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 The Act was repealed in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."
|