This Is Why Scotland Banned Christmas For 400 Years

May 2024 ยท 2 minute read

The origins of the prohibition of Christmas in Scotland date back to the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. Led by the minister John Knox, the country followed the trend begun by Martin Luther in 1517 and officially split from the Catholic Church in 1560, and traditions like Christmas began to be viewed by the new Protestant Church of Scotland as extravagant celebrations that misinterpreted the teachings of the Bible. The church suspended all Christmas celebrations, but Scots weren't really on board. Christmas is fun, and they didn't like being told they couldn't enjoy it anymore. The Scottish authorities encountered such resistance to the suspension of Christmas that the Parliament went so far as to make celebrating it illegal in 1640. It became a crime to observe the "Yule vacations," and the law was indeed enforced. That's right: People were actually put in jail for celebrating Christmas in 17th-century Scotland. How's that for a war on Christmas?

According to Parliament records, another "Act discharging the Yule vacance" was passed in 1690, claiming that the holiday "hath been a great interruptione to the course of justice in this kingdome." So people didn't get the day off. Everyone had to work on Christmas Day and wait until Hogmanay, on New Year's Eve, to party. The obvious real injustice is banning Christmas, and the laws didn't last. They were ultimately repealed at the beginning of the 18th century.

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