History of the Holidays

[Nimrod]

To make it nice and sufficinct for many people here I will post the article. I feel that the educational origins of what we celebrate as X-mas is more crucial from these several enlightening sources, than rolling over when someone tells us to by celebrating this day in life.



The history of Christmas dates back over 4000 years. Many of our Christmas traditions were celebrated centuries before the Christ child was born. 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.
Many of these traditions began with the Mesopotamian celebration of New Years. The Mesopotamians believed in many gods, and as their chief god - Marduk. Each year as winter arrived it was believed that Marduk would do battle with the monsters of chaos. To assist Marduk in his struggle the Mesopotamians held a festival for the New Year. This was Zagmuk, the New Year's festival that lasted for 12 days.

The Mesopotamian king would return to the temple of Marduk and swear his faithfulness to the god. The traditions called for the king to die at the end of the year and to return with Marduk to battle at his side.

To spare their king, the Mesopotamians used the idea of a "mock" king. A criminal was chosen and dressed in royal clothes. He was given all the respect and privileges of a real king. At the end of the celebration the "mock" king was stripped of the royal clothes and slain, sparing the life of the real king.

The Persians and the Babylonians celebrated a similar festival called the Sacaea. Part of that celebration included the exchanging of places, the slaves would become the masters and the masters were to obey.

Early Europeans believed in evil spirits, witches, ghosts and trolls. As the Winter Solstice approached, with its long cold nights and short days, many people feared the sun would not return. Special rituals and celebrations were held to welcome back the sun.

In Scandinavia during the winter months the sun would disappear for many days. After thirty-five days scouts would be sent to the mountain tops to look for the return of the sun. When the first light was seen the scouts would return with the good news. A great festival would be held, called the Yuletide, and a special feast would be served around a fire burning with the Yule log. Great bonfires would also be lit to celebrate the return of the sun. In some areas people would tie apples to branches of trees to remind themselves that spring and summer would return.

The ancient Greeks held a festival similar to that of the Zagmuk/Sacaea festivals to assist their god Kronos who would battle the god Zeus and his Titans.

The Roman's celebrated their god Saturn. Their festival was called Saturnalia which began the middle of December and ended January 1st. With cries of "Jo Saturnalia!" the celebration would include masquerades in the streets, big festive meals, visiting friends, and the exchange of good-luck gifts called Strenae (lucky fruits).

The Romans decked their halls with garlands of laurel and green trees lit with candles. Again the masters and slaves would exchange places.

"Jo Saturnalia!" was a fun and festive time for the Romans, but the Christians though it an abomination to honor the pagan god. The early Christians wanted to keep the birthday of their Christ child a solemn and religious holiday, not one of cheer and merriment as was the pagan Saturnalia.

But as Christianity spread they were alarmed by the continuing celebration of pagan customs and Saturnalia among their converts. At first the Church forbid this kind of celebration. But it was to no avail. Eventually it was decided that the celebration would be tamed and made into a celebration fit for the Christian Son of God.

Some legends claim that the Christian "Christmas" celebration was invented to compete against the pagan celebrations of December. The 25th was not only sacred to the Romans but also the Persians whose religion Mithraism was one of Christianity's main rivals at that time. The Church eventually was successful in taking the merriment, lights, and gifts from the Saturanilia festival and bringing them to the celebration of Christmas.

The exact day of the Christ child's birth has never been pinpointed. Traditions say that it has been celebrated since the year 98 AD. In 137 AD the Bishop of Rome ordered the birthday of the Christ Child celebrated as a solemn feast. In 350 AD another Bishop of Rome, Julius I, choose December 25th as the observance of Christmas.

[Nimrod]

Santa Claus

In the 4th century, a bishop in Turkey named Nicholas was known for good deeds involving children. Because of his holiness, Bishop Nicholas was sanctified by the Catholic Church and came to be known as Saint Nicholas. St. Nicholas is illustrated in medieval and renaissance paintings as a tall, dignified and severe man. His feast day on December 6 was celebrated throughout Europe until about the 16th century. Afterwards, he continued to be known in Protestant Holland.

The ancient inhabitants of northern Europe believed a powerful pagan god, cloaked in red fur, galloped across the winter sky. These myths combined with the legends of the real life figure of Bishop Nicholas. Dutch children would put shoes by the fireplace for St. Nicholas or "Sinter Klaas" and leave food out for his horse. He'd gallop on his horse between the rooftops and drop candy down the chimneys into the children's shoes. Meanwhile, his assistant, Black Peter, was the one who popped down the chimneys to leave gifts behind.

Dutch settlers brought the legend of Sinter Klaas to North America -- where we came to know him as Santa Claus. Washington Irving's Knickerbocker History (1809) described Santa Claus as a stern, ascetic personage traditionally clothed in dark robes. It was a character we would scarcely recognize as the Santa Claus we know today, apart from his annual mission of delivering gifts to children on Christmas Eve.

The next mention of Santa Claus is found in a Christmas poem published in 1821 called "The Children's Friend." This poem for young people, harkened from the same tradition but also added some new elements to the "Santeclaus" myth. The poem begins:

Old Santeclaus with much delight
His reindeer drives this frosty night.
O'er chimney tops, and tracks of snow,
To bring his yearly gifts to you...

The next year (1822), protestant minister Clement Clarke Moore, wrote his poem "The Night Before Christmas." Moore wrote the poem for his six children. Moore, stodgy creature of academe that he was, refused to have the poem published despite its enthusiastic reception by everyone who read it. Evidently his argument that it was beneath his dignity fell on deaf ears, because the following Christmas "A Visit from St. Nicholas" found its way into the mass media after all when a family member cunningly submitted it to an out-of-town newspaper. The poem was an "overnight sensation," as we would say today, but Moore was not to acknowledge authorship of it until fifteen years later, when he reluctantly included it in a volume of collected works. He called the poem "a mere trifle." An artist named Thomas Nast drew the first picture of Santa Claus (shown here) for Harper's Weekly.

Santa Claus gained much of his popularity after World War II when the economy and the baby boomers blossomed. Children born between 1945 and 1965 greeted this gift-giving Santa with open arms that have refused to let go, even in adulthood.

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If you are a Christian, you have probably heard the arguments about the pagan origins of many of Christmas' (and Easter's) symbols. This is true. Many of the symbols we have in our holidays (even Christian holidays) have been adopted from different cultures and some have pagan origins. Because of this some Christians refuse to place a tree in their home at Christmas or refuse to celebrate Christmas at all. This may seem pious and reasonable to a Christian who is trying to be pure in their worship of God, but this must be balanced with the understanding that many symbols Christians hold as sacred have inauspicious beginnings.

Jesus was put to death on a cross. Most people realize this was the method of torture and execution in the Roman culture. This can be easy to forget when a delicate gold cross dangles around someone's neck or a beautiful wood cross adorns your church. What's going on here? Most people wouldn't fashion an electric chair out of precious metal or put a hangman's noose in their sacred place. Christians (and God) have changed a symbol of death to one of resurrection and life. A "bad" symbol has been changed to a good one.

This pattern is true throughout the Bible. Consider other symbols in Scripture that once had other meanings. Many Old Testament symbols were adapted from religious, political, and economic practices of the Sumerians, Egyptians, or Canaanites. The structure of the Old Testament covenants comes from royal grant and suzerain-vassal treaties. The layout of the camp, the tent of meeting, and the ark of the covenant find their equivalents in Egyptian armies and shrines moving with their pharaoh. God used familiar symbols and structures and invested them with new meaning for the Israelites. "Bad" or neutral symbols were changed to good ones.

Please don't misunderstand me. Elements that Christians use to celebrate Christmas or other holidays shouldn't be accepted without question. But perhaps the original meaning of symbols may not be as important as how Christians have transformed the symbols to worship God. Were trees sometimes worshipped by Germanic tribes? Yes. But early Christian missionaries took a "bad" symbol and transformed it into "God's tree."

So is Christmas a pagan winter celebration or a religious celebration honoring the birth of Christ? In truth, in our culture Christmas is a mixture of both with, as any economist will confirm, quite a bit of materialism thrown in. Most holidays (see Easter and Halloween) contain evil, neutral, and good elements as part of their celebration.

What's a Christian to do? Discern bad elements from neutral or good ones. Make decisions that glorify and honor God and cause no harm to their personal walk with Christ. And don't throw away what Christians have already won. If we stop celebrating Christ's birth, the world won't stop celebrating something in the bleak winter. We can keep the focus on Christ (realizing that every year will be a battle with the world and our own souls) or we can let the celebrations degenerate into materialism and pagan revelry.

To the best of our knowledge Christmas was never celebrated in the early days of the church. But Christmas is celebrated in local churches here in Virginia in praise of the fact that God loved us so much that He sent His only Son to earth. This Son was entirely God and entirely man. Whereas we have succumbed to the temptations of this earth, Jesus was able to overcome all temptations and live a sinless life. He was then crucified as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. One can not understand why we celebrate the birth of Christ without seeing the other end of His life. He was crucified for our sins and resurrected. That's something to celebrate!

[Anonymouse]

The "date" for "Xmas" is at best a guess and wrong. The "Xmas tree" is a pagan symbol. There are many saviors prior to "Christ" born on Dec "25". Santa is a consumer symbol, not a Christian symbol.

I think the myth of Xmas has been shattered.

"Christianity" takes on many myths legends and icons of previous pagan religions and call it its own. Anyone who is familiar with the diverse pagan religions and cultures of antiquity surely understands this, as your article pointed out. One can argue that Jesus is like Mithra in many ways.

Now what pisses me off more is gift giving. I don't want anything, nor should I have to feel obligated to get you anything. Thank you.

[anileve]

Re: What is "Christmas?" What does it mean?

Originally posted by Nimrod
Some legends claim that the Christian "Christmas" celebration was invented to compete against the pagan celebrations of December. The 25th was not only sacred to the Romans but also the Persians whose religion Mithraism was one of Christianity's main rivals at that time. The Church eventually was successful in taking the merriment, lights, and gifts from the Saturanilia festival and bringing them to the celebration of Christmas.

The exact day of the Christ child's birth has never been pinpointed. Traditions say that it has been celebrated since the year 98 AD. In 137 AD the Bishop of Rome ordered the birthday of the Christ Child celebrated as a solemn feast. In 350 AD another Bishop of Rome, Julius I, choose December 25th as the observance of Christmas.

Very interesting information Nimrod, thanks! I just wanted to add a bit more to it, if I may.

By 529 A.D., after Christianity had become the official state religion of the Roman Empire, Emperor Justinian made Christmas a civic holiday. The celebration of Christmas reached its peak—some would say its worst moments—in the medieval period when it became a time for conspicuous consumption and unequaled revelry.”

And this you might really like, and if you read the contents you will clearly see why...

"Origin of the Christmas Tree"

No article about Christmas is complete without some explanation of the “Christmas tree.” We have touched on it without directly focusing on it. The modern Christmas tree originated in Germany. But the Germans got it from the Romans, who got it from the Babylonians and the Egyptians.

The following demonstrates what the Babylonians believe about the origin of the Christmas tree: “An old Babylonish fable told of an evergreen tree which sprang out of a dead tree stump. The old stump symbolized the dead Nimrod, the new evergreen tree symbolized that Nimrod had come to life again in Tammuz! Among the Druids the oak was sacred, among the Egyptians it was the palm, and in Rome it was the fir, which was decorated with red berries during the Saturnalia!” (Walsh, Curiosities of Popular Customs, p. 242).

Frederick J. Haskin's Answers to Questions states, “The Christmas tree is from Egypt, and its origin dates from a period long anterior to the Christmas Era.” Did you know this—that the Christmas tree long preceded Christianity?

Most aspects of Christmas are not referred to in the Bible. Of course, the reason is that they are not from God—they are not part of the way He wants people to worship Him. The Christmas tree, however, is directly mentioned in the Bible! Turn to Jeremiah 10:2-5, “Thus says the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen…For the customs of the people are vain: for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.”

This plain description of the modern Christmas tree is clear. God directly refers to it as “the way of the heathen.” Just as directly, He commands His people to “learn not the way of the heathen,” calling these customs “vain.” Verse 23 adds a remarkable and powerful statement: “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walks to direct his [own] steps.” God must teach people how to live. Man simply cannot figure out God's ways for himself.

There is no room in Jeremiah 10 to believe, as some have tried to suggest, that because these trees are powerless of themselves, it is not really forbidden to have a Christmas tree. God condemns the putting up of pagan (Christmas) trees with this plain Bible command!"
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[anileve]

And what concerns me, I am boycotting christmas this year, percesely for the reasons above, and moreover because it has turned into a completely commercialized and materialistic holiday,

I refuse to support anything driven by those ethics, instead I am celebrating Isaac Newton's birthday who was also born on December 25, 1642. He was physicist/mathematician/astronomer.

For those who are not familiar with him here is a short biography.

Isaac Newton was born on December 25, 1642 in Woolsthorpe, near Grantham in Lincolnshire, England. He was born the same year Galileo died. Newton is clearly the most influential scientist who ever lived. His accomplishments in mathematics, optics, and physics laid the foundations for modern science and revolutionized the world.

As mathematician, Newton invented integral calculus, and jointly with Leibnitz, differential calculus. He also calculated a formula for finding the velocity of sound in a gas which was later corrected by Laplace.

Newton made a huge impact on theoretical astronomy. He defined the laws of motion and universal gravitation which he used to predict precisely the motions of stars, and the planets around the sun. Using his discoveries in optics Newton constructed the first reflecting telescope.

How did the famous story about the Universal Law of Gravitation and the apple come about?

About that apple…

The story goes that Isaac Newton was taking tea under an apple tree one sunny afternoon when an apple dislodged itself and landed on his head. It dawned on Newton that what goes up must come down, and this formed the basis of his Universal Law of Gravity. A tale perhaps, but there is evidence in writings at that time to suggest it actually happened.



So this year I am wishing everyone a very "Merry Newton Day!" for what goes up must come down!

[Anonymouse]

Newton was perhaps wrong in his gravity assessment. Let's not be too quick to jump on his bandwagon just 'cause he's Newton and he's got an apple for a sex toy.

There are many who aren't in agreement with Newton, and in fact the theorists that back up the Hollow Earth Theory present some good arguments against Newtons ideas or hallucinations if you will.

[Nimrod]

IT says that the CATHOLIC CHURCH took the days to intervene them as well to dilate their version of Christianity.

[Arvestaked]

The birth of a fantastical turd is nothing to be celebrated. I hate gift-giving; I do not want them and I do not buy them. And for many christmases, we set aside our family differences and spent 4 hours together quitely hating eachother and not apprectiating the stupid gifts that were given. It is not a beautiful season; it is disgusting. It is not just commercialized: it is a feelinng that has been preyed upon by corporations and as been raped, ripped and twisted it to a meaningless celebration of the stupidities of man. The only thing good about it is that it takes me less time to go to work because everyone is at home being warm and fuzzy in the metaphorical dumbass blanket.

I think I am going to make a nativity scene. That will be fun.

I like Easter better. It is the most surreal Holiday: death, rising dead halucinations, eggs, rabbits. Celebrating the death of a fantastical turd is more to my liking.