a) England
b) Scotland
c) Germany
d) Poland
The correct answer is "a".
Between 1647 and 1660, Christmas celebrations were banned in England under the administration of Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. Soldiers were ordered to patrol the streets and take any food that was being cooked for a Christmas feast. Christmas carols were banned. The only acceptable way to celebrate the birth of Christ was to attend a sermon.
Although in theory and on paper the celebration of Christmas had been abolished, in practice it seems that many people continued to mark 25 December as a day of religious significance and as a secular holiday. Semi-clandestine religious services marking Christ’s nativity continued to be held on 25 December, and the secular elements of the day also continued to occur – on 25 December.
At the Restoration not only the Directory of Public Worship but also all the other legislation of the period 1642-60 was declared null and void and swept away, and both the religious and the secular elements of the full Twelve Days of Christmas could once again be celebrated openly, in public and with renewed exuberance and wide popular support. The attack on Christmas had failed.
But I fear Christmas is under attack in America. The enemy is consumerism. It seems that more and more people even hate the thought of the Christmas season. Where is the peace and joy?
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