Ordinary Banana

"The New England Way was distinguished by its exceptional austerity . . . It claimed to be a religion without ritual, but in fact it replaced one set of rituals with another." Puritanism, the first Brutalist religion and I mean that to denigrate both

"From the outside, [Puritan churches] made a grim appearance. The walls were rough, unpainted clapboards . . . The interiors were very plain . . . the congregation sat before the pulpit on backless benches." OG Brutalism

"An important part of every service was a ritual of purification. Members of the Congregation . . . were compelled to rise and 'take shame upon themselves' . . . Occasionally, they were compelled literally to crawl before the congregation." folkways endure

Along with its intense religiosity and social control New England was by far the best-educated region which should give you pause if you think schooling is generally likely to result in some kind of liberal free-thinking

Puritans also established the first US public schools, probably the blackest mark on their record

"Sexual intercourse was taboo on the Lord's Day. The Puritans believed that children were born on the same day of the week as when they had been conceived. Unlucky infants who entered the world on the Sabbath were sometimes denied baptism."

"Throughout the Western world in the seventeenth century . . . twice as many conceptions occurred in the peak month of April as in the summer months." Woh (this pattern was absent in New England)