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The Puritan Attack on Popular Pastimes - Coggle Diagram
The Puritan Attack on Popular Pastimes
Elizabethan Merrymaking
Parish feasts/ Parish ales
Festivals to celebrate the saint of the local parish church
Procession plays - Morris dancing, bull-baiting, cock-fighting, eating and drinking
The alehouse
At the centre of village life for the middling sort and labouring poor
Numbers of alehouses in towns also increased after 1580
Beer, sing-songs, good company, gambling, prostitution were all available at the alehouse
Sports
Violent and cruel sports were popular - football was most popular
Bare-knuckle boxing, wrestling and cudgel fighting with sticks
Bear, bull and badger baiting involved tying an animal up to be attacked by dogs. People bet on the outcome
'Throwing at cocks'
Calendar customs - linked to religious and farming calendar
Twelve days of Christmas - feasting, singing and dancing with 'mumming plays'
Shrove Tuesday - day of feasting before Lent
Whitsun - popular time for parish ales and rush bearing - when rushes spread on floor of the parish church
May Day - Maypoles put up on village green in May
Midsummer's Eve - bonfires and ales
Harvest Home - end of farming year in August - feasting
Merrymaking declined at the end of Elizabeth's rule due to Puritan influence
These pastimes were in decline even at the start of Elizabeth's reign
Some areas continued traditional festivities, but by the end of Elizabeth's rule places had fewer parish feasts, May games and Morris dancing
Puritanism was a key cause In the decline of Elizabethan merrymaking
Puritans thought the activities were wrong. Puritan minister condemned them in preaching and pamphlets
Puritan ministers worked with local gentry to ban these events
Where Puritans were in charge of local government there was the greatest decline in festivals
Puritans curbed merrymaking as they sought 'godly lives' - they believed this was the way that people would get to Heaven
Why did Puritans curb merrymaking
Protect the sabbath
Puritans believed that Sundays should be for rest and prayer. They wanted to stop people from drinking, dancing and merrymaking on the Sundays
Stopping Catholic practices
Puritans objected to some popular customs as they were associated with Catholic Church which existed in England before the Reformation
Stopping pagan practices
Some popular festivities like Christmas candles, feasting, mumming, maypoles and Midsummer bonfires could be traced all the way back to pagan times. Puritans felt they were not appropriate to Christian communities
Preventing disorder
Sometimes unruly crowds at popular festivities became violent and disorderly. The Puritans were concerned about this as they were trying to create 'godly communities'
Preventing unwanted pregnancies
Puritan ministers complained that dancing and drunkenness could lead people to the sin of sex outside marriage. The May Games were a traditional time for love-making and were a particular focus of complaint