A Tudor Christmas - Old Christmas Is Undone (3rd January)

 3rd January - Old Christmas is Undone

Due to the Reformation, in which Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church, things began to change for Christmas traditions. It was seen as pagan and there was too many feast days, but the Nativity remained. Henry VIII set about banning boy bishops and children leading prayers on Holy Innocents' Day. The singing of carols also declined, while others tried to get people to use them during worship. 

Advent was no longer observed and became a Papist practice. Fasting was also left up to the person in question. During the reign of Edward VI, images were removed from Churches while stain glass windows were destroyed. The Nativity slowly disappeared along with images of Angels, candles were used only for lighting purposes. The effigy of Christ being crucified was removed and Christmas Mass became a service said in English from the Book of Common Prayer. 

With all the classic well known traditions being stripped away its a surpise that Christmas still remained. It was helped though by the fact that Edward VI loved Christmas and kept up the tradition of entertainment. When Edward died and his sister Mary I took over, she did her best to reinstate the Catholic traditions of Christmas, but it wasn't to last. Her sister Elizabeth I turned it all back to the Protestant ways. 

Elizabeth like her father and her brother loved the traditions of Christmas and even at one point but both the Catholic and Protestant traditions together. Sadly though by 1590 many of the poorer people didnt have the oppertunity to celebrate Christmas due to there being no charity from the Church to help them. Many people began to scale down their Christmas celebrations for economic reasons. This scaling down of celebration would repeat itself in a similar, more extreme fashion during Oliver Cromwell's Puritan Republic from 1649 to 1660, where Christmas was consider sinful and abolished.