How Unitarians and Universalists Helped to Invent “The Holidays” in the U.S.

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UU World Magazine, December 2025

Black and white pen and ink drawing of a decorated Christmas tree. Three adults - a man and two women - five children are standing in front of the tree, looking at it and each other. The caption at the bottom reads "The Christmas Tree"
Godey’s Lady’s Book, December 1850

As we close out 2025, the year that marked the 200th anniversary of the founding of the American Unitarian Association, we wanted to take a few minutes to reflect on the important role that Unitarians and Universalists – and Unitarian Universalists (UU) – played in creating what we think of as “the holidays” in the United States. And as members of the faith tradition have done throughout history, we were not surprised to learn that the denomination’s shared values and strong principles have helped to shape traditions both inside Unitarian Universalism and out.

It is true that Universalists and Unitarians played an integral role specifically in influencing how the Christmas holiday is celebrated – or even that it is celebrated at all. During the 17th and most of the 18th centuries, the English Puritan settlers who colonized New England had been largely successful in eliminating Christmas as a festival. But starting in the late 18th century, first the Universalists and then the Unitarians reintroduced it to the region. This is according to The Battle for Christmas, by Stephen Nissenbaum, professor emeritus of history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst:

Largely a rural sect, Universalists openly celebrated Christmas from the earliest stages of their existence in New England. The Universalist community in Boston held a special Christmas Day service in 1789, even before their congregation was officially organized, and in the early nineteenth century it was this denomination that proselytized for Christmas more actively than any other. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE