Re: Origins of Christmas
Nadia_H, I past an essay that I think clarify a lot of your questions. For myself: I don’t celebrate Christmas because of it’s possible pagan origen - not wanting to give it any status as such, and also because of the commercialism attached to the day. I don’t condemn those that do celebrate it in any way either.
BTW: VERY sorry for the long quote, I did shorten it some though. :flower2:
Origin of Christmas Customs
By Pastor William Mark Bristow
Origin of St. Nicholas
Every year Christians ask me, “Should I celebrate with all the traditional customs of Christmas? They all seem so materialistic. Aren’t some of these customs really pagan?” So every year, I endeavor to bring out a few facts from our Christian heritage. Let’s start with the real shocker – There really was a Santa Claus (however, he is not the one that people know today). The real Santa Claus was a PREACHER!! Yes Sir! His name was St. Nicholas and he lived and worked as the Bishop of a little town of Myra, (now in the country of Turkey). Tradition says he was born in Patara, a seaport, and traveled to Egypt and Palestine as a young man. Eventually he became bishop of the church at Myra. During the period of persecution of Christians by Emperor Diocletian, he was imprisoned, but he was released by Diocletian’s successor, Constantine the Great.
By the 6th century his burial shrine was well known at Myra. In 1087 his remains were moved to Bari, Italy, which became a crowded pilgrimage center in his honor. Devotion to him spread throughout the Christian world, and he was chosen patron saint of Russia and Greece. Thousands of churches throughout Europe have been named for him. His feast day was set on December 6. He was credited with many miracles. In one story he saved three officers from death by appearing to Constantine in a dream. In another legend he provided bags of gold to a poor man as dowries for his three daughters.¹ When he died on December 6 in the year 345, he was revered for his generosity and kindness. It became the custom to give gifts to loved ones on his saint’s day, the date of his death. Later Christians adopted St. Nicholas for Christmas day, which commemorates the date God gave the greatest gift of all, Christ Jesus for the redemption of the world.
Origin of the Modern Day Santa Claus
Santa Claus is probably a Dutch mispronunciation of Sinter Klaus (Saint Nicholas). Kriss Kringle is probably an English mispronunciation of the German, “Christkindlein” (little Christ child). In 1822 Santa received a drastic makeover through the poem penned by a pastor. Rev. Clement C. Moore felt his church’s poor offerings were going to make a very dismal Christmas for his children. The weather was bleak and everyone needed some cheering. Rev. Moore held down a secular job to help meet expenses. He had been thinking of Saint Nicholas, from all accounts a very serious and austere man in appearance. A story began to form in Rev. Moore’s mind, his children would love a good story. What about a visit from Saint Nicholas? He looked over at the portly German fellow who drove the sleigh on their way home from work. A new vision of St. Nick began to take shape – the horse drawn sleigh … NO! … flying reindeer. Well, you know the poem by its first line, ‘Twas the night before Christmas… The poem was intended for his children’s ears, only, but after great insistence it was read to his congregation. A parishioner published the poem a few years later in a Troy, New York newspaper. In the 1950’s Coca Cola needed a spokesman for their soda at Christmas time. Someone drew an artist’s rendering of Rev. Moore’s St. Nick and Coca Cola made the jolly ol’ elf famous as we have him today.
How We Came to Celebrate on December 25th
Another question is always asked, “Why December 25th? We know Jesus was probably born sometime between April and November. - after all the scripture says that shepherds were watching their flocks in the fields?” Recently, I was seated at a table with hosts of a major television program. The question of the date of Christ’s birth arose and I was told in no uncertain terms that Jesus was born on the 15th of Tishri (Sept/Oct) which is the feast of Tabernacles, or Hebrew “cukkah”, (pronounced ‘sook-kaw’). Although this is a real possibility – I must tell you after hours of searching Matthew Henry, Halley’s Bible Dictionary, Compton’s Encyclopedia, The American Book of Days, the 12 Volume Interpreter’s Bible, Holman’s Bible Dictionary, Revell Bible Dictionary and volumes on Christian Sites on the World Wide Web, all definitely state, “we do not know when Jesus was born, or even what year.” (Although he had to be born sometime between 4 and 8 BC due to Herod’s reign and death which is known from archaeological records.) While it is accepted that Jesus was born in the small town of Bethlehem a few miles south of Jerusalem, there is no certain information on the date of his birth, not even of the year (see Jesus Christ). One reason for this uncertainty is that the stories of his birth, recorded in the New Testament books of Matthew and Luke, were written several decades after the event. And for several centuries the Christian church itself paid little attention to the celebration of Jesus’ birth. The major Christian festival was Easter, the day of his resurrection. Only gradually, as the church developed a calendar to commemorate the major events of the life of Christ, did it celebrate his birth.¹
Till about the year 250-300 there was little celebration of Christ’s birth, other than a solemn memory. His death and resurrection were all important to new Christianity. As the church spread around the world, it encountered the Roman/European festival of the Winter Solstice. This was a day of great festivity in the pagan world. Because there was no knowledge about the date of Jesus’ birth, a day had to be selected. The Eastern Orthodox and the Eastern Rite churches within the Roman Catholic church chose January 6. The day was named Epiphany, meaning “appearance,” the day of Christ’s manifestation. The Western church, based at Rome, chose December 25. It is known from a notice in an ancient Roman almanac that Christmas was celebrated on December 25 in Rome as early as AD 336.1 In about 547 A.D. St. Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory the Great as the first official missionary to England. He followed an edict from the Pope, “If the religious customs of the people are not evil in origin, they should be blended into Christianity.” (This is scriptural read Acts 15:19-20). The early church had a real problem with this all important festival of the SUN God. The church in the Holy Land had begun to observe January 6th at the birth of our Lord. The Austrian church observed May 20th. Still other parts of the church observed March 25th.
In 625 A.D. central leaders of the church decided since people were going to celebrate the re-birth of the SUN on December 25th – the church would really celebrate – the most important birth, the birth of the SON of God. It took a little time but Christianity prevailed. Although two customs, the Yule long, and kissing under the mistletoe still remain from the pagan days, most every other custom we have today comes from Christ’s birthday.
Celebrating and Gift Giving
The word “CHRISTMAS” comes from the Old English term Cristes maesse, meaning “Christ’s mass.” This was the name for the festival service of worship held on December 25 to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ. Gift giving is one of the oldest customs associated with Christmas: it is actually older than the holiday itself. When the date of Christmas was set to fall in December, it was done at least in part to compete with ancient pagan festivals that occurred about the same time. The Romans, for example, celebrated the Saturnalia on December 17. It was a winter feast of merrymaking and gift exchanging. And two weeks later, on the Roman New Year January 1, houses were decorated with greenery and lights, and gifts were given to children and the poor. As the Germanic tribes of Europe accepted Christianity and began to celebrate Christmas, they also gave gifts.¹
http://www.bible.com/answers/achristm.html#Origin%20of%20Christmas%20Customs
i appreciate it.