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Did the Puritans Have Fun? Leisure, Recreation and the Concept of Pleasure in Early New England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2009

Bruce C. Daniels
Bruce C. Daniels
Affiliation:
Bruce C. Daniels is Professor of History at theUniversity of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3B 2E9, Canada.
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Extract

As any parent or pet-owner knows, play seems to be a natural part of life. Dogs and cats wrestle, chase their tails, and scamper in races; monkeys, fish, and birds dance; children make toys out of any nearby prop. Play is older than man and seems to be one of the inevitable characteristics that evolution has built into all beings above the level of the most basic species. Both quiet play and active play – leisure and recreation – have a therapeutic effect that make creatures seek them. Play is ubiquitous psychologists say, because fun is essential in order to do the serious things of life – work, survive, reproduce, and live in social groups. Why then does it jar our sensibilities to think of Puritans playing and having fun? Why is it necessary to remind people – to persuade them against their instinctive reaction – that the religious settlers of colonial New England sought relaxation and pleasure in their lives? Many societies past and present have reputations for restrictive views of the pursuit of pleasure, but few peoples conjure up as strong an image of asceticism as the Puritans do.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of American Studies , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , April 1991 , pp. 7 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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References

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