WHY DID THE PURITANS CHRISTMAS?

Hey thriller fans,

While researching novels, I learn all kinds of interesting things. For example, the Puritan ban on Christmas is a fascinating chapter in history, reflecting religious, cultural, and political belief systems of the 17th century.

The Puritans, a Protestant group seeking to purify the Church of England from Catholic practices, viewed Christmas as a decadent solstice-oriented festival lacking biblical justification.

They were not a fun bunch, but historically, they were right.

Christmas and winter solstice celebrations are indeed intricately linked.

Ancient civilizations meticulously observed winter solstice, constructing monuments like the Temple of the Sun at Palenque and the Karnak Temple in Luxor, which align with the sun on the shortest day of the year. Like Stonehenge at summer solstice, these structures highlight the solstice's importance to communities across the globe. These types of temples play an intricate role in my novel SOLSTICE SHADOWS.

Early Christians, often city dwellers, worked to ban old customs. But the country inhabitants weren't easily swayed. Eventually the church realized they needed to co-opt some of these rural traditions.

If ya can't beat 'em, join 'em.

In the 4th century CE, Church leaders begun to draw upon the Roman festival of Saturnalia, an ancient holiday that honored the Roman God Saturn. The festival was a week of dancing, decadence, and the inversion of social and moral norms, typically celebrated on the longest nights of the year between December 17th and 24th. Dies Solis Invicti Nati, another holiday, celebrated the return of the sun after the solstice.

These festivals involved feasting and gift-giving, lighting candles, and decorating with evergreens. Sound familiar? These traditions influenced Christmas customs that are still alive today.

It’s worth noting that historians believe the first mention of the Nativity feast and other early Christmas traditions appears in a Philocalian calendar dated around 354 CE. Because of this association with ancient rituals, celebrating Christmas was banned by the Puritans and made illegal in Massachusetts between 1659 and 1681.

Although the ban lasted an entire generation, merry-making revelers eventually overturned the unpopular law. Millions of people around the world still celebrate Christmas, Yule, or some version of vanquishing darkness with the return of light.

And, deep down, isn't that what the spirit of all great religions, as well as the heartbeat of unputdownable thrillers, is all about?

I hope you and yours have a delightful time experiencing the joy of the season. Here's to light and love!

If you'd like to learn more about solstice-inspired architecture while escaping into a page-turning thriller, check out SOLSTICE SHADOWS.

Buy direct and save 20% by using code "solstice" at checkout.

Happiest of holidays to you and yours.

As always, thanks for your kind reviews!

VanOps #1 - The Lost Power: Maddy Marshall and her twin brother Will Argones must find Alexander the Great's priceless Egyptian weapon before a hostile state seizes the power and cripples the United States.

VanOps #2 - Solstice Shadows: A computer-app designer. An encrypted relic. Can she and the VanOps team decipher the dangerous code before extremists trigger a high-tech apocalypse?

VanOps #3 - The Doomsday Medallion: Sixteenth-century French prophet Nostradamus predicted the Great Fire of London, Napoleon’s conquest, Hitler’s rule, and the atomic bomb. Can the VanOps team keep the old seer’s secrets out of blood-stained hands?

Cleopatra's Vendetta - A Stryker Thriller: Tim and Angie Stryker must shake the deeply buried pillars of western civilization to save their daughter from an unspeakable fate.

All are available in print and audio, as well as e-book.