The Man who Saved Christmas

In keeping with the season my first Historical Hearts blog has a Christmas theme.

As I said in my introduction to Historical Hearts my passion is the seventeenth century and in particular the English Civil War. In the years between the execution of Charles I (January 1649) and the Restoration of Charles II (known as the Interregnum), England was "ruled" by the puritans. Theatre, dancing, music - in fact most things that would be considered fun were frowned upon and banned and Christmas, that happiest of feast days, fell victim to the puritan edicts.


To the puritans the traditional merriment with the attendant drinking, feasting, frivolity and idleness that accompanied Christmas smacked not only of paganism, but (worse!) of Roman Catholicism (Christ's MASS). The tenet of puritan belief was that worship and devotion should be "pure" - based solely on the Scriptures. The Scriptures, of course, were silent on the celebration of Christmas, particularly with mummers, wassailing and carol singing. Oliver Cromwell is generally credited with the edict "banning" Chrismas but, in fact, it predated his rule.

In 1645, a “Directory of Public Worship” was produced in Westminster to replace the prayer book.
"...THERE is no day commanded in scripture to be kept holy under the gospel but the Lord's day, which is the Christian Sabbath. Festival days, vulgarly called Holy-days, having no warrant in the word of God, are not to be continued."


In 1647 the parliament passed an ordinance abolishing the feasts of Christmas, Whitsun and Easter
"...Forasmuch as the feast of the nativity of Christ, Easter, Whitsuntide, and other festivals,commonly called holy-days, have been heretofore superstitiously used and observed; be it ordained, that the said feasts, and all other festivals, commonly called holy-days, be no longer observed as festivals; any law,statute, custom, constitution, or canon, to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding..."


In 1652 this was taken further with a specific ordinance ordering shops and businesses to remain open on 25^th December .
"Refolved by the Parliament...That the Markets be kept to Morrow, being the Five and twentieth day of December; And that the Lord Mayor, and Sheriffs of London and Middlefex, and the Iustices of the Peace for the City of London and Weftminster and Liberties thereof , do take care, That all such perfons as fhall open their Shops on that day, be protected from Wrong or Violence, and the offenders be punifhed.
Refolved by the Parliament...That no Obfervations shall be had of the Five and twentieth day of December, commonly called Chriftmas-Day; nor any solemnity ufed or exercifed in Churches upon that day upon that day in refpect thereof..."

William Winstanley

Christmas had been well and truly outlawed! Punishment for contravening this ordinance meant heavy fines and being placed in the stocks but many people still covertly celebrated the Nativity behind closed doors. 
In Essex, a barber turned poet called William Winstanley and his family lived in a Tudor farmhouse called, appropriately, "The Berries". Every Christmas day clandestine celebrations went on behind the closed doors of the Winstanley home. William wrote in his diary that he “believed it was the duty of all Christians to celebrate the birth of their Saviour, with joyous festivity and open-handed generosity towards friends, relations and more especially the poor." 


With the return of the monarchy in 1660 the Christmas ban was lifted, although, not surprisingly, after so many years it took some time for it to return to its familiar time of carousing and good cheer and the person who almost singlehandedly became responsible for restoring it to its proper place was no less than William Winstanley, our Essex barber.  Winstanley, writing as the poet Poor Robin Goodfellow, extolled the magic of Christmas. His wealthy patrons at court lobbied the King to set an example of hospitality and merriment. Christmas, Winstanley wrote, was a time for helping the poor and destitute and providing everyone with a happy time in the depths of winter. 


Winstanley kept up a relentless pro-Christmas propoganda for the next twenty years. He wrote about the holly and the ivy, the roaring log fires, the games, the music and the dancing, the food ("chines of beef, turkeys, geese, ducks and capons...minc'd pies, plumb puddings and frumenty...") and of course the carolling  (old favourites such as God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and I Saw Three Ships). According to Winstanley Christmas should last 12 days with gift giving on New Year's Day. 


By the 1680s Winstanley's Christmas had been restored in the form that we celebrate it today. Winstanley died in 1698, only a few days before Christmas.

So this Christmas time as we gather together with our families and share our "chines of turkey" and eat "mince pies" and sing the beloved old Christmas carols, spare a thought for William Winstanley, without whom we may have no Christmas. 





In  the spirit of the season I would like to share my own Christmas pudding recipe -  a genuine seventeenth century recipe. As I write my two puddings are simmering on the stove and the smell that is so uniquely Christmas is drifting up the stairs. Thank you Mr. Winstanley!

CHRISTMAS PUDDING

250g flour	1 tsp nutmeg
250g suet	1 tsp cinnamon
250g dark (Barbados) sugar	250g each of sultanas, raisins, currants and mixed peel
250g grated new carrot	100 slivered blanched almonds
250g grated raw potato	1 large wineglass of brandy or sherry
3 or 4 tsp mixed spice

1.  Mix all ingredients thoroughly and put in greased basins, covered with greaseproof paper and a cloth.
2. Steam for 8 hours.
3. Cool and change cloth.
4. 4.       Re-steam for 3 hours and serve with brandy butter, custard etc.

Notes:  Can be made not too long in advance and it can be frozen. It makes one large and one small  wonderful, dark, very rich pudding!

For more information on 
William Winstanley:  see the biography by Alison Barnes William Winstanley...the Man who Saved Christmas
The puritans and Christmas: see Anita Davison's blog The Puritans and Christmas on the Hoydens and Firebrands blog