The Holiday Spirit
I noticed that in addition to all of the astronomy that is going on [I forgot to mention the meteor shower] in 1620 a group of illegal aliens [no one got permission from the local people to come ashore] known as the Pilgrims stepped ashore at Plymouth Rock. This event is used by many to justify claims about the US being “a Christian nation”.
Well, they weren’t stupid, so they set about building shelters and continued their work right through December 25th without pausing. You see they believed that Christmas was nothing more than a disguised pagan celebration. In order to combat any possible outbreak of spontaneous singing of Christmas carols they imposed a 5 shilling fine on anyone doing anything in celebration of this “secular excuse for excess”. Five shillings may not seem like much today, but it was a quarter of a pound of silver and all of Manhattan was purchased for 10 pounds of silver at about the same time.
After the Revolution Christmas was considered an “English holiday” and did not become a US holiday until 1870. The Puritans aren’t the only Christian sect that does not celebrate Christmas, but to be aware of that people would have to meet people who were different than they are, and Americans are very adverse to doing that.
3 comments
Ooooh! You better watch out! The pitchfork waving *True Believer’s* will be after you for Heresy (or, what the saner, more honest people call… *speaking the truth*) 😈
“Ooooh! You better watch out!” – Kryten
Ooooh, you better watch out! You better not cry!
You better not shout, I’m tellin’ you why…
Santa Claus ain’t comin’… to America.
(Sorry. That one’s not worth finishing.)
I am so sick of all of these “ancient traditions” that were “beloved by the Founding Fathers” and totally beyond question. Hey, I remember most of this crap getting through Congress during the Eisenhower administration as part of the “Red Scare” pushed by a drunk from Wisconsin – Joe McCarthy.
I remember all of the holy and ancient Ten Commandment monuments that were passed out by Cecil B. deMille to promote the movie, The Ten Commandments. If McDonald’s had been bigger back then, miniature versions would have showed up in Happy Meals, not in granite on the court house lawn.
My “Christmas Spirit” got a heavy dose of Grinch with a dollop of Scrooge by having to deal with the Fundibans at the local tax collector’s office to get a vehicle registration renewed, and other business.