The Puritans and Holidays

The first church where I was the pastor, was a small, country church in the rural South of the United States. I often joke that the church was so remote that you had to get lost in order to find it. Like many who had graduated seminary, I was adequately prepared to handle the Word but not prepared to handle people. This particular church was established in the 1850s by Irish immigrants who were, by all accounts, hyper-Calvinists. During those early days, the church was ministered to by Methodist circuit riders. Over the years, more often than not, it never had a permanent pastor but had ministers who would preach in their home church in the morning and then minister in this church in the afternoon. As you would expect, in the century and decades that followed, the people were exposed to a variety of beliefs and practices. I was not prepared to face their contradictions.

I arrived at church one Sunday morning to find the pulpit decorated with two freshly cut pine trees, complete with multi-color flashing lights. I was shocked but also concerned. How could I possibly stand between these two monoliths of grandeur and expect to hold the attention of the congregation? To add insult to injury, that same Sunday, I was informed that the families would not be attending church that evening as they planned to go to the First Baptist Church in town to witness the “hanging of the Greens.” My first thought was, who were the Greens, and what atrocity had they committed to warrant hanging? Obviously, this Baptist church took discipline very seriously. My jesting was met with looks of contempt. My congregants did not appreciate my attempt at wit nor share my dark humor. It was explained to me that this was part of the Christmas tradition. This church, at Advent, had a special service to mark the beginning of the Christmas season. Being the poor pastor that I was and impetuous by inexperience, I decided to press the matter further. I expressed that I had no idea what Advent was and had never read in Scripture anything about the church celebrating Christmas. They acknowledged that Christmas was not in the Bible, but it was a tradition to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Realizing that I could not win this fight at this time, I wisely, and finally, shut my mouth. In the end, there was no service that night. They went to the bright and shiny First Baptist Church, and feeling defeated, I turned off the lights in our dreary little meeting house and went home.

Holidays

Etymological research shows that the word holiday has its origins in the 14th century. In English, the word is a combination, and perhaps a shortening, of the two words “holy day.” The word was first used to denote a day that was free of labor for religious observances. In time, the meaning also included a day of joy and celebration. Whereas the pagans certainly had their days of religious observances, the idea of a "holy day" comes to us directly from the Roman Catholic Church. One need only look at the yearly calendar of the Roman Catholic Church to see that they have many. I looked at the month of December, and all thirty-one days are considered a “holy day.” We should note that most governments in the world also have days set aside for absence of labor and for various observances.

The Puritans

Many have wrongly portrayed the Puritans as a sour, bitter bunch of self-righteous people who saw anything that resembled joy or fun as a sin. We can consider the book The Scarlet Letter. The author of the book portrays the leaders of that community as restrictive and oppressive. This has become a common view. In regard to the outlawing of Christmas, Peter C. Mancall said, “It is a reminder of what can happen when the self-righteous control the levers of power in a society and seek to mold a world in their image.”

While there could have been such people, they would not be representative of the majority who were called Puritans. Leland Ryken, in his book Worldly Saints, goes to great lengths to show that the Puritans, while being strict in the church and worship, were joyful people. Some of the points that he makes are:

- Despite the portrayal that they dressed in black, the reality is that they dressed according to the fashion and class of their day. We would not have known of their religious convictions by their dress.

- Puritans were not opposed to fun. Sports were prohibited on Sundays, and other activities that they viewed to be immoral were also not allowed. But they were not opposed to recreation.

- Puritans were not opposed to the arts. While they did remove the organs from the church, this was not because they were opposed to music. They were opposed to Roman Catholic forms of worship. The organs and paintings that were forbidden in the church were found in their homes.

- The Puritans were not opposed to sex. They were opposed to sex outside of marriage.

Some of the statements the Puritans make about the consumption of alcohol might cause the average Christian of our day to be shocked. For the sake of brevity, I will include one statement that shows the liberty and balance of their view.

“Drink is in itself a good creature of God and is to be received with thankfulness, but the abuse of drink is from Satan; the wine is from God, but the Drunkard is from the Devil.” ~ Increase Mather

Holidays and Paganism

Cultures all over the world have observances and holidays to commemorate their dead. Perhaps none are so grand as the Día de los Muertos, found in the country of Mexico. Some have wrongly considered it the Mexican version of Halloween. This is not true. It appears, as do many of the holidays, as a combination of ancient observances with Roman Catholic practices. The “Day of the Dead” coincides with the celebrations of the Roman Catholic Church's Hallow’s Eve, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day (October 31 through November 2). Participants paint their faces like La Catrina (a smiling skull) as a way to honor and remember their loved ones.

In the US, Halloween is celebrated on October 31. The date is the same as the Roman Catholic holiday of Hallos’ Eve. It is more of a commercial holiday than a religious one. The date is not insignificant, as it is the same as the Celtic festival of Samhain. To make a long story short, we can see that as Catholicism expanded into new areas, they co-opted the local traditions and holidays to placate and smooth the transition of the pagans to Christendom. If one were to argue that many of the holidays adopted from the Roman Catholic Church have either pagan origins or pagan elements, it would not be hard to prove.

Puritans and Holidays

In the New World, we do see concerns for sloth and immorality that could be encouraged by days without labor. There is no evidence of the Puritans opposing the observance of the Roman Catholic calendar on the basis of paganism. Their primary concern for holidays, especially as they relate to the church, was rooted in their view of Scripture. The Puritans were Reformed. The primary tenet of the Reformation was “Sola Scriptura.” This means that it is the Bible alone that is the authority in the spiritual life of the Christian and in the church. By extension, if one accepts the Bible as the sole authority, then one must also come to the conclusion of the Regulative Principle. This simply means that Scripture alone determines the doctrine and practices of the church. Nothing outside of Scripture can be added to worship.

If that is the case, then the Bible only recognizes one “holy day,” and that is the Lord’s Day. There is certainly no command in Scripture for the observance of any other day. Furthermore, there is no record of the church in the Bible observing any holidays. This includes what has been called Easter and Christmas. These holidays did not exist until later in history. The forbidding of the observation of holidays or special days by the Puritans was because there is no Biblical warrant or example for such.

“Easter” in the Bible

Some have argued that it is appropriate to celebrate the resurrection of Christ with a particular holiday because the word “Easter” does appear in the Bible. The fact that the word Easter is in the Bible is only partially true. It would be more accurate to say that the word occurs only once and in only one translation of the Bible, that being the King James Version.

“And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.” Acts 12:4 KJV

The original word is πάσχα (pasca) and means passover. Every other major translation of the Bible uses the word Passover. The word occurs 29 times in the New Testament. The KJV translates the word as “Passover” in every other occurrence but the one in Acts 12. This is an obvious, if not flagrant, mistranslation.

Jesus was raised on the first day of the week (Mark 16:9). And to commemorate that day and the establishment of the new covenant, the disciples met on the first day of the week. This has been the pattern of the church since the time of the disciples. We do celebrate the resurrection of Christ. We celebrate it every Sunday when we meet together.

Holidays, and the Christian

If we accept Sola Scriptura, then it logically follows that we practice the Regulative Principle of worship. There is no record for the observance of particular days or special services. Every Lord’s Day is a special day, and there is nothing that can replace it. What about the private life of the Christian? What are the boundaries of Christian freedom? Is it a sin to give your children a Christmas present? Are you having fellowship with demons when you dress in costumes and solicit candy on October 31? We do not have an explicit verse to address these questions, but we can extract some principles. We will just consider a few passages.

“Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day” Colossians 2:16

“Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.” Romans 14:1-5

“I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.” v. 14

“It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.” Verses 21-22

It is interesting that those who attempt to be the most pious are those who are the most strict and rigorous. And yet Scripture does not regard them as being more holy but rather as weaker in the faith. Where we do not have clear commands, we must apply principles and wisdom. From these texts, and others like them, each person has the right to decide what is best for themselves and for their family. No one has the right to judge another on these matters. While we do not have to hide our actions out of fear for the weaker brother, if we know that one is present, we will be cautious not to intentionally offend him.