The San Bernardino Sun Newspaper: “Thou shalt not hold the Rose Parade on a Sunday”

The San Bernardino Sun is a daily newspaper that services San Bernardino County, Riverside County, and the Inland Empire County in Southern California. On December 12, 2022, The San Bernardino Sun published an article titled “Why the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl are on Jan. 2 in 2023.” The Tournament of Roses Parade, one of the most well-known parades in the world, ushers in the new year. This parade always takes place on January 1st, followed by the highly anticipated Rose Bowl Football Game. However, since January 1, 2023, falls on Sunday, the San Bernardino Sun reports that the Tournament of Roses Parade and the scheduled football game will instead be held on Monday, January 2, 2023, in keeping with a long-standing tradition that says these events cannot take place on Sunday, the “Lord’s Day.”

The San Bernardino Sun reported:

• “Thou shalt not hold the Rose Parade on a Sunday.” [1]

• “Thus spake Tournament of Roses officials in 1893, the first time New Year’s Day fell on the Lord’s Day. That year, organizers decided to move the New Year’s festivities to Jan. 2 in order to avoid frightening horses tied outside local churches and disrupting worship services.” [1]

• “In keeping with this tradition, the 134th Rose Parade and 109th Rose Bowl game will be held on Monday, Jan. 2, 2023.” [1]

The “Tournament House,” the organizational headquarters for the Tournament of Roses Parade, established a “Never on Sunday” policy that dates back to 1893, when Sunday laws were thriving across the nation. This rule, according to the Los Angeles Times, was put in place to prevent the Rose Parade from obstructing Sunday worship:

• “The Rose Parade is an event tethered to traditions — the Tournament House, the Royal Court, and its strict ‘Never on Sunday’ policy. The policy dates to 1893, when officials decided to move the parade to Jan. 2 because New Year’s Day fell on a Sunday. The festivities, they decided, disrupted local church services.” [2]

The primary justification for not holding the Tournament of Roses Parade on a Sunday was that it ought to be a day of rest and worship, and noisy parades would disrupt those activities. The San Bernardino Sun added that it was morally wrong to interfere with Sunday worship because this would go against “the Lord’s Day.” As a result, there is a long-standing custom known as “Never on Sunday” that prohibits the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl on the Lord’s Day.

Is it wrong to play games on Sunday? Where do we look for answers? We can only turn to the Bible as the only reliable source of truth. So, what does God’s word say about parades and playing games on Sunday? Absolutely nothing. The Bible does instruct us to keep God’s Sabbath day holy in the Fourth Commandment (Exodus 20:8–11). But which day is this referring to? Not Sunday. The seventh day, or Saturday, is specifically mentioned as God’s Sabbath.

Unfortunately, “Never on Sunday” is regaining popularity in America and around the world, and these policies are only based on tradition, not on the inspired word of God. The following summary demonstrates how the entire Christian world has turned away from the Bible and is instead exalting tradition over the Holy Scriptures:

“The Protestants claim to stand upon the written word only. They profess to hold the Scripture alone as the standard of faith. They justify their revolt by the plea that the (Roman Catholic) Church has apostatized from the written word and follows tradition. Now the Protestant’s claim, that they stand upon the written word only is not true. Their profession of holding the Scripture alone as the standard of faith, is false. PROOF: The written word explicitly enjoins the observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath. They do not observe the seventh day, but reject it. If they do truly hold the Scripture alone as their standard, they would be observing the seventh day as is enjoined in the scripture throughout. Yet they not only reject the observance of the Sabbath enjoined in the written word, but they have adopted and do practice the observance of Sunday, for which they have only the tradition of the Church. Consequently the claim of ‘Scripture alone as the standard.’ fails; and the doctrine of ‘Scripture and tradition’ as essential, is fully established.” [3]

Sources

[1] https://www.sbsun.com/2022/12/12/why-the-rose-parade-and-rose-bowl-are-on-jan-2-in-2023/

[2] https://www.latimes.com/socal/glendale-news-press/news/tn-gnp-1127-never-on-sunday-for-rose-parade-story.html

[3] https://www.romeschallenge.com/