Christmas in the 1600s

The early settlers of Massachusetts thought Christmas Day not much more than a pagan holiday that had been taken over (which in many ways is true). In order to strip down religion to its true and religious meanings, they did not celebrate Christmas. Governor William Bradford of Plymouth Colony even said in 1621 that on "the day called Christmas Day," that everybody should keep working. For those few that tried to take the day off, "he would spare them until they were better informed." Some of those few tried to celebrate outside anyway, and he sent them into their homes.