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Season 1: Episode 7
Season 1: Episode 7
It was a recurring theme during the Obama presidency. Late, every November, we would hear of another episode in the War on Christmas. Far from a new phenomenon, the wars on Christmas have been a part of the United States since well before its founding.
Some lesser known battles, and what they can tell us about the supposed war of today --
this week, on Context, Please.
The Puritan's War on Christmas
The Puritan's War on Christmas
The Massachusetts Bay Colony had an outright ban on any celebration of Christmas for over two decades:
“For preventing disorders, arising in several places within this jurisdiction by reason of some still observing such festivals as were superstitiously kept in other countries, to the great dishonor of God and offense of others, it is therefore ordered by this court and the authority thereof that whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas or the like — either by forbearing labour, feasting or any other way, upon any such account as aforesaid, every such person so offending shall pay for every such offense five shilling as a fine to the county.”
-Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1659
The Eggnog Riot
The Eggnog Riot
Involving West Point cadets, a Scrooge-like colonel, smuggled in booze, and the future president of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis, this tale puts any modern Christmas table bickering to shame.
The 1826 Eggnog Riot is surely one of the strangest stories every to have taken place at the nation's foremost military academy
Footnotes
Footnotes
- https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/12/puritan-war-christmas-was-best-war-christmas/355705/
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/12/01/the-war-on-christmas-predates-trump-and-fox-news-by-almost-400-years/
- https://books.google.com/books?id=KnCeAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT65&lpg=PT65&dq=1826+Eggnog+Riot+primary+sources&source=bl&ots=vpNAK0ZgjA&sig=ACfU3U3l_L3oFVh2LBfWjaNmye72xsuE6A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjz3PT52crmAhVKiOAKHarCDGcQ6AEwFnoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=1826%20Eggnog%20Riot%20primary%20sources&f=false
- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/egg-nog-its-all-fun-and-games-until-someone-starts-a-holiday-riot-180949281/
- http://digital-library.usma.edu/cdm/pageflip/collection/persrem/id/85/type/compoundobject/show/8/cpdtype/document/pftype/image#page/76/mode/2up
- http://digital-library.usma.edu/cdm/pageflip/collection/p16919coll1/id/15/type/singleitem/pftype/pdf
- https://www.ozy.com/true-and-stories/west-points-infamous-eggnog-riot-of-1826/82667/
- https://www.jstor.org/stable/26304962?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=%22eggnog+riot%22&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3D%2522eggnog%2Briot%2522%26amp%3Bacc%3Doff%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bgroup%3Dnone&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_SYC-4929%2Ftest&seq=5#metadata_info_tab_contents
- https://www.jstor.org/stable/1507218?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=Puritan&searchText=war&searchText=on&searchText=christmas&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FsearchType%3DfacetSearch%26amp%3Bsd%3D%26amp%3Bed%3D%26amp%3BQuery%3DPuritan%2Bwar%2Bon%2Bchristmas%26amp%3Bpagemark%3DcGFnZU1hcms9Mg%253D%253D&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_SYC-4929%2Ftest&seq=37#metadata_info_tab_contents
- https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/christmas-celebration-outlawed.html
- https://historyofmassachusetts.org/when-christmas-was-banned-in-boston/
- https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ulysses-s-grant-president-made-christmas-holiday-article-1.3714376
- https://religionandpolitics.org/2012/12/21/did-congress-meet-on-christmas-day-fact-checking-the-war-on-christmas/
- https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41990.pdf
- https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/christmas-illegal-pagan-1836/
- https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uma.ark:/13960/t40s0371p&view=1up&seq=385&size=200
- https://books.google.com/books?id=yPEu4sYKnvYC&pg=PA324&lpg=PA324&dq=We+are+in+a+transition+state+about+Christmas+here+in+New+England.+The+old+Puritan+feeling+prevents+it+from+being+a+cheerful+hearty+holiday;+though+every+year+makes+it+more+so.”&source=bl&ots=Lo4dyLoiVp&sig=ACfU3U3VShjKQdrQ1PocAQ6wxZw2R90hsA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiyydnB3czmAhUDm1kKHctFBB8Q6AEwCnoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=We%20are%20in%20a%20transition%20state%20about%20Christmas%20here%20in%20New%20England.%20The%20old%20Puritan%20feeling%20prevents%20it%20from%20being%20a%20cheerful%20hearty%20holiday%3B%20though%20every%20year%20makes%20it%20more%20so.”&f=false
- https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_International_Jew/Volume_2/Chapter_36
- https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_International_Jew/Volume_3/Chapter_44
- https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/05-23-46.asp
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