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Christmas

Although the early Christians celebrated Easter in fervent anticipation of the Second Coming of Christ, Christmas was rarely celebrated during the first three hundred years of Christianity. There were two reasons for this. First, Christians rejected the celebration of all birthdays--even including that of Christ--because they believed it was a pagan tradition. A similar attitude was shared by the English Puritans who, under Oliver Cromwell, abolished the observation of Christmas by an Act of Parliament in 1647. The Act was repealed in 1681, but Christmas was not celebrated in New England until 1852.

The second reason Christmas wasn't celebrated by the ancient Christians is that an exact date for Christ's birth was lacking. The second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew notes that Christ was born when Herod the Great was king of Judea. Modern scholars now date Christ's birth between 6 BC and 4 BC, but the exact day is not known. In fact, there are some historians doubt that the story of Christ in the New Testament is really a description of the activities of a single man. There were likely many, perhaps even hundreds, of individuals claiming to be saviors and prophets during that period. Thus, the Gospels could have been a compilation of stories and folklore that arose around the activities of many such persons.

Despite the intense persecutions of Christians in the Roman Empire, Christianity continued to win many converts from paganism. The Roman Emperor Constantine was said to have accepted Christianity in 312 AD on the eve of a battle, after having a dream or vision that his troops would prevail under the banner of Christ. Possibly, massive conversions of his soldiers to Christianity and a case of pre-battle jitters provide the explanation for Constantine's decision. Further evidence for the idea that Constantine was motivated by political expediency can be found in the fact that he was not baptized until he was on his deathbed. In any case, the Christianization of Rome was accompanied by the Romanization of Christianity. The Church of Rome adopted December 25th as the date of Christ's birth.

Other pagan religions have contributed to present-day forms of Christmas celebration. The Germanic and Norse festival of Yule is also related to Sun-worship. In fact, the word "Yule" is evidently derived from a word with a meaning similar to "Revolution", possibly referring to the return of the Sun. Although Saint Nicholas was a fourth century Bishop of Myra, the widespread adoption of this gift-giver in a red bishop's robe as a legend among the Norse led to our present Santa Claus. Christmas trees come to us from the Germans. The decking with evergreens and mistletoe was a Druid custom. Ancient customs from the whole of Europe have contributed to the way Christmas is celebrated. Christmas (and Christianity) spread by assimilating the customs and beliefs of competing cultures and religions. Today, however, the modern celebration of Christmas tends to de-emphasize religion and emphasize commercial activity. Indeed, the time to Christmas does seem to be measured by "shopping days" rather than "prayer days."

 

 

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