By Nicholas Rhea

A RECENT report in The Times newspaper suggested that Christmas as a religious festival is being gradually eased from our modern way of life. One example is that only a third of our schools are this year staging a traditional nativity play, with a claim that one in eight performances will have no religious significance. The word “Christmas” has been omitted in places, being replaced by winter celebrations or seasonal plays.

A logical follow-on is that the traditional characters of Jesus, Mary and Joseph are also being ignored in favour of updated themes portraying modern life. Whether Father Christmas, a modern version of St Nicholas, will survive remains to be seen but it was that saint’s generosity to those less fortunate than himself that gave birth to our traditional celebration of this major Christian festival.

Whether or not there is a co-ordinated movement to eradicate Christmas from modern life is something I cannot answer. Instead, it appears to be a natural but increasingly rapid process by which Christianity in all its forms is losing its significance. It has now been replaced by mammoth shopping trips and artificial Christmas trees.

I recall an aunt who always claimed religion was a superstition – and that was more than half a century ago – so such a development is by no means new. Indeed, in the turbulent times of the 17th century, the Puritans, under their leader Oliver Cromwell, did their best to ban Christmas in England by using the force of law.

In December 1652, Oliver Cromwell’s Parliament enacted that “No observance shall be had of the five-and-twentieth day of December, commonly called Christmas Day, nor any solemnity used or exercised in churches upon that day in respect thereof”.

But Cromwell’s plan backfired as the public rebelled against this ruling and continued to celebrate in their own way. The problems, in the Puritans’ minds, ranged from the greenery and other adornments in churches at Christmas but also to the joyful and colourful way that some Christians celebrated.

The Puritans forbade decorations that used greenery such as the holly and the ivy because such plants had been used by pagans in their religious ceremonies. Not only that, but the ivy was considered the badge of the wine god, Bacchus, while the decorating of houses and temples had formed part of the Roman Saturnalia, one of the greatest pagan feasts, held in honour of their god, Saturn.

Another problem, in the Puritan mind, was that the Roman Saturnalia began on December 19 and continued for seven days.

That is very like a modern Christian Christmas festival which involves a lot of merrymaking, but the Saturnalia was also accompanied by debauchery and rioting. During that period, all public business was suspended, schools were closed and the law courts suspended with no criminals being prosecuted.

Drinking alcohol and merrymaking of every kind could not, in the Puritan mind, be associated with the celebration of Christianity. It is not surprising that in England they tried to ban Christmas, seemingly forgetting there was a big Christian world beyond our shores. They didn’t realise how the overseas church could enjoy itself.

To avoid Puritan spies, some Christian celebrations were held in secret but the overall impact of their rigid ruling was that the people adopted a new tactic – instead of openly celebrating with forbidden religious activities they resorted to what appeared to be ordinary feasts. Very soon, instead of hymns, songs could be heard praising plum puddings, geese, capons, mince pies and roast beef. It might be argued that the Puritans were responsible, all those years ago, for demanding a lack of true religion in our Christmas celebrations. It could be argued that the same is happening today but no longer due to the Puritans.

One of the problems faced by the Puritans involved the symbolism of Christmas decorations and they were hostile to any kind of mirth or happiness within religion.

They were particularly rigid about the method of observing the Lord’s Day, Sunday. There is a story that one Puritan in Banbury, Oxfordshire, hanged his cat because it killed a mouse on a Sunday. So the question arises – are our Christmas decorations designed to celebrate the Christian form of Christmas, the pagan Saturnalia, something personal to ourselves, or nothing more a show of happiness in the darkness of winter? And if so, when, where and how should we display our lights, candles, greenery and baubles?

The Puritans tried to transfer their views about the significance of Sundays not only to Christmas but to other Christian festivals. The Catholic Church of the time was known for its love of symbolism and celebration, especially on saints’ days, feast days and other festivals, but this joyful way of celebrating did not please the Puritans. They considered that fun and games of the human kind were not in keeping with Christ’s teaching – according to their faith, such partying was man-made and therefore had no part to play in religious celebrations.

I am not sure how they reconciled those beliefs with Christ’s first miracle when he turned water into wine at the wedding of Cana, but the gospel does suggest the guests had a wonderful time as a consequence. Clearly, Christ was a happy person with an abhorrence of rigid rules and penalties; there are plenty of gospel stories that highlight this. The tale of the woman taken in adultery is one of them.

However, the question of decorating the home and indeed the churches appears to have greatly concerned the Puritans because, at that time, the domestic Christmas decorations did not comprise coloured lights and baubles, but instead favoured evergreen plants with candles to provide some cheerful light. Holly, ivy, yew, box, laurel, mistletoe, conifer branches, bay leaves and others were all used, their symbolism suggesting everlasting life, a pagan belief.

It was Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great) who advised St Augustine of Canterbury to let or even encourage the people continue these harmless popular customs, particularly if they were also capable of Christian interpretation. There is an argument that our Christmas decorations do portray a Christian message, albeit in a somewhat obscure form, but the ancient tradition was to display the decorations from Christmas Eve until the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6 – the 12th day of Christmas.

If greenery can be considered part of the Christian tradition, what about baubles, coloured lights and partying? Are they significant? Can we believe that the whole concept of our modern Christmas is a genuine method of celebrating Christianity? And after all, York Minster always displays a pagan bunch of mistletoe at Christmas. I am sure that if Jesus Christ could be with us at Christmas, he would join the celebrations – after all, he and his supporters followed earlier trends so he probably thought the whole thing was a good idea, whatever form it took and whatever its history.

A most happy Christmas to all readers.