The Puritans have been blamed for nearly everything that is wrong with America, but they cannot be blamed for the commercialization of Christmas. In colonial Massachusetts it was illegal to observe Christmas. By a law passed in 1659, anybody "found observing, by abstinence from labor, feasting or any other way, any such days as Christmas day" was fined five shillings for each offense. The law was repealed in 1681, but only because the Puritans were sure no one would celebrate the holiday. In 1685, Judge Samuel Sewall noted in his famous diary that on Christmas Everyone went to work as usual. Not until the middle of the nineteenth century did Christmas become a major holiday.
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