The sordid underbelly of Christmas past
- Written by: James A. T. Lancaster, Lecturer in Studies in Western Religious Traditions, The University of Queensland
The Feast of the Bean King, painted by Jacob Jordaens around 1640-1645.Kunsthistorisches Museum, ViennaWhen English Puritans outlawed Christmas in 1647, it was not without good reason. When American Puritans, in turn, outlawed Christmas in Massachusetts between 1659 and 1681, it too was not without good reason.
Christmas past was anything but...