Prior to the Reformation of 1560, Christmas in Scotland, then called "Yule" (alternative spellings include Yhoill, Yuil, Ȝule and Ȝoull; see Yogh) or in Gaelic-speaking areas "Nollaig", was celebrated in a similar fashion to the rest of Catholic Europe. Calderwood recorded that in 1545, a few months before his murder, Cardinal Beaton had "passed over the Christmasse dayes with games and feasting".[citation needed] However, the Reformation transformed attitudes to traditional Christian feasting days, including Christmas, and led in practice to the abolition of festival days and other church holidays,[1][2] the Kirk and the state being closely linked in Scotland during the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period. A 1640 Act of the Parliament of Scotland abolished the "Yule vacation and all observation thereof in time coming".
- ^ Ross, Anthony (Autumn 1959). "Reformation and Repression". The Innes Review. 10 (2). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press: 338–381. doi:10.3366/inr.1959.10.2.338. ISSN 0020-157X. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
- ^ Christmas in Scotland: Christmas Around the World. World Book. 2001. pp. 23. ISBN 978-0-7166-0860-8.