did the puritans ban christmas

Yes, the Puritans did indeed ban Christmas. They believed that celebrating the birth of Jesus was a pagan practice, and therefore, Christmas was considered sinful. The Puritans were a religious sect that wanted to purify the Church of England from what they saw as corrupt practices. They saw Christmas as a distraction from the true Christian faith, and so, they banned the holiday in the 17th century. This ban was eventually lifted in the 1800s, but Christmas was still seen as a holiday of sin and excess by many Puritans.