Slightly Off KIlter

I recently followed this discussion of Christmas on a mailing list:

A:   Although I like the family gatherings and Christmas, I am outraged at how commerialized this holiday has become.

B:   What does this mean, exactly? I always hear about the commercialization of Christmas. What do people mean when they say this? That there are decorations in the stores? That people buy each other gifts? What?

C:   The commercialization of Christmas means that you think everyone should celebrate it and that it’s a time to buy gifts for one another. That’s
not true. I’m Jewish, and I don’t celebrate Christmas because Christmas
is a religious holiday which celebrates the birth of Jesus. Buying
gifts was not originally the meaning of the day.

D:   I don’t think everyone should celebrate Christmas – obviously, many people around the world do not because their religion is different – to each his own.
But I’m not sure why those of us who do somehow need to be “apologetic” for remembering our loved ones with gifts. Gifts were brought to the Christ child in the manger – it’s not something thought up on Madison Avenue last year to sell more goods. And I’m still not following why having Christmas things for sale is an affront to anyone who doesn’t want to buy them.

E:   It’s more the ‘in your face’ presentation of Christmas things… Everywhere you turn and look, there’s a Christmas tree, tinsel, baubles, jingle bells, etc.

Now, I am not a Christian (although I was raised attending a Christian Church). However, I do celebrate Christmas. My spouse is not a Christian (he was raised attending (occasionally) a Unitarian Church). He also celebrates Christmas. As far as memory serves me, my cousin’s family was raised without attending any sort of religious institution at all; they all celebrate Christmas. I have friends with similar backgrounds; they celebrate Christmas.

I often hear, at this time of year, that “we” have forgotten the “true meaning” of Christmas. That Christmas has become too commercialized. That we should “put the Christ back into Christmas”.

That’s a zingy slogan, and I certainly understand where the people who say these things are coming from. They are Christians. They believe in Christmas the Christian holiday. From my perspective, however, they are missing an important and crucial point.

There are two “true meanings” of Christmas. It is true that Christmas is a Christian religious holiday, celebrating the birth of Christ. This celebration dates originally from approximately 130 AD, when the second Bishop of Rome declared that Church services should be held to celebrate the birth of Christ. It wasn’t until 320 AD, however, that Pope Julius I specified the 25th of December as the official date of the birth of Jesus Christ (although historical Christian scholars believe that Christ was actually born in the Spring). Five years later, in 325 AD, Emperor Constantine introduced Christmas as an “immoveable feast” (what we would call a holiday). Yet the celebration of Christmas failed to gain universal recognition among Christians until much more recent times.

As far back as the 17th century, Christians were of mixed beliefs as to whether Christmas should be a solemn Church affair or a more joyful celebration.

In England, Oliver Cromwell banned Christmas festivities between 1649 and 1660 through the so-called Blue Laws, believing that Christmas should be a solemn day.

When many Protestants escaped persecution by fleeing to the colonies all over the world, interest in joyous Christmas celebrations was rekindled there.

[cf. Christmas Stories and Facts]

Part of the reason that early Christians failed to celebrate Christmas even after it was declared a Christian holiday has to do with the second meaning Christmas. Christmas is the word we use today to describe a generally secular period of celebration and feasting that coincides (not coincidentally) with the Christian celebration. This second meaning of Christmas describes a mid-winter festival of lights and gifts, of song and good cheer, of parties and games and gaiety. Many of its traditions date back at least 4000 years, long before the birth of Christ.

The 12 days of Christmas, the bright fires, the yule log, the giving of gifts, carnivals(parades) with floats, carolers who sing while going from house to house, the holiday feasts, and the church processions can all be traced back to the early Mesopotamians.

[cf. Christmas on the Net – The History of Christmas]

Here’s more.

In ancient pagan times, the last day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere was celebrated as the night that the Great Mother Goddess gives birth to the baby Sun God. It is also called Yule, the day a huge log is added to a bonfire, around which everyone would dance and sing to awaken the sun from its long winter sleep.

In Roman times, it became the celebrations honouring Saturnus (the harvest god) and Mithras (the ancient god of light), a form of sun worship that had come to Rome from Syria a century before with the cult of Sol Invictus. It announced that winter is not forever, that life continues, and an invitation to stay in good spirit.

…

To avoid persecution during the Roman pagan festival, early Christians decked their homes with Saturnalia holly. As Christian numbers increased and their customs prevailed, the celebrations took on a Christian observance.

…

In the year 274AD, solstice fell on 25th December. Roman Emperor Aurelian proclaimed the date as “Natalis Solis Invicti,” the festival of the birth of the invincible sun. In 320 AD, Pope Julius I specified the 25th of December as the official date of the birth of Jesus Christ.

[cf. Christmas Stories and Facts]

Note the dates and the events given in the last paragraph above. The decision to superimpose the Christian celebration on top of the existing mid-winter festival period was neither unofficial nor coincidental.

Our current, familiar celebration and its customs are very recent indeed, dating from the early 1800s. The traditions of carols and Christmas trees were brought to England from Germany in 1834. Also in 1834, Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol. In 1836, Alabama became the first US state to declare Christmas a legal holiday. In 1860, Thomas Nast created Father Christmas (borrowing from stories of Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children). And in 1907, Oklahoma became the last US state (of the time) to declare a legal holiday on Dec. 25.

Today, many of the pagan uses are reflected in Christmas. Jesus was born in March, yet his birth is celebrated on 25 December, the time of solstice. The Christmas celebrations end the 12th day of Christmas (6 January), the same amount of days that the return of the sun was celebrated by ancient and Roman pagans. It thus is no surprise that Christian puritans – or even conservative Christians – often are upset that Christmas “is not as religious as it was meant to be,” forgetting that Christmas was not celebrated at all until fairly recently.

And forgetting also that many of the non-Christian aspects of the mid-winter celebration date from a time at least two thousand years before the birth of Christ.