Why Massachusetts Banned This Once-Popular Christmas Pie

Pie isn't one of my favorite desserts. Ok, yes, it is, but I usually only have pie around the holidays. Is it me, or are there more varieties of pies at the holidays than at any other time of year?

We buy holiday pies based on the preferences of our guests. For example, my father-in-law loves Boston cream at Thanksgiving, so we buy one. Other guests tend to prefer apple, pumpkin and even pecan pie. We make sure they are on the table.

Christmas pies are much the same as those served at Thanksgiving, except one: mince, or mincemeat, pie.

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Mincemeat pie is a sweet pie brought to the New World by the English. The pie is a mixture of fruit, spices (cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg) and suet. Suet is the raw, hard fat of beef or lamb. Sounds yummy, no?

Mincemeat pie may have originated in 13th-century Europe. It should have stayed there.

The New England Historical Society's website says, "On May 11, 1659, the Massachusetts Puritans banned Christmas and ordered anyone caught celebrating to pay a fine of five shillings."

"That meant no mincemeat pie during what used to be the Yuletide season," according to the Historical Society. Mincemeat pie "held a special place" at Christmastime.

But the site says, "Myth and superstition had grown up around the holiday treat, and the Puritans would have none of it." The Puritans referred to mincemeat pie as "idolatrie in a crust."

Celebrating Christmas was eventually made legal in Massachusetts again, and one would assume mincemeat pie was as well since though not as popular as pumpkin or squash pie, it is available at most bake shops during the Christmas season.