1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey 2 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:10,959 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren bogabam Here. Once upon a time in America, 3 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: Christmas was not a big deal. It might be difficult 4 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:18,079 Speaker 1: to fathom now when ads for chocolates and jewelry pop 5 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: up around Halloween and decked out trees appear in living 6 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:24,800 Speaker 1: rooms by Thanksgiving. In fact, Christmas used to be flat 7 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:28,800 Speaker 1: out illegal. When the Mayflower landed at what is now 8 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:32,640 Speaker 1: Cape Cod, Massachusetts in sixteen twenty, the Pilgrims brought some 9 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:36,400 Speaker 1: serious baggage. They were aiming to establish a colony and 10 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:39,519 Speaker 1: a new way of life in the New World. One 11 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:44,120 Speaker 1: thing the Puritans wanted to leave behind was Christmas. In England, 12 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 1: as in much of Europe, Christmas was rife with unbridled partying. 13 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:51,120 Speaker 1: The harvests were done, The cattle were slaughtered so that 14 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:53,239 Speaker 1: they wouldn't have to be fed throughout the winter, and 15 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: that made fresh meat and fresh wine, as well as 16 00:00:56,160 --> 00:01:00,640 Speaker 1: time to eat, drink and carry on plentiful. Pure didn't 17 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: buy into the idea of Christmas. The Bible notes no 18 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:07,240 Speaker 1: date for Jesus's birth, a Scholars still disagree about why 19 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: Christmas is celebrated on December though one popular theory goes 20 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:14,920 Speaker 1: that the date was picked to overlap Saturnalia, a celebration 21 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:19,040 Speaker 1: honoring Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture. In effect, the 22 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:22,080 Speaker 1: date could have co opted a pagan holiday to encourage 23 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:26,480 Speaker 1: the acceptance of Christianity throughout the world. At any rate, 24 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:30,040 Speaker 1: in the Puritan mind, there was nothing to celebrate. But 25 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:33,240 Speaker 1: we spoke with Penny Reestad, a history professor at the 26 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:36,480 Speaker 1: University of Texas and author of the book Christmas in America, 27 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:40,720 Speaker 1: a History. She said, Christmas time has really gotten out 28 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:43,120 Speaker 1: of hand. What was going on in England with the 29 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:46,360 Speaker 1: feasting and the gambling and the general debauchery. They took 30 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 1: as a sign of the decline of civilization and a 31 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:52,040 Speaker 1: decline of all the things that they valued. So they 32 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:55,440 Speaker 1: were really positing this idea of not celebrating Christmas as 33 00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: an opposition to all the decay of English society. They 34 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:02,800 Speaker 1: were so serious about treating December twenty five as just 35 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:06,160 Speaker 1: another day that everyone on the Mayflower, some of whom 36 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:09,760 Speaker 1: mind were not Puritans, worked on the first Christmas Day 37 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: in America. They didn't get time and a half either. 38 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:17,280 Speaker 1: The non Puritans in the bunch were not as keen 39 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:20,920 Speaker 1: on a Christmas van Riese Dad says it wasn't long 40 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:24,799 Speaker 1: before they acted out. She explained some of these newcomers 41 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:28,360 Speaker 1: refused to work. One of those first Christmas is William Bradford, 42 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:32,720 Speaker 1: the English separatist and early governor of Plymouth Colony, said okay, 43 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:36,960 Speaker 1: that's fine, until you're better informed. That's okay. Apparently they 44 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:39,160 Speaker 1: went out on the street. The word at the time 45 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 1: was frolicking, playing street games. He basically told them to 46 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:45,920 Speaker 1: take it indoors, and he said, I don't mind if 47 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:47,480 Speaker 1: you're doing this, but I don't want to see any 48 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 1: of it. It sets a bad tone that those were 49 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:52,760 Speaker 1: not his exact words. Not all of the colonies were 50 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:56,760 Speaker 1: so against the idea of celebrating Christmas, though settlements further south, 51 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:00,400 Speaker 1: like the one in Jamestown, Virginia, let loose. The ban 52 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:04,840 Speaker 1: in New England never was completely successful. Here's a quote 53 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:08,120 Speaker 1: from Stephen Nissenbaum's book The Battle for Christmas, A Social 54 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:11,760 Speaker 1: and Cultural History of our most cherished Holiday. It was 55 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:14,680 Speaker 1: fishermen and mariners who had the reputation of being the 56 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 1: most incorrigible centers in New England. The region's least reformed 57 00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:23,000 Speaker 1: inhabitants maritime communities such as Nantucket, the Isles of Shoals, 58 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,600 Speaker 1: and especially the town of marble Head were notorious for irreligion, 59 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:31,079 Speaker 1: heavy drinking, and loose sexual activity. There were also repositories 60 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:35,280 Speaker 1: of enduring English folk practices, places that ignored or resisted 61 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:39,120 Speaker 1: orthodox New England culture. It's no coincidence that marble Head 62 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 1: was also a site of ongoing Christmas keeping. A changing society, 63 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:47,240 Speaker 1: though would not be denied. Here's a quote from Christmas 64 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:51,040 Speaker 1: in America, a history in the end. Whether slowly in 65 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 1: New England or more rapidly in the Middle Colonies. In 66 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: the South, the forces of pluralism and the need for 67 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: social harmony shaped and encouraged Christmas celebration, Yet its status 68 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:04,839 Speaker 1: as a holiday remained haphazard and varied widely. It would 69 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:07,040 Speaker 1: take the project of nation building in the wake of 70 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:11,280 Speaker 1: the Revolution to begin to define an American conception of Christmas. 71 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:16,360 Speaker 1: Even after the colonies declared independence, years passed before Christmas 72 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:19,479 Speaker 1: became the holiday we know it as today. Congress was 73 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:22,080 Speaker 1: in session on Christmas Day in seventeen eighty nine, the 74 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:25,280 Speaker 1: year after the Constitution was ratified. The Senate worked on 75 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 1: Christmas Day in seventeen ninety seven, the House met on 76 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:32,600 Speaker 1: Christmas Day. In eighteen o two, Christmas began to take 77 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 1: its present form. Later in the eighteen hundreds, different religions 78 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:40,120 Speaker 1: and denominations, Protestants and Catholics among them, emerged in America, 79 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:42,960 Speaker 1: and they held Christmas as both the Holy day and 80 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: a day of celebration. The Puritans couldn't help but be influenced. 81 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:50,360 Speaker 1: People of different religions made up local governments, and trade 82 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:53,800 Speaker 1: between various networks helped calm the antipathies between the factions. 83 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:58,120 Speaker 1: As America prospered, partially thanks to the labor of the 84 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 1: enslaved and partially thanks to win US realization, a middle 85 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:04,480 Speaker 1: class was born, and the idea of giving and receiving 86 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:08,240 Speaker 1: Christmas gifts took hold. An emphasis on home and family 87 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:12,200 Speaker 1: followed away from the frolicking in the streets and raucous drinking, 88 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:17,240 Speaker 1: feasting and sex. Finally, in eighteen seventy two, and fifty 89 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:19,719 Speaker 1: years after the Puritans landed at Plymouth and put the 90 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:22,640 Speaker 1: squeeze on the idea of Christmas as a celebration, the 91 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:27,839 Speaker 1: US declared Christmas a national holiday. Ever since, celebrations big 92 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:33,560 Speaker 1: and small, secular and non secular, have marked the day. 93 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:39,040 Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by John Donovan and produced by 94 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:41,919 Speaker 1: Tyler Clang. For more on this amounts of other merry topics, 95 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:44,800 Speaker 1: visit hous to forks dot com. Brainstuff is production of 96 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:47,600 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit 97 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:50,360 Speaker 1: the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 98 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:51,360 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.