Follen Church Society

By Randall Conrad

Celebrating Christmas didn’t come easily to Massachusetts.

As early as 1659, the colony declared it a crime to observe December 25th except in church. The Revolution came and went; the separation of church and state became a reality in Massachusetts in 1832; and still the Commonwealth held out, outlawing Christmas until the middle of the nineteenth century.

And as late as 1856, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow could still remark, “We are in a transition state about Christmas here in New England. The old Puritan feeling prevents it from being a cheerful hearty holiday; though every year makes it more so.”

There was an article about Charles Follen in the September-October 2002 issue of Harvard Magazine.