CHRISTMAS SUMMARY
A Christian holiday honoring the birth of Jesus Christ, Christmas evolved over two millennia into a worldwide religious and secular celebration, incorporating many pre-Christian, pagan traditions into the festivities along the way. Today, Christmas is a time for family and friends to get together and exchange gifts.
In the Christian religion, Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ by the virgin Mary, which is observed on December 25 by Roman Catholics and Protestants. Many in the Eastern Orthodox branch of Christianity observe the Christmas holiday, Epiphany.Many people today, even Christians, celebrate Christmas with traditions such as Christmas trees and the figure of Santa Claus.The English word "Christmas" derives from the old English Christes maesse, meaning "Christ's mass." Christians have been celebrating Jesus' birth on December 25 since at least the early fourth century. The first evidence of its observance is in Rome in 336 AD. The earliest Christians do not appear to have commemorated the nativity, but only the baptism and resurrection of Christ and the deaths of the martyrs. In fact, some early Christians, most notably Origin of Alexandria , strongly opposed the celebration of Christ's birth. Pointing out that only Pharaoh and Herod celebrate their birthdays in the Bible, Origin argued that birthdays were for pagans, not Christians. Jehovah's Witnesses follow the same reasoning today in rejecting both Christmas and celebration of birthdays.
The Origins of ChristmasThe origins of Christmas go back to before the time of Christ when many ancient cultures celebrated the changing of the seasons. In the northern hemisphere in Europe, for example, the winter solstice, which was the shortest day of the year, occurs around Dec. 25. During this time, extreme celebration occurred, and for the most part, businesses and government shutdown. It was a time of pagan celebration with various forms of sinful behavior. These celebrations were based on the day where the cold winter days became shorter and shorter. Since during winter animals were penned, people stayed indoors, crops didn't grow, etc.,--to know that winter was half over and on its way out was a time of celebration.
In the ancient Roman system of religion, Saturn was the god of agriculture. Each year during the summer, the god, Jupiter, would force Saturn out of his dominant position in the heavenly realm, and the days would begin to shorten. In the temple to Saturn in Rome, the feet of Saturn were then symbolically bound with chains until the winter solstice when the length of days began to increase. It was this winter solstice, December 25, that was a time of celebration and exchange of gifts as the hardness of winter began to wane and the days grew longer. So, based on this celestial event, Saturnalia became a weeklong celebration that began on December 17 and ended on December 25. In addition, December 25 coincided the day of the birth of the sun-god named Phyrgia a culture in the ancient Balkans. In the Roman Empire, by the time of Christ, Saturnalia, winter festival, was well known and established. The Roman Church was unable to get rid of the pagan holiday. So early in the 4thCentury, the Roman Catholic Church, which was the dominant church in Europe, adopted the holiday and tried to convert into a Christian celebration by declaring December 25 to be the day of the Lord's birth. They called it the Feast of the Nativity. This custom has been part of western culture ever since. |