25. When Christmas Was Scary
Back in the days, many feared and loathed Christmas. In the 1600s, the Massachusetts Bay Colony made celebrating Christmas a criminal offense. The Puritans were not upset so much by the religious devotions, as by the disorders and crime sprees that accompanied Christmas celebrations. While many American families tended to commemorate the holiday with wholesome outdoor activities such as skating or watching horse races, Christmas for single men was a time to get wild.
The tendency to get wild on Christmas – and the corresponding concern about the out-of-control loud and frequently violent celebrations – reached a peak in the nineteenth century. In cities such as New York and Philadelphia, marked by sharp racial, ethnic, and economic divisions, Christmas was a time for dangerous mob actions. Working-class young men would get liquored up, dress up as women or put on blackface, hit the streets looking for trouble, and commit sundry crimes during the Holiday Season.