Tis The Season

‘Tis the season.

Since this is my December blog I thought I should do something a little holidayish. My blogs have been about my views on education issues or my far-flung opinions on politics but for this one, since it is that time of year I thought I would write about Christmas itself. Growing up Catholic with a mom who adored Christmas so much that it was HER that found it hard to sleep on Christmas night and was usually the one getting the family up on Christmas morning, I too, have a strong affinity for Christmas. My wife tells people that I have accumulated so many Christmas decorations over the past 45 years that our house looks like it “threw-up Christmas”. Well, it is true. I do love Christmas and everything that comes with it- even the hustle and bustle of the season. So, with my passion for Christmas plus my almost insatiable appetite for anything and all things history, it just made sense to me to write a post about how the Christmas we know today came to be. Hope you enjoy.

The Reason for The Season

We’ve heard it before, “Jesus is the Reason for The Season”. Indeed, the very word “CHRISTMAS” comes from the high mass of the Catholic Church celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. It was the Mass of Christ, hence the name Christmas. So, is December 25^th the day that Jesus Christ was born? Honestly, we don’t know. The Bible, while having several stories in it concerning the birth of Christ, never gives a date for his birth. Employing historical thinking skills (see history is useful) we can make an educated guess, assuming the Bible stories are fairly accurate in their description of the time, that he was born sometime in the spring. The Bible tells of shepherds sleeping under the stars tending their flock and caring for their newborn lambs. We know that the desert would be too cold for shepherds to sleep under the stars at night in the winter and that lambs are born in the spring, not in the winter. Therefore, using the stories in the Bible about the birth of Christ, we can reasonably assume that he was born in the spring as opposed to December 25^th. So, the question begs; How did December 25^th come to celebrated as the birthday of Jesus Christ?

The Pagans and the Christians

As with many of the cherished traditions of the Christmas season that we now view as being unquestionable “Christmas”, most have been adopted from pagan traditions and incorporated into the Christian faith and holiday. The reason for this is very simple and pragmatic. As the Christians were trying to convert the European continent from their pagan religions to Christianity the Christian missionaries kept running into a very vexing problem. They found that in many cases the pagans were more than willing to adopt the new Christian religion but were unwilling to give up many of their pagan traditions and holidays. It seems that pagans found early Christianity a bit drab and boring. So, to overcome this obstacle, the Christian missionaries simply found a way to incorporate these pagan traditions and holidays into Christianity. December 25^th is one of the earliest and best examples of this.

The European pagan religions had always held some sort of Winter Solstice celebration full of drink and great feasts and gatherings. In the Roman Empire, they would celebrate the Roman God Saturn during a weeklong celebration known as “Saturnalia”. This week of festive reveling and feasting would begin on December 21^st  and featured elite Romans giving gifts of charity to the less fortunate as well as bestowing gifts and gratitude among each other. In ancient Persia, the pagans there celebrated the birth of their Sun God Mithra on the 25^th of December. They also called the day he was born as the “Day of The Sun” hence the day SUNDAY was born.

Being well aware of these celebrations and how important and enjoyable they were to pagans, but also finding that many were willing to convert to Christianity if only there were some incentive, Christian missionaries began to adopt these pagan traditions into Christianity.

For the European pagans and Romans, the Christians adopted the great gatherings and feasts that were so prominent and important to these people in late December during the Winter Solstice. However, instead of celebrating the Winter Solstice and Saturn, these feasts and gatherings would celebrate the birth of the Christian savior, Jesus Christ. Gift giving was still encouraged and welcome, however, this would in remembrance of the gifts bestowed upon Christ by the Three Wise Men rather than in celebration of a pagan god. Charity towards the less fortunate was encouraged because this is a reflection of Christ’s life work rather than an offering to Saturn. To convert the Persian pagans, Christian missionaries chose December 25^th was the day of the birth of the Christian messiah, not the birthday of the Sun God Mithra. The Bible never gives a date for the birth of Jesus which means it is entirely possible that it could very well have been on the 25^th of December. You can continue to celebrate that day as you normally would do, the Persians were told, but now you would be celebrating the birth of Christ. All of these adoptions and incorporations worked exceedingly well as Christianity began to rapidly sweep across Europe and the Roman Empire as well as making significant inroads into the Persian world. Christianity began to flourish.

Greenery and Lights

As Christianity pushed further north into Europe it began to encounter new pagan groups who were, all at once, suspicious, interested and hostile towards this new religion. Again, as a way to overcome these obstacles, Christian missionaries began to adopt many of these pagan traditions into Christianity and one of its holiest days.

These Germanic tribes also observed the Winter Solstice and celebrated mightily in late December. However, these tribes would go into the forest and cut down an evergreen tree as well as other greenery and bring it into their lodges and homes as a reminder that spring would soon be here to chase away the darkness of winter. They would decorate the branches of the tree with various trinkets and offerings hoping to please the gods and thus bring about an early end to winter. These tribes would also frequently attach candles to the branches of the trees so as to chase away the demons that accompanied the darkness of winter. Often times a Yule Log would be a centerpiece at this time for these Germanic tribes. A Yule Log was a large log that had been blessed by a pagan priest to be placed into the fireplace and be burned continuously over the course of several days to illuminate the dark and chase away the evil spirits. All of these traditions were important to the pagan people in North-Central Europe and proved to be an obstacle to converting many of them to Christianity. Understanding how well it worked before to adopt traditions into Christianity rather than try to quash these traditions, Christians looked for ways to adopt these traditions as symbols of the faith.

Continue to bring the evergreens into your house during the Winter Solstice, these Germanic tribes were told, as it represents the eternal and life of Jesus Christ. For just as these trees do not die in the depths and darkness of winter, neither does the life or teachings of Jesus Christ. Continue to decorate the trees with ornaments as it represents the gifts to mankind and the everlasting goodness of the Christian God. Continue to illuminate and warm your homes with the Yule Log and candles as it is a representation of the Light of God. And yes, of course, continue to feast, revel and drink as you have always done. And Christianity continued to flourish.

Interestingly enough, the “Christmas Tree” remained very much a German tradition until the 1840’s. It was during this time that the husband of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, who was born and raised in Germany introduced the Christmas tree to England, putting one in the royal palace in London. A postcard was circulated showing the beloved royal family gathered around the tree and a tradition was born. The tradition reached the US in the 1850’s when the same postcard was circulated, but without any depiction of the royal family so that the concept would look “American”. Huh! Isn’t history fascinating?

Saint Nicholas

Of all the traditions and imagery of Christmas, this one may be the only one that is truly, uniquely and wholly Christian without any rooting in pagan traditions.

St. Nicholas was a Christian missionary from present-day Turkey during the 4^th century. His parents were very wealthy and died while he was fairly young. Nicholas was a very devout Christian and used his family’s enormous wealth to benefit those in need. One of our most cherished Christmas traditions is firmly rooted in the most famous tale of St. Nicholas’ kindness. It seems as though there was a very poor man with three daughters who wished to get married, however, this man being very poor, could not offer any dowry thus meaning that his daughters could not get married. One night St. Nicholas, being from a very wealthy family, dropped a bag of gold down this man’s chimney so that he could have a dowry to marry off one of his daughters. This bag of gold happened to land into the sock which had been hung by the fire to dry. No one knew for sure where the gold had come from but most suspected it was from St. Nicholas. Henceforth, during the early days of Christianity, it became very popular among Christians to leave food and small playthings beside the fireside for children to find on Christmas morning. The explanation for the gifts being that St. Nicholas must have visited during the night.

With the Reformation in the 16^th century, the stories of St. Nicholas fell out of favor, after all, no good God-fearing Protestant could ever honor any Catholic person or tradition, no matter how appealing they may be. However, the problem persisted, the children still needed gifts delivered on Christmas morning. So, the British created their own version of St. Nicholas; Father Christmas. The Germans created the child “Christkind” who apparently at some point and time grew up to become “Kris Kringle”. The Dutch created “Sinterklaas” Eventually the Dutch version of Sinterklaas became Americanized into our modern-day Santa Claus. And a legend was born.

Early on, this gift-bearer for children was depicted as a rather tall, skinny raggedy man, almost like a beggar, roaming the countryside distributing gifts. However, the 1823 poem “A Visit From St. Nick” re-imagined this bedraggled legendary man as a plump, jolly elf. The most prominent and influential political cartoonist of all time, Thomas Nast, gave us our first true definitive visual of our modern-day Santa Claus and in the early 1900’s Coca-Cola refined the image even more. And now this home invading, cookie eating behemoth visits every mall in the western world during the month of December and is to small children what Taylor Swift is to 12 and 13-year-old girls.

Puritans, The New World and Christmas
Christmas had a very rough beginning in what would become the United States. In the 1600's as the Puritans and Pilgrims (they are two very different groups and neither really appreciated the other) began to populate the New England area with various settlements, they had a very stern anti-Christmas view of this now well established European holiday. So much so, that they passed laws expressly forbidding the celebration of Christmas.

Puritans and Pilgrims sought to live very simply and live as closely to the tenets of the Bible as possible. Anything beyond what was contained in the Bible was sinful and against the word of God, in fact, it may very well be the work of Satan on Earth! Since the Bible never gave a date for the birth of Christ and it certainly never suggested that this date should be celebrated in any way, then Christmas obviously was ungodly and evil. Any recognition would not and could not be tolerated. It was obvious, in their eyes, that any revelry was the work of Satan as a way to draw you from the word of God towards evil, especially a "fake" celebration such as the fictitious birthdate of Jesus Christ. Merriment led to sin, sin led to eternal hell and damnation. Scary stuff.

So to avoid sin, damnation and the welcoming of the Devil into their lives and communities, early Puritans and Pilgrim settlements passed laws against the recognition or celebration of Christmas. The punishments for violating this holy law varied from being placed in the stocks for a period of time, to banishment from the community to hanging in severe cases (although there are no records of anyone receiving that sentence for celebrating Christmas). Puritans and Pilgrims were a rather morose bunch.

Over time, fewer and fewer young people wanted to be a Puritan or Pilgrim. Most young people found their beliefs too restrictive, too judgmental, too preachy, too boring and just not very appealing in general. As their numbers began to steadily drop as the 1700's approached, their laws and beliefs became less restrictive and judgmental. One of the first things to change was the recognition of Christmas. Young people have always enjoyed a good party and fun while children enjoy the prospect of receiving presents. Christmas was no longer taboo in the New World but was now in fact warmly and enthusiastically embraced. 

So, there you have it. A brief history of the Christmas that we all know and (for the most part) enjoy at this time of year. While it is ostensibly a Christian holiday, much of how Christmas looks have been cobbled together from many pagan traditions and repackaged into Christian representations. Many different traditions, cultures, and beliefs were combined into one holiday and perhaps that is what makes this the greatest holiday of them all. It can be all things to all people. For Christians, it is the celebration of the birth of the central figure in the Christian religion. For the non-Christian or simply the non-religious it is a day of good cheer and fellowship. For all, it is an opportunity to come together and celebrate our relationships as well as the opportunity to show our gratitude and love for one another. Yes, Christmas is a wondrous, wonderful day indeed.

God bless us all, everyone.

Merry Christmas.