Tag Archive for: Puritans

Turkeys and Santa

The Magic of Turkeys and Santa

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The Magic of Turkeys and Santa
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In this episode we celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas together with a mix of old and new. Thanksgiving — that All-American holiday of festive foods married with historical debates — get a look through the lens of pandemic past.

We explore the Thanksgiving of 1918 and how it was the same and how it was different. This conversation comes as a backdrop to modern-day calls to abolish Thanksgiving by The New York Times and The Atlantic. While we agree some liberties have been taken with the history of Thanksgiving we have to take a real-world look at what Puritans and Native Americans really have to do with the Thanksgiving we really celebrate.

But highlighting this episode even more is the fact that Thanksgiving, as always, sets the Christmas stage and helps build the delicious anticipation we all get in Santa Claus.

Our merry little Thanksgiving Gobble Contest has yielded some festive results that we shared include the laughter of my 5 year old grandson who grabbed the microphone to tell me a Christmas tale that happened in my home just last Christmas. Mind you, I’ve never heard this story before — and it is, as all Santa stories are — a legendary thing.

And that led to the debut of our first edition of our reading of A Visit from St. Nicholas – the Merry Forums sponsored event we call the Twas the Night Before Christmas Read-a-thon.

This is an activity we have talked about for years that we have finally made a reality. And it is a little production sure to produce a smile and loads of Christmas spirit.

We also share some more new music. A new song from Robyn Scott titled I Saw Santa Last Night brings a party feel to this episode.

Song Details:

Title:  I Saw Santa Last Night

Artist:  Robyn Scott

Writers:  Robyn Scott & Brian Dolph

Length:  2:54

BPM:  100

ISRC:  CA8ZW1900001

I Saw Santa Last Night – Links:
Christmas of Puritans and Pilgrims

Christmas of Puritans and Pilgrims

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Christmas of Puritans and Pilgrims is the stuff of legends. Unfortunately, most get what is real about the Puritan Christmas wrong because they believe the media and lazy historians.

This article, for example, is a good example of the bad history that out there. It is a mix of truth and just stupid assumption.

It doesn’t help that old images like this are floating around to support their conclusion that Christmas just didn’t happen in New England:

Christmas banned

The very same publications that provide that image also provide the proof that Christmas was celebrated in New England and it had been since the arrival of the Mayflower.

Consider this: the Mayflower arrived in 1620. The so-called ban didn’t happen until 1659 — nearly 40 years later. What gives? If they had to ban it then Christmas was a problem, right? If they had to ban Christmas, then it had to have been NOT banned for those 39 years, correct?

So what’s the story? What Christmas a thing for Puritans?

And what about the pilgrims? What is the difference between a Puritan and a Pilgrim? Did those who were NOT Puritans in America celebrate Christmas?

In this episode we answer all these questions. We think you will walk away not only with a better understanding of both Puritans and Pilgrims but of the history of Christmas itself.

If you are American there are good odds that you are descended from someone who came as a Pilgrim in 1607 or as a Puritan in 1620. It is one of the great and positive trends of this weird year of 2020 — the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower. Many are finding out just where their roots are in relation to this great and historic event.

If you want to understand those ancestors, then come to know their Christmas. It explains a lot about them all as people.