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| Why Do We Celebrate Christmas? |
| We celebrate Christmas as the birthday of Jesus Christ, even though scolars tell us there is no hard evidence that would let us know on what date Jesus was born. In fact, there is no certanty even about the year. Luke does give certain clues to the year. The appearance of the angel to Elizabeth happened to "in the days of Herod," and we know that Herod, the king of Judaea, died in March or April of 4 BC. Luke also tells us that shortly before Jesus' birth "there went out a decree from Caesar Agustus, that all the world should be taxed," and that this happened "when Cyrenius was governor of Syeria. " Records show that the only censwus taking place during the governorship of Quirnius (the accepted modern spelling of "Cyrenius") took place in 7-6 BC. Generally, modern scholarship places the virth of Christ in approximately 6 BC. This would be two years before the death of Herod. Since Matthew says Herod ordered the massacre of all male children under two yars of age in Bethlehem in an attempt to kill the Messiah, it would appear that Jesus was probably approaching two years of age before Herod died, meaning that Jesus was born at 6 BC. The year 6 BC would also accord roughly with Luke's statement that Jesus was about thirty years of age in "the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar" (Luke 3:1, 23), which would have been AD 27-28. The earliest reference to Christmas being celebrated on December 25 appeared in Antioch in the middle of the second century. As the Christian church was still a persecuted minority, no official determination was made until the fourth century, when the Roman emperor Constantine embraced Christianity, thereby ensuring its legality and eventual domination of Western culture. According to the Philocalian calendar, a Roman almanac of the year 336, December 25 was the date for the Nativity Feast, indicating the popuylar acceptance given that date. In 350, December 25 was finally declared officially to be Christmas by Pope Julius I. By the fifth century, Christmas had become so important in some church calendars that it was considered to be the beginning of the ecclesiastical year. In 529 the Emperor Justinian made December 25 a civic holiday, thereby prohibiting any work on that day. The Council of Tours in 567 established the period of Advent as a time of fasting before Christmas and proclaimed the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany a sacred, festive season. Many of the rites of Christmas were borrowed, adopted or simply carried over elements of other midwinter c elebrations. the time of the winter solstice has always been an important season in the mythology of all peoples. The sun the giver of life, is at its lowest ebb. It is shortest daylight of the yuear; the promise of spring is buried in cold and snow. It is the time when the forces of chaos that stand against the return of light and life must once again be defeated by the gods., At the low point of the solstice, the people must help the gods through imitativbe magic and religious ceremonies. The sun begins to return in triumph. The days lengthen and, though winter remains, spring is once again conceivable. For all people, it is a time of great festivity. In Mesopotamia, there was a year's-end celebration called Zagmuk. A criminal was set up as a mock king and eventually executed as a scapegoat for the people's sins of the previous year. In the Mesopotamian creation myth, the great god Marduk had subdued the monsters of chaos before th world began , but their restraint was loosened with the dying of the sun and they had to be conquered again at the end of each year. To help, a wooden image was made of his opponents by the Mesopotamiians and wqs burned in the great bonfire. It may well be this wooden image which traveled a circuitous route over the course of hundreds of years to become the Yule log of Northern celebrations. Persia and Babylonia also had solstice festivals, called Sacaea. Slaves and masters exchanged places Two criminals were chosen: one was set free, one was treated as king thewn executed. In Greek mythology, Zeus overthrew Kronos and the Titans at this time of year to establish his own reign. In Rome, Zeus became identified with Jupiter, Saturn established his realm in Italy. It was a time of great peace and prosperity known ever afterward as the Golden Age. Goodness and plenty were available for all. But the Golden Age didn't last. Saturn was forced out again by Jupiter. In his temple at Rome, the feet of Saturn were bound in chains all the year as a symbol of his defeat excedpt for one brief period. This was the Saturnalia, the celebration of the return of the Golden Age. The Saturnalia ran from December 17 to 24 and was followed shortly by the Kalends (first day of the month and was celebrated January 1-3) of January, which was also a great celebration. All buisinesses were closed except those that provided food for revelry. Slaves were made equal to masters or even set over them. Gambling, drinking, and feasting were encouraged. People exchanged gifts, called strenae, from the vegetation goddess Strenia, whom it was important to honor at midwinter. Originally these gifts were merely twigs from her sacred grove, but they later became fruits or cakes and finally small figurines and more elaborate gifts. Men dressed as women or in the hides of animals and caroused in the streets. Candles and lamps were used to frighten the spirits of darkness, which were powerful at this time of year. At its most decadent and barbaric, Saturanalia may have been the excuse among Roman soldiers in the East for the human sacrifice of the king of the revels. This however, was the extreme. Generally, Saturnalia was a boisterous, noisy and revel celebrating the Golden Age and helping to overcome the forces that threaten the earth at the sun's ebb. |
| Why December 25? |
| Saturnalia and the Kalends were the celebrations most familiar to early religious groups but the tradition of celebrating December 25 as Christ's birthday came to the Romans from Persia. Mithra, the Persian god of light and sacred contracts, was born out of a rock on December 25. Rome was famous for its flirtations with strange gods and cults, and in the third century the emperor Aurelian established the festival of Dies Invicti Solis, the Day of the Invincible Sun. On December 25. Mithra was an embodiment of the sun, so this period of its rebirth was a major day in Mithranism, which had become Rome's latest official religioun with the patronage of Aurelian. It is believed that the emperor Constantine adhered to Mithranism up to the time of his conversion to Christianity. He was probably instrumental in seeing that the major feast of his old religion was carried over to his new faith. Early religious groups were familiar with the symbolic identification of Christ with the Sun, as in Malachi 4:2" "But unto you that fear may name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings." It ws easy to replace the Invincible Sun symbolically with the new Sun of Righteousness, and most of the festivities were carried over whole into the new religion. |
| Yule |
| Finally, as the Roman faith was carried into the dark nights of Northern Europe, two important festivals celebrated by the Germanic and Celtic peoples of these lands found their way into the celebrationof Christmas. The first was generallyt in mid-November when the first snows covered the fields and made it difficult for herds to forage. Faced with the impossible task of finding food for all the herd throughout the winter, the barbarian Teutons and Celts made a delight of necessity with a great slaughter and feasting. In Decembner, ten to twelve days were set aside for celebrating the Julomond. The origins of the word JUL, which nbecame our familiar "Yule" remains shrouded in mystery. It may relate to the Germanic word Iul or Giul, which means "a turning wheel". This would relate to the turning of the seasons or the rising of the wheel of the sun. More probably it derives from the word Geola, which means "A feast" and was sometimes used to mean the whole month of December. In the celebraton of Jul, whest was worshipped and its products, bread and liquor distilled from the grains fo the field, were exchanged as gifts and heavily indulged in. In midwinter, the idea of rebirth and fertility was tremendously important. In the snows of winter, the evergreen was a symbol of the life that would return in the spring so evergreens were used for decoration. The boar, which was the symbol of Frey, a god of regeneration, was killed and eaten. Light was important in dispelling the growing darkness of the solstice, so the Yule log was lighted with the remains of the previous year's log. This was the background that the missionaries found as they moved north, starting in the fifth century. It was avery much like Rome with its Saturnalia as before, local customs were swallowed up into the practice of the new faith. The various saints' days festivities throughout November and December took on the aspects of the harvest feasts, and Christmas absorbed the characteristics of Jul. By the end of the ninth century, Christmas was observed throughout Europe wth feasting and celebration, the giving of presents, decorating with evergreens, light, and noise. As many customs lost their religious reasons for being, they passed into the realm of superstition, becoming good luck traditions and eventually merely enjoyable customs without rationale. Thus the mistletoe was no longer worshipped but tbecame eventually an excuse for rather nonrelitious activities. |
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