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Article: COTTON MATHER WAS RIGHT.(Editorial)
- Article from:
- The Cincinnati Post (Cincinnati, OH)
- Article date:
- December 23, 2003
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Cincinnati Post. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Dialog LLC by Gale Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Ellen Goodman
BOSTON -- We now arrive at that annual moment of holiday panic. The seconds are ticking on the last-minute catalogs. You are actually considering paying $15.48 to overnight an $11 paperback.
Well, usually when Christmas angst comes around, I say don't blame me, I'm from Massachusetts. Or at least Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The same commonwealth that may soon permit gay marriages once banned a Merry Christmas. In the 1640s, mince pies and plum puddings were forbidden. In 1659, the Puritans ruled that celebrating Christmas was a criminal offense. The big moment was in 1711, when our guy Cotton Mather gave his congregation a ...