(Re-blogged from It’s About Time with permission of the author)
Those stubborn English were just not ready to give up Father Christmas in 1652, when the Puritans decreed that the nation would give up their traditional Christmas celebrations. It is amazing how much like today's Santa looked in the middle of the 17th century. Some claim that the English restored the monarchy, so that they could have their Christmas celebrations back.
|Father Christmas as
pictured in Josiah King’s |
"The Examination and Tryal of Father Christmas"
Behold the Majestie and grace!
Of loveing, cheerfull, Christmas face.
Whome many thousands, with one breath:
Cry out, let him be put to death.
Who indeede can never die:
So long as man hath memory.
Further reading on the Puritan ban of Christmas celebrations: