Did Oliver Cromwell Ban Christmas?

Not Just the Tudors

History Hit

History

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 December 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1647 Christmas vanished by the decree of the Puritans who ruled Britain. But not everyone complied. Families lit candles behind closed doors, whispered carols, and held secret services. And protestors in Canterbury launched the infamous "plum pudding riots". This was more than a fight over festivities; it was a struggle over power and belief.

Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Prof. Mark Stoyle to explore how the war on Christmas revealed a deeper contest between authority and resistance, godliness and joy, and how echoes of it can even be found in the works of C.S. Lewis and Charles Dickens.

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Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Max Wintle, audio editor is Max Carrie and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Want to walk the halls of Anne Boleyn's childhood home or explore the castles that made up Henry
0:06.8	the 8th's English stronghold? With a subscription to history hit, you can dive into our Tudor
0:12.1	past alongside the world's leading historians and archaeologists. You also unlock hundreds of
0:18.4	hours of original documentaries with a brand new release
0:22.1	every single week.
0:24.1	Covering everything from the ancient world to World War II.
0:27.7	Just visit historyhit.com forward slash subscribe.
0:31.1	Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb and welcome to Not Just the Tudors from History Hit,
0:41.4	the podcasts in which we explore everything from Anne Boleyn to the Aztecs,
0:45.8	from Holbein to the Huguenots, from Shakespeare to Samarise,
0:50.4	relieved by regular doses of murder, espionage and witchcraft.
0:54.5	Not in other words, just the Tudors, but most definitely also the Tudors.
1:04.2	England 1647.
1:07.0	The snow lies heavy on the roads.
1:09.4	The markets are hushed.
1:28.6	Paris churches, once filled with greenery and song, stands silent under lock and key. For the first time in living memory, the familiar cheer of Christmas is gone, forbidden by law. This was no passing phase. It was part of a profound religious and political experiment.
1:34.3	To the Puritans who dominated Parliament, Christmas was not holy, but heretical,
1:39.8	a relic of popish superstition steeped in gluttony, idleness and sin.
2:01.4	Yet across the country, ordinary people resisted. Families lit candles, heard services in private and whispered carols. In Canterbury and Norwich, crowds took to the streets in protest such as the plum pudding riots, and pamphleteers mocked the reformers, giving voice to a sorrowful, defiant old Father Christmas cast out of his own land.
2:05.3	At the heart of this struggle lay deeper questions.
2:07.7	Who controls how people worship?
2:11.9	How far can a government reshape a nation's cherished holiday?
	...

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