Today in Salem: It’s Easter Sunday, but not for the Puritans. While the Anglicans in Boston are celebrating the resurrection, Rev Parris is preaching about “dreadful witchcraft broke out here a few weeks past.”
Sitting in the women’s side of the Meeting House, the nervous Sarah Cloyce is clasping a piece of cloth to stop her hands from shaking. She is angrier than she’s ever been. Her sister, the beloved Rebecca Nurse, is in jail, sharing a cell with the gospel woman Martha Corey. Both are full members of the church, and both have been accused of witchcraft. So when Rev Parris says there are two “vehemently suspected” witches, Sarah knows exactly who he’s talking about, as does everyone else.
But then Parris starts talking about the traitor Judas Iscariot, and reads Christ’s words from the Bible. “Have I not chosen you twelve,“ Parris reads, “and one of you is a Devil?”
Sarah doesn’t remember unclasping her hands, or standing up in the middle of the sermon, or running past her husband and out of the Meeting House. All she remembers is the thundering slam of the door as she pulls it shut behind her.
WHO was Sarah Cloyce?
Age 50-55, née Towne. With Rebecca Nurse and Mary Esty, Sarah was one of three sisters to be arrested for witchcraft. Her dramatic exit from church – complete with a slammed door – can be thought of as the first public protest against the trials.
Popular myth says that Sarah’s husband helped her escape from prison; that they spent the winter living in a cave while they built a house. This myth probably grew out of people misinterpreting the phrase “escaped execution.”
The truth is that Sarah stayed in jail and was released after the trials ended, thereby escaping execution. Once released, she and her husband moved first to Boston and then to Framingham, where they built a house on Salem End Road. Case files: Sarah Cloyce
LEARN MORE: Why didn’t Puritans celebrate Easter? Did they celebrate other holidays?
The Puritans believed that the Church of England was too much like the Catholic Church. They wanted to purify the church (hence the name “Puritan”), and remove everything that even smelled of Catholicism, especially practices that didn’t come directly from the Bible. Therefore, since “Easter” isn’t mentioned in the Bible, they believed it was a Catholic invention, and therefore it was a sin to celebrate it. They also banned Christmas, and anyone who celebrated it paid a fine of five shillings.
So what holidays did the Puritans celebrate? Only four:
Election Day – When colonists elected their local leaders. Some people had to travel quite far, and might stay overnight. It was a festive day, and celebrations sometimes included rum, gingerbread, and fruitcake. The Puritan ministers didn’t entirely approve; in fact one prominent minister wrote that Election Day had become a time “to meet, to smoke, carouse and swagger and dishonor God with the greater bravery.”
Commencement Day – The day when ministerial students graduated from Harvard. It was a day of pride, and dinner, wine, and commencement cake were served. This holiday was typically celebrated in Cambridge by other ministers and notables.
Thanksgiving – As most Americans know, the first Thanksgiving was celebrated in Plymouth by the Pilgrims. But it didn’t become an official U.S. holiday until Abraham Lincoln was president, 240 years later. Before that, Puritans could declare a Thanksgiving any time there was something to be thankful for. During the year of the Salem Witchcraft Trials, the governor declared a day of Thanksgiving in July for his own safe arrival from England.
Training Day – The militia’s public display of firing guns, shooting cannons, and other military exercises. Prayers were offered before and after, followed by a festive dinner.