But by this time, the Puritans had established colonies in North America. The NewEngland colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut weredirectly established by the Puritans or Puritan-like groups, and the Puritan control of thecolleges and the religious leadership in the English colonies gave them an influence thatextended far beyond New England. The result? Christmas was not widely celebrated inthe English colonies in North America, or in the early United States.