and in Haggai 2:7, for ...
Where in the Bible does it say we should celebrate Christmas?
The Scripture is silent on the issue of celebrating Christmas and gives no reason for Christians to not celebrate it. It does however mention a number of annual celebrations that the Jewish people were supposed to remember. And that, in general, was what they were – times of remembrance of what God had done for them.
It's a commonly held belief that Cromwell 'banned' Christmas. His reputation as a highly puritanical political leader has always been hotly debated, and as with all controversial figures, myths and legends about his famously zealous character have proliferated.
Norway. Christmas is big in Norway, as you could probably imagine. Particularly, Christmas Eve. The celebrations start at 5 PM on this date, when the churches of the country ring their Christmas bells and the population eats dinner.
The 1960s as we know them did not take place in Cuba, no matter how much western cultural renegades may have fashioned themselves as fellow travelers with Che et al. The Beatles and other globally popular rock acts were banned in the name of defending the Revolution against cultural imperialism.
'Freezing This Christmas' by the parody band Sir Starmer and the Granny Harmers uses the melody of Mud's 1974 hit 'Lonely This Christmas' to comment on Labour's decision to cut Winter Fuel Allowance, a move that the video for the song states will lead to “up to 4,000 pensioners will die because of the cold in the UK ...
Cromwell was a Puritan, a strict Protestant, and made significant changes based on his beliefs. Following Cromwell's death, there was a growth in support for a return to monarchy. This led to the Restoration, which saw Charles II become king of England.
Mormons celebrate the holiday like most other Christians—reading from the nativity account in Luke, exchanging presents, and spending time with family and friends. Santa Claus, decorated trees, and the redemptive story of Ebenezer Scrooge all are staples of the winter holiday for Mormons in the United States (fig. 1).
After the denominations in the Oneness Pentecostal movement, the largest nontrinitarian Christian denominations are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses, La Luz del Mundo, and Iglesia ni Cristo.
Their concerns usually center around five different issues. One, we don't actually know the date of Jesus' birth. Two, the Bible doesn't specifically instruct us to celebrate Jesus' birth. Three, they argue that Christmas itself and the surrounding traditions are rooted in paganism.
