for another 800 years. In 1223, St Francis of Assisi originated the manger scene based on his interpretation of some little-known ecclesiastical customs. Somewhere around this time, the donkey that Mary rode to Bethlehem emerged as a character in the Nativity.
But, from its inception, there was dissension within the Church about Christmas celebrations. For centuries, many conservative church leaders condemned the revelry and aggressively criticized the endorsement of the sun-worshippers traditions. When the Orthodox pilgrims migrated to the Americas in 1620, Christmas revelry and symbolism were outlawed. Back in England in 1645, Oliver Cromwell and his Puritans succeeded in outlawing “the heathen traditions” of Christmas celebrations throughout England. When Charles II returned to the English throne in 1660, he restored the popular holiday, but the custom had only scattered endorsement throughout the American colonies. After the Revolutionary War, many English customs, including the celebration of Christmas, fell out of favor entirely and didn’t begin to re-emerge in the United State until the 1800s.
When Americans did finally begin to embrace Christmas as a family holiday, old customs were unearthed. In the next 100 years, Americans built a Christmas tradition all their own that included pieces of many other customs, including decorating trees, sending holiday cards, gift-giving and the early Christian traditions and stories. In 1836, Alabama became the first state in the US to declare Christmas a legal holiday, but it wasn’t until 1907 that Oklahoma finally joined the club and became the last state to do so. Christmas was declared an official US holiday in 1870. The first “official” use of Christmas decorations to lure