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What do Friends (Quakers) think about Christmas? Do they celebrate it and, if so, how? At the time of year this article is being published, these are questions people may have about Friends. To try to answer them, I did some research into Quaker sources and solicited comments and experiences from other Friends.
Testimony on Holy Days
In the major published sources readily available to me, I found no statement from any of the first generation of Friends explaining their testimony regarding "Christmas" and other days on the church calendar. However, I did find the following reference in the Journal of George Fox, often considered the founder of Quakerism:
When the time called Christmas came, while others were feasting and sporting themselves I looked out poor widows from house to house, and gave them some money.
This quote is about his early years, before the Quaker period. The reference to "the time called Christmas" implies that it was so called by others, not himself. The main concern here seems to be about frivolous amusements, and his attitude at this early point in his life may well reflect his Puritan upbringing.
It seems the general consensus of those knowledgeable about Friends history that there was long a testimony against the celebration of special days. Friends schools remained open on Christmas day, and Friends in business were expected to keep their shops open. Their attitude on this is probably well reflected in the following 1993 statement by a tiny group of "Primitive Friends:"
As we hold that one day is no more holy than another, as all days are the gift of the most High, do we continue to maintain a firm Christian witness that our members do not join in any public fasts, feasts, so-called holy-days and religious festivals (such as times called "Christmas" and "Easter" by some); for though exterior observances of a similar kind were once authorised under the law, as shadows of things to come, yet they who come to Christ will we believe assuredly find that in him all shadows end.
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