Puritan Life
Imagine being a Puritan teenager, waking up in a small confined home, shivering cold in the middle of winter. Your have no nice winter clothes to wear, so you put on your usual day outfit, and head downstairs for breakfast. There’s not much to eat, but you make the most of it.
In less than an hour, you’ll have to go to school, or church, but if you’re a girl, you’d better stay home and work or god will punish you! How would it feel to be in these shoes? To have the same events occur every day? Not much changed in a Puritan’s life, just church, school, and chores. Explorers could break from daily tasks, but for teenagers especially life was very boring and hard as a Puritan. I myself tried to be a Puritan for a day, but it is quite inevitable to believe people could live as such. Unlike today, they did not have any electronics or good food(or processed) to eat, and if being in the colonial time period isn’t enough, a Puritan had strict rules to obey by. In the modern world a lot of people value their electronics and processed food.
Not that any of it is bad, but without it in the Puritan world life was indeed very boring. Think about this. A common citizen in the U.S. is on his computer every day just for fun, while a Puritan girl is at home doing chores all day partly because there is nothing better to do. What would you do if you had no electronics? Leading into no modern items, the Colonial time period was very drastic.
Scientists and doctors had yet discovered cures for many diseases, people thought bathing was bad for your health, and constant attacks came from many indian tribes. To live in the new America was incredibly difficult, and the Puritans tried. But their religion could only make it harder. Puritans had strict rules on behavior. On a document called “The twelve good rules of Puritan Behavior,” There are, as said, twelve rules that probit Puritans from doing certain activities.
Due to believes, most children rarely ever played or had free time for themselves. Nearly everything you did had to be in order with god or you were punished. Puritans believed in an angry god, and in order to get into heaven you had to be a perfect example. Because of beliefs, Puritans had to have an unsatisfying life. That’s just about how life was back then. A dreaded, horrible mess.
Not many Puritans actually enjoyed their life, only being selfish about getting themselves into heaven. It must have been truly terrible, as seen on this document, but if you don’t believe me, try acting like a Puritan for a day. Take my word for it, it will not be easy!
