Comments on: Old Calendarists in Appalachia

By: Rod Bennett

Rod Bennett — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:21:16 +0000

The anti-papal explanation sounds right to me, Joseph. Most all of the Appalachain mountaineers were (and are) of Scotch-Irish Calvinist descent (myself included!)…and actually were 5-pointers themselves during the 18th century. Just exactly the sort of people who’d thumb their noses at Rome in this way.

By: Michael PS

Michael PS — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 11:11:26 +0000

In some parts of Scotland, notably South Uist, Oidhche Chullaig – New Year’s Eve, or Hogmanay is still celebrated on 14 January

By: John Crowley

John Crowley — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 00:41:59 +0000

In Clinch County, Georgia in the 1970s, my girlfriend mentioned that her grandmother would not allow anyone to work on Old Christmas.

By: Ten Things You Should Know About Advent | Big Pulpit

Ten Things You Should Know About Advent | Big Pulpit — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 00:02:52 +0000

[...] Old Calendarists in Appalachia – Tristyn Bloom, First Things/First Thoughts [...]

By: pentamom

pentamom — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 21:08:26 +0000

Good point — in rereading the post I started wondering about the “Pope” explanation since the decree came from the King, long before there was much of an independence movement. The frontier explanation makes a lot more sense, but I can see the “Pope” explanation gaining post hoc currency.

By: Joseph B. Howard

Joseph B. Howard — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:43:08 +0000

Growing up, I heard some folks around my grandparents farm refer to “new Christmas.” I don’t think any of them had a particular vendetta against it, and all celebrated it (except for a few staunch reformed folks who didn’t believe in observing the times or seasons etc…).

I think the survival of the terminology has a lot more to do with the fact that folks were on the frontier when the change was implemented by the English government and they simply kept the older referents around longer than it does with any antipathy for the Pope (since it wasn’t the Pope who would’ve been telling English colonists to move to a new Calendar, this smells like an explanation after the fact… you know, how some protestants claim that Catholics added to the Bible, or the Seventh Day Adventists talk about Sunday worship etc…)

By: pentamom

pentamom — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 16:55:10 +0000

They refuse to honor a calendar change decreed by a Pope, so they stick with the one decreed by a pagan emperor in honor of the gods.