Hanukkah and Christmas in the Middle Ages, and the Puritan War on Christmas

This is a revised--and a lot longer--version of our twenty-first episode ("Some thoughts about Hanukkah by a (secular) Jewish medieval historian").  That episode was  just what the title said, some thoughts about the role of Hanukkah in contemporary America and the Middle Ages. In it Ellen had a throwaway line about the Puritan war on Christmas. I thought that our listeners might be interested in why the Puritans objected to and tried to suppress Christmas, and, related to that, how Christmas, as well as Hanukkah was celebrated in the Middle Ages. I know that the result is a mishmash, but I hope it's an enjoyable and informative mishmash.

Happy Holidays!

This episode includes snippets from

"Here we come a-wassailing" The St. Michael's Singers conducted by Paul Leddington Wright https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m29jEvTfVFU

Ma'oz Tsur sung by cantors from across Canada, Temple Sinai Toronto, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFY--az4z3w

Adam Sandler's "The Hanukkah Song" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX5Z-HpHH9g


Reading:

Hanukkah:

Cait Stevenson, “Celebrating Hannukah in the Middle Ages” by Cait Stevenson, posted on Medievalists.net https://www.medievalists.net/2018/12/celebrating-hanukkah-middle-ages/

Susan Weingarten, “Medieval Hanukkah Traditions: Jewish Festive Foods in their European Contexts, Food and History 8 (2010)::41-62

Dianne Ashton,  (2013). Hanukkah in America: A History. New York: New York University Press, 2013. 

Tsi Freeman, “Why Couldn’t Jews and Greeks Just Get Along?” https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/64639/jewish/Couldnt-the-Jews-and-Greeks-Get-Along.htm

[The Wikipedia entry on Hanukkah is quite good]

Medieval Christmas:

Katie Ihnat, “The Middle Ages,” in The Oxford Handbook of Christmas, ed. T. Larson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020).

Sophie Jackson, The Medieval Christmas. The History Press: Stroud, 2013.

Peter Konieczny, “Seven Medieval Christmas Traditions.” Medievalists.net. https://www.medievalists.net/2012/12/seven-medieval-christmas-traditions/

Compton Reeves, Pleasures and Pastimes in Medieval England. New York: Oxford, 1998.

Puritan war on Christmas:

Stephen Nissenbaum, “Christmas in Early New England, 1620-1820: Puritanism, Popular Culture, and the Printed Word.” American Antiquary Society (1996): pp. 79-164 (https://www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/44539478.pdf)

J.A.R. Pimlott, | “Christmas under the Puritans,” in  History Today Volume 10 Issue 12 December 1960

“Why did Cromwell abolish Christmas?” The Cromwell Association https://www.olivercromwell.org/faqs4.htm

The Puritan Cultural Revolution

David Underdown, Revel, Riot, and Rebellion: Popular Politics and Culture in England 1603-1660.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987

Christopher Durston. "Puritan Rule and the Failure of Cultural Revolution, 1645–1660." In: Durston, C., Eales, J. (eds) The Culture of English Puritanism, 1560–1700. Themes in Focus. Palgrave, London. 1996.

Listen on Podurama https://podurama.com

Intro and exit music are by Alexander Nakarada

If you have questions, feel free to contact me at richard.abels54@gmail.com