On Christmas: Calvin versus the Puritans?
The old academic argument of profound differences between Calvin and the Calvinists is one that has been shown to be much overblown. But in one area, that argument does hold water and that has to do with the celebration of Christmas (and Easter and Pentecost). The Puritans, by and large rejected the observance of these feasts. As one radical Puritan, Robert Browne (sometimes known to his contemporaries as “Troublechurch Browne) put it, they are mere dung from Baal! But such was not Calvin’s take on these festivals at all.
John Calvin was not slow to celebrate Christmas. While he was critical of the way in which Christmas celebrations could be marked by excess and inappropriate festivities, he was profoundly committed to the marking of Nativity of Christ's in the worship life of the church. Calvin wanted to reaffirm the festival as an occasion for joy.
He thus interrupted his regular practice of preaching through the books of the Bible with sermons on the Nativity and the Passion of Christ. It seems evident that he considered Christmas a holy day and emphasized the transformative joy of the festival. He did emphasize that celebrating Christmas was a matter for each local church to decide, but as for he and his church in Geneva, they would corporately rejoice in the birth of the Saviour.
I deem this an important matter since Calvin and the Puritans both affirmed the regulative principle of worship. Obviously, that principle admits of different ways of implementation.