0070 - 1647 AD - How Banning Christmas Started the Plum Pudding Riots

1647 AD - How Banning Christmas Started the Plum Pudding Riots

Description: By the late medieval period, Christmas had grown into an elaborate season marked by feasting, music, and long pauses from work, blending Christian worship with folk customs. By the early sixteenth century, reform-minded Christians began questioning these traditions, asking whether Scripture alone should determine worship practices. In seventeenth-century England, Puritan-controlled Parliament abolished Christmas observance by law, ordering shops to remain open and forbidding special church services on December 25. Across the Atlantic, Massachusetts outlawed Christmas celebrations in 1659, fining anyone found feasting or skipping work. Ordinary people resisted quietly, moving celebrations indoors and preserving customs through family meals and whispered traditions. In Canterbury in 1647, resistance turned violent when the mayor ordered shops open and banned traditional Christmas foods, sparking riots that saw the crowd storm his house. Christmas survived not through institutional protection but through hearts that could not forget the story it told. The episode reflects on how communities can drift from trust in Jesus toward confidence in their own theological precision, and how faith enforced by law often reshapes devotion into resistance. It invites listeners to anchor their hope not in how right they are, but in who Jesus is.

Keywords: Christmas banned, Puritan England, Puritan New England, Massachusetts Christmas law, 1647 Canterbury riots, plum pudding riots, faith and law, worship regulation, Christmas suppression, English Civil War, religious freedom, church history, reformation, Scripture alone, holy tradition, human invention, joy and obligation, certainty versus trust, faith enforced, devotion and resistance, Jesus incarnation, Christmas survival, orthodox Christianity, pastoral theology, discipleship, walking with Jesus

Hashtags: #ChristmasBanned #PuritanEngland #PuritanNewEngland #MassachusettsChristmasLaw #1647CanterburyRiots #PlumPuddingRiots #FaithAndLaw #WorshipRegulation #ChristmasSuppression #EnglishCivilWar #ReligiousFreedom #ChurchHistory #Reformation #ScriptureAlone #HolyTradition #HumanInvention #JoyAndObligation #CertaintyVersusTrust #FaithEnforced #DevotionAndResistance #JesusIncarnation #ChristmasSurvival #OrthodoxChristianity #PastoralTheology #Discipleship #WalkingWithJesus

Make sure you go to ThatsJesus.org for other COACH episodes and resources. Don't forget to follow, like, comment, rate, review, subscribe, share, favorite, repost, heart, star, ring the bell, tag a friend, or whisper kind words to your device. In short, do whatever you can to trick the algorithm into thinking you care about this series. But most of all, don't forget to TUNE IN for more COACH episodes every week.

Series Description: Every episode dives into a different corner of church history. On Mondays we stay between 0-500 AD. On Wednesdays we stay between 500-1500 AD. On Friday we stay between 1500-2000 AD. Thanks for listening to COACH–where Church origins and church history actually coach us how to walk boldly with Jesus today.

CHUNK 01A–HOOK

Wendy and I were watching television the other night when a character said something that stopped us cold. She was from Puritan New England, and she casually mentioned that she didn't celebrate Christmas—because it was against the law.

We both laughed. It sounded ridiculous. Surely that couldn't be true.

But the comment stuck with me. And when I started digging—fully expecting to debunk a bit of historical exaggeration—I found something I didn't expect at all. It wasn't a joke. It wasn't dramatic license. For a time, Christmas really was illegal—banned by Christians who believed they were honoring God by doing so.

That discovery reframed everything. This wasn't a story about hostile outsiders attacking the faith. It was a moment when believers themselves decided that celebrating the birth of Jesus had gone too far—and needed to stop.

CHUNK 01B–CLIFFHANGER

So for this Christmas Day 2025 episode, we're stepping into one of the strangest chapters in church history. Not to mock it. Not to sensationalize it. But to understand how a celebration meant to honor Jesus became something Christians were willing to outlaw.

CHUNK 02–VERBATIM INTRO

"From the That's Jesus Channel–welcome to COACH - where Church origins and church history actually coach us how to walk boldly with Jesus today. I'm Bob Baulch. And on Friday, we stay between 1500–2000 AD."

CHUNK 03–SEGUE

Today we go back to the late 1400s and early 1500s—when Christmas was expected, celebrated, and rarely debated.

CHUNK 04–NARRATIVE

By the late medieval period, Christmas had grown into one of the most elaborate seasons of the Christian year. It was no longer a single holy day. In many places, it stretched across twelve days or more, marked by feasting, music, games, drinking, and long pauses from ordinary labor. Churches held services celebrating the birth of Jesus, but outside the sanctuary the season often took on a life of its own.

For ordinary people, Christmas was a welcome interruption in a hard year. Winter was cold and dark. Work was relentless. Food was scarce. Christmas meant tables briefly filled, fires kept burning, and laughter allowed to spill into the streets. It was a season when masters might serve servants, when rules softened, and when joy—sometimes loud, sometimes unruly—was expected rather than restrained.

Over time, Christian worship and folk custom became tightly woven together. Nativity prayers and candlelit services existed alongside practices of misrule, mock authority, costumed revelry, and heavy drinking. By the early sixteenth century, this blending began to trouble reform-minded Christians. As calls for reform spread across Europe, many began asking hard questions—not only about doctrine, but about worship itself. They looked at Christmas and saw a feast nowhere commanded in Scripture. They saw excess where they expected reverence. They saw traditions inherited from centuries past that could not be clearly traced to the Bible.

During the English Civil War, Parliament came under strong Puritan influence. These were men convinced that England's troubles were not only political but spiritual. They believed the nation had tolerated too much corruption in worship, too much tradition without biblical warrant, and too much indulgence disguised as devotion. Christmas, with its feasting, leisure, and lack of scriptural command, became a clear target.

In June 1647, Parliament passed an ordinance abolishing the observation of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun. December 25 was to be treated like any other workday. Shops were ordered to remain open. Churches were forbidden from holding special Christmas services. Ministers who continued to preach on the Nativity risked punishment. In some cities, soldiers were stationed to enforce compliance.

The intention was reform, not cruelty. Lawmakers believed they were stripping away false worship in order to honor God rightly. But for ordinary people, the change was abrupt and painful. What had always been familiar—church bells, family meals, time away from work—was suddenly illegal.

Resistance surfaced quickly. In London, shopkeepers closed their doors anyway. Apprentices refused to work. Decorations appeared quietly in homes. The ban revealed a widening gap between those shaping religious policy and those living under it. One London diarist observed that many people resented being forced to work on what they still considered a holy day. The law had changed, but the calendar in their hearts had not.

The tension broke into violence in Canterbury on Christmas Day, 1647.

That morning, the mayor decided to make an example of his town. He ordered all shops to open. He banned the sale of traditional Christmas foods—no mince pies, no roasted meats, and especially no plum pudding. He made it clear that the day would proceed as any ordinary Thursday, with no concessions to custom or sentiment.

The townspeople had other plans.

A massive street football match broke out in the marketplace. In seventeenth-century England, football was not a gentleman's sport played on manicured fields. It was a chaotic, violent, barely-governed brawl involving dozens or even hundreds of players, few rules, and an entire town as the playing field. Goals could be miles apart. Injuries were common. And on this particular Christmas morning, the game was not really about football at all.

It was a protest with a ball.

The crowd swelled. What began as a game quickly turned into a riot. Market stalls were overturned. Goods were trampled and destroyed. The mayor tried to intervene and restore order. He was knocked flat to the ground. The crowd turned toward his house, shouting and throwing stones. Windows shattered. Doors splintered. The mayor barricaded himself inside while the riot raged in the street outside.

This was not a theological debate over the regulative principle of worship. It was fury over plum pudding. It was defiance over the right to gather, to rest, to eat what they had always eaten on Christmas Day. People were not rioting to defend a doctrine. They were defending what felt like home. And they were not about to let some mayor tell them they couldn't have their Christmas dinner.

The Canterbury riot—sometimes called the Plum Pudding Riot—was not an isolated incident. Similar clashes erupted in Ipswich, where townspeople attacked those enforcing the ban. In Norwich, crowds gathered to demand the restoration of Christmas. In smaller towns and villages, resistance took quieter forms—closed shutters, shared meals behind locked doors, carols sung softly after dark.

Christmas had become more than a church observance. It was cultural. Emotional. Personal. And attempts to suppress it had not purified it out of existence. They had hardened people's attachment to it.

Across the Atlantic, New England followed a similar path. The Puritans who settled Massachusetts had crossed an ocean to build what they believed would be a godly society ordered by Scripture alone. In 1659, the colony outlawed Christmas celebrations outright. Anyone found feasting, skipping work, or observing the day publicly could be fined five shillings—a significant penalty for most families.

Increase Mather, one of New England's leading ministers, was blunt. He wrote that observing Christmas was never commanded by God and therefore had no place in true worship. A society serious about holiness, he argued, could not afford to tolerate practices rooted in tradition rather than command.

Enforcement varied. Some complied fully. Others resisted quietly. But the message was unmistakable: joy itself was now subject to regulation.

For many ordinary Christians, the controversy was bewildering. They had not experienced Christmas as a theological problem. It was simply part of the rhythm of the year—a familiar pause marked by church, food, family, and song. When laws suddenly declared those practices improper or illegal, the shift felt less like reform and more like loss.

Most people had not chosen Christmas because of loyalty to Rome or theological precision. They had inherited it. Parents had passed it down to children. Communities had built memories around it. The sudden criminalization of what had always felt normal created confusion and quiet grief.

Yet most resistance did not take the form of open rebellion. It was quieter, more domestic, and more human.

Celebrations moved indoors. Families gathered discreetly, preparing meals without fanfare and singing songs quietly when soldiers were not near. Doors were locked. Curtains were drawn. The feast continued in kitchens and parlors, whispered and hidden.

Christmas survived not because it won an argument, but because people continued to practice it when no one was watching.

In England, the ban began to weaken after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. Charles II had no interest in Puritan austerity. Christmas services returned to churches. Public celebrations resumed. The season that had been driven underground began to emerge again, changed but not erased.

In New England, the law remained on the books longer. The fine for celebrating Christmas was not repealed in Massachusetts until 1681. Even after repeal, suspicion lingered. For decades, many New England churches refused to hold Christmas services. The season remained controversial well into the eighteenth century.

But slowly, quietly, Christmas crept back into public life. It returned not through official decree but through habit, memory, and longing. By the time the American colonies declared independence, Christmas was once again widely observed—though its form had shifted. It was less raucous, more domestic, more centered on family than on public festival.

The Puritan attempt to suppress Christmas had failed. But it had also changed the feast. What emerged was no longer simply a season inherited from medieval Christendom. It had become something owned by ordinary people, practiced in homes, shaped by resistance and survival.

Christmas endured not because governments defended it, nor because churches controlled it, but because people continued to return to the story it told. A child born in poverty. God entering the world without force. Peace offered rather than imposed.

The season that could not be legislated away centers on a Savior who refused coercion. Christmas survived suppression not because it was protected by power, but because it was carried by hearts that could not forget it.

CHUNK 05A–TRANSITION + CLIFFHANGER

But that season of creating rules to protect what the religious experts feel is in everyone’s best interest doesn't stay in the past. It has a way of resurfacing wherever faith is taken seriously and clarity feels essential. When belief becomes something we feel responsible to protect, another tension quietly forms—one that asks whether devotion is being shaped by trust… or by the need to be certain.

CHUNK 05B–CLIFFHANGER RESOLUTION

And that tension still follows us.

CHUNK 06–MODERN REFLECTION

There is a recurring tension in church life that surfaces whenever faith becomes closely tied to certainty. Communities want to protect what they believe is true. They want worship to be faithful, behavior to be aligned, and belief to be clearly defined. Those desires are not wrong. In fact, they often come from a sincere longing to honor Jesus.

But over time, something subtle can happen. Boundaries meant to guide faith begin to define it. Practices meant to support belief start to measure it. Confidence in shared convictions slowly turns into confidence that we have finally gotten it right.

When that happens, faith can begin to feel safer than it is meant to be. Predictable. Controlled. Reassuring. The community knows who belongs and why. There is comfort in alignment and relief in clarity. Everyone understands the expectations, and spiritual life becomes easier to manage.

The danger isn't structure itself. The danger is when certainty replaces dependence. When being correct becomes more central than being connected. When confidence in our understanding quietly takes the place of trust in Jesus himself.

Church history shows that this pattern is not rare. Again and again, movements that begin with devotion drift toward systems that promise assurance through precision. The result is often a community that appears strong, unified, and faithful—but slowly loses tenderness, patience, and humility.

What starts as a desire to honor Jesus can become an effort to protect our version of faith from risk. And once faith becomes something we guard instead of something we receive, it presses a question closer than most of us expect—one that doesn't stop at institutions, but reaches into the individual heart.

CHUNK 07–PERSONAL REFLECTION

I know that tension personally, because I grew up inside it.

I was raised in a church culture that emphasized getting things right. There were rules—many of them—that defined faithfulness. What made those rules powerful wasn't just their number, but their certainty. We were taught that these practices weren't recent developments. They were first-century patterns. Restored. Untouched. Pure.

The message was simple and reassuring: if you could step back into the early church, no one would know you were from the future. We weren't similar to them—we were them. The twentieth and twenty-first century continuation of the original church. No difference.

That kind of certainty is intoxicating. It's comforting to believe you've landed in the right place. It steadies you. It energizes you. And if we're honest, it can quietly become a source of pride. Not loud pride—but settled confidence that we finally see what others have missed.

But over time, something else began to surface. Those rules didn't actually exist until the nineteenth century. They weren't first-century realities. They were later constructions, shaped by sincere people trying to bring order and clarity to faith.

And that realization forced a deeper question—not just about history, but about salvation.

If God requires perfect understanding, then only the most precise survive. But Scripture points us somewhere else entirely. God doesn't require perfect understanding in order to save us. He requires a perfect life—and a perfect death.

And only one person lived that life and died that death.

His name is Jesus.

That truth didn't weaken my faith. It freed it. Because my hope was no longer anchored to how right I was—but to who he is.

And that's the invitation I still have to return to: not certainty in myself, but trust in him.

CHUNK 08–VERBATIM OUTRO

"If this story of Christmas Suppressed challenged or encouraged you, share it with a friend–they might really need to hear it. Make sure you go to ThatsJesus.org for other COACH episodes and resources.

Don't forget to follow, like, comment, rate, review, subscribe, share, favorite, repost, heart, star, ring the bell, tag a friend, or whisper kind words to your device. In short, do whatever you can to trick the algorithm into thinking you care about this series.

But most of all, don't forget to TUNE IN for more COACH episodes every week. Every episode dives into a different corner of church history. But on Friday, we stay between 1500–2000 AD. Thanks for listening to COACH–where Church origins and church history actually coach us how to walk boldly with Jesus today. I'm Bob Baulch with the That's Jesus Channel. Have a great day — and be blessed."

CHUNK 09A–PERSONAL HUMOR

There's something reassuring about clear rules—until you realize how much energy it takes to keep checking whether you're still inside them.

CHUNK 09B–PERSONAL HUMILITY

I'm learning that faith rooted in Jesus is steadier than faith rooted in getting everything right.

CHUNK 10–QUOTES AND SOURCES

Quote: "One London diarist captured the tension plainly when he observed that many people resented being forced to work on what they still considered a holy day." Quote Category: Generalized Source: Durston, C. The Family in the English Revolution. Blackwell, 1989. ISBN: 9780631169920

Quote: "Observing Christmas was never commanded by God and therefore had no place in true worship." Quote Category: Paraphrased Source: Mather, Increase. A Testimony Against Several Prophane and Superstitious Customs. Samuel Green, 1687. (Modern editions and reprints; no ISBN due to early modern publication)

Quote: "Many people resented being forced to work on what they still considered a holy day." Quote Category: Generalized Source: Cressy, D. (1989). Bonfires and bells: National memory and the Protestant calendar in Elizabethan and Stuart England. University of California Press. ISBN: 9780520065321.

 

CHUNK 11–CONTRARY AND SKEPTICAL SOURCES

Some historians argue that the Puritan suppression of Christmas has been overstated in popular retellings and that enforcement was sporadic, locally inconsistent, and far less effective than modern narratives suggest. Source: Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780192854480

A contrary interpretation holds that Christmas bans were driven less by theology and more by political power struggles during the English Civil War, with religious rhetoric functioning as justification rather than primary cause. Source: Morrill, John. The Nature of the English Revolution. Longman, 1993. ISBN: 9780582080193

Some scholars contend that Puritan objections to Christmas were not uniquely severe but reflected broader early modern European concerns about disorder, excess, and social control rather than hostility to joy or celebration itself. Source: Cressy, David. Bonfires and Bells: National Memory and the Protestant Calendar in Elizabethan and Stuart England. University of California Press, 1989. ISBN: 9780520064947

A skeptical cultural-history perspective suggests that later nostalgia has exaggerated popular resistance to Christmas suppression, projecting modern sentimental views of Christmas back onto seventeenth-century society. Source: Nissenbaum, Stephen. The Battle for Christmas. Alfred A. Knopf, 1996. ISBN: 9780679447179

Some historians argue that Puritan theology was internally coherent and biblically motivated, and that portraying Christmas bans as "anti-Christian" reflects an anachronistic definition of Christianity shaped by later traditions. Source: Collinson, Patrick. The Religion of Protestants: The Church in English Society 1559–1625. Oxford University Press, 1982. ISBN: 9780198261701

From a sociological perspective, certain scholars maintain that Christmas ultimately survived not because of theological meaning but because of its adaptability as a social and economic institution. Source: Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. Harcourt, Brace & World, 1959. ISBN: 9780156792011

A more skeptical theological view argues that debates over Christmas observance reveal the instability of tradition itself, suggesting that claims of "authentic" Christian practice are always shaped by cultural context rather than recoverable apostolic norms. Source: Ehrman, Bart D. Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew. Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780195141839

CHUNK 12–ORTHODOX SOURCES (ANCIENT / PRE-1500)

The Holy Bible. The Gospel According to Luke. Various canonical manuscripts and early church usage, compiled 2nd–4th century.

Augustine of Hippo. Sermons for Christmas and Epiphany. New City Press, c. 400.

Leo the Great. Sermons on the Nativity. Catholic University of America Press, c. 440–461.

Gregory of Nazianzus. Orations 38–40 (On the Theophany and Nativity). St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, c. 380.

John Chrysostom. Homilies on the Nativity. Catholic University of America Press, c. 386.

Bede the Venerable. Homilies on the Gospels. Cistercian Publications, c. 710.

Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica. Benziger Brothers, c. 1265–1274.

CHUNK 13–ORTHODOX SOURCES (MODERN / 1500–PRESENT)

Mather, Increase. A Testimony Against Several Prophane and Superstitious Customs. Samuel Green, 1687.

Baxter, Richard. The Practical Works of Richard Baxter. Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 1650s (reprint 1996).

Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Westminster John Knox Press, 1559.

Durston, Christopher. The Family in the English Revolution. Blackwell, 1985.

Cressy, David. Bonfires and Bells: National Memory and the Protestant Calendar in Elizabethan and Stuart England. University of California Press, 1989.

Nissenbaum, Stephen. The Battle for Christmas. Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.

Hutton, Ronald. The Rise and Fall of Merry England: The Ritual Year 1400–1700. Oxford University Press, 1994.

Collinson, Patrick. The Religion of Protestants: The Church in English Society 1559–1625. Oxford University Press, 1982.

McCullough, Peter. Sermons at Court: Politics and Religion in Elizabethan and Jacobean Preaching. Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Pelikan, Jaroslav. Jesus Through the Centuries. Yale University Press, 1985.

Bradley, Ian. The Call to Seriousness: The Evangelical Impact on the Victorians. Jonathan Cape, 1976.

Watson, J. R. The English Hymn: A Critical and Historical Study. Oxford University Press, 1997.

CHUNK 14–VERBATIM AMAZON AFFILIATE LINKS

"As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This means that if you click on a link and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you."

Studio Gear & Tools: Mics, interfaces, lights, and studio bits — the practical kit behind the channel. https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2JVFYS5WRTUVX?ref_=wl_share&tag=thatsjesuscha-20

Overflow & Supplemental Books: Overflow & special picks that pair with COACH episodes and study notes. https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1SLMOKXPPYTQL?ref_=wl_share&tag=thatsjesuscha-20

Full-Scope Survey Shelf: Comprehensive "spine" shelf: general surveys covering the full 0–2000 arc. https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/21O075P7LI81V?ref_=wl_share&tag=thatsjesuscha-20

Reformations to Modern Day: Reformations, awakenings, world Christianity, and the modern church. https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2YMN6OXBEXGHQ?ref_=wl_share&tag=thatsjesuscha-20

Before 1500: Monastic movements, councils, scholastic thought, and global missions before 1500. https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/31YCQ0B9JRS12?ref_=wl_share&tag=thatsjesuscha-20

Early Church Sources: Primary sources and top surveys from the apostolic era through the fall of Rome. https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/19YTUD4IK87DZ?ref_=wl_share&tag=thatsjesuscha-20

CHUNK 15–VERBATIM CREDITS

Credits Research, Writing, Editing, Hosting & Producing by: Bob Baulch Production Company: That's Jesus Channel

PRODUCTION NOTES: AI tools provide assistance, but the final product is fully credited to Bob Baulch, with all AI tools used under his direction and discretion. AI tools may include one or more of the following, depending on the episode's needs:

• ChatGPT (by OpenAI)
• Claude (by Anthropic)
• Copilot (by Microsoft)
• Gemini (by Google)
• Grok (by xAI)
• Perplexity (by Perplexity Inc.)

These tools may assist with: Historical research, Organization and structure, Script drafting and refinement, Accuracy checks, Parameter compliance, Formatting and finalization, Full pre-publish verification All AI-generated suggestions were reviewed, edited, accepted or rejected, and fully approved by Bob Baulch.

Sound and Visualization: Adobe Podcast Video Production (if applicable): Adobe Premiere Pro

Digital License — Audio 1: "Background Music Soft Calm" by INPLUSMUSIC Pixabay Content License Composer: Poradovskyi Andrii BMI IPI Number: 01055591064 Source: Pixabay

Digital License — Audio 2: "Epic Trailer Short 0022 Sec" by BurtySounds Pixabay Content License Source: Pixabay

Production Note: All audio and video elements are added during post-production. Final historical accuracy, theological balance, and editorial decisions are the sole responsibility of Bob Baulch and That's Jesus Channel.