From Appalachian Magazine
Christmas Day was January 7
by the old calendar, and that day is still celebrated in some places in the
Appalachian Mountains.
“(B)y the
late-1500s, Roman Catholic Pope Gregory XIII felt that it was time
to modify leap years and get things back on track with the astronomical
calendar — this was primarily done so that the Easter holiday would be restored
to the time of the year in which it was celebrated when first introduced by the
early Church.”
Gregory’s
revisions “removed ten days from the calendar.”
Most European
countries eventually came around to the Roman revision.
“Staunchly
anti-Catholic, the fiercely independent Scots-Irish who had, by the mid-1700s,
began settling the Appalachians were adamantly opposed to the notion of
embracing a new calendar — a new calendar invented by Catholics and adopted by
some distant government on the far side of the ocean.
“The
people of the mountains were unwilling to allow the government 'to steal
eleven days' from their lives. Christmas had long been celebrated
weeks after the winter solstice and the Appalachian settlers didn’t take kindly
to the thought of celebrating Christmas, the premier ‘winter holiday’
only four days past the close of autumn.
“Thanks
to being isolated from the rest of the nation, the men of the mountains
continued to celebrate Old Christmas 12 Days after the December 25th
celebration date set by the new calendar.”
The article was published on Jan.
6, but I just now found it. Keeping the Old Christmas is another aspect of
Americanism, throwing off the trappings of royalist Europe. Something many
Europeans still do not understand about us. If we would only be more like them,
they and some Americans argue.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.