Spreading the Christmas Cheer

In the early 17th and 18th centuries, Christmas would create pleasant times where the table would literally be turned in the terms of social hierarchy; however, on some instances the order of events would be ignored, which lead to a vandalistic series of events.

During the Christmas season, “[T]he Lord of the Manor let the peasants in and feasted them. In return, the peasants offered something of true value in a paternalistic society - their goodwill.” In this time, the masters of the house and the town’s laborers would share the night as if they were of the same social status. During this time, food, gifts, money, and especially alcohol would be passed from master to servant. Another way that roles of society were flipped were in a sense of the instigation of this exchange. It was not the masters who coordinated and planned for the servants to come visit their homes; but rather, it was the servant’s responsibility and doing that began these ceremonies. Even though we are unaware of the attitudes that were shared among these evenings, we are at least informed enough to know that during the Christmas season, the typical societal roles were switched.

On the other hand, we never know how positive of this experience this was. We are told in the book that the masters had to keep an “open house;” thus, they couldn’t turn people away. In events such as this, whether or not the time was truly a memorable occasion is unknown. One fact that brings a positive note to the experience is that fact that singing was involved in the ritualistic behavior. Not always, but in most cases, singing implies a gleeful attitude full of good times and enjoyment. Luckily, in this book we are notified of the mood of the lyrics. We are told that they were “aggressive” and were “often an explicit threat - concerning the unpleasant consequences to follow if the beggars demands were not met.” So although the times spent together were mean to be a good experience, they almost seem as though they were forced to be pleasant, and if they weren’t, the masters would truly regret it.

In Battle for Christmas, we are informed of one such occasion where things went very wrong. This example took place in Massachusetts in 1679, to a man named John Rowden, his wife Mary, and apprentice Daniel. On this evening, four men came into the home of Mr. Rowden, sang their Christmas ballad, but were refused perry from John Rowden. After asking Rowden again, and being refused again, they left. However, after about fifteen minutes they returned, only to be turned down yet again. Finally, on their third time coming back, they began to taunt and tease the Rowden family. In an account of what happened, we learn that the four men “threw stones, bones, and other things at Poole in the doorway and against the house. They beat down much of the daubing in several places and continued to throw stones for an hour and a half... broke down about a pole and a half of fence.” This is just one prime instance where things went very wrong in the evening ceremonies, and the aftermath of such an event.