I'm not writing this article to try to convenience anyone that Jesus was born on December 25th, I'm simply looking into the origins of the Holiday because I think it's important. God clearly tells us that we should not take pagan practices and try to use them in our worship of the true God.
So if the December 25th holiday and all of it's traditions are all based on the Pagan holiday of “Winter Solstice” (the worship of pagan sun gods of different cultures) then we shouldn't try to assimilate it to our Christian beliefs.
So
I started looking at the origins of this Holiday to see where the
truth lies and what I have found so far as been surprising to me because it
has shown how sloppy and lazy so many people have been in accepting
the whole “Constantine Christmas” idea because it fits their
agenda.
All
I had to do is dig a little to find that the December 25 feast
celebrating the birth of Christ seems to have existed before 312
AD—long before Constantine and his conversion. The Donatist
Christians in North Africa seem to have known it from before that
time.
So,
where did these early Christians get the dates of December 25th
and in the case of some eastern Christians January 6th?
Did they simply borrow them from Pagan holidays? Far from it.
By
the second century there seemed to be a lot of interest show in the
birthday of Christ but just as much uncertainty about the actual
date.
But then almost
300 years after Jesus was born, we finally find people observing his
birth in mid-winter. But how had they go from showing interest in the
date in the second century to celebrating December 25 and January 6
in the third century?
the
first mention of a date for Christmas (AD. 200) and the earliest
celebrations that we know about (AD. 250–300) come in a period when
Christians were not borrowing heavily from pagan traditions, in fact
they were fighting this. During that time the persecuted Christian
minority was greatly concerned with distancing itself from the
larger, public pagan religious observances, such as sacrifices, games
and holidays. This was still true as late as the violent persecutions
of the Christians conducted by the Roman emperor Diocletian between
303 and 312 AD. So to suggest that these same people that were dying
trying to keep Christianity clean from Pagan influence would then
turn around and accept a Pagan holiday as the birthday of Jesus, is
quite ridiculous.
In
fact the way they reached these dates had nothing whatsoever to do
with paganism but it was instead based on a Jewish understanding of
how God works. This way of thinking says that creation and redemption
must happen on the same date. Rabbi Eliezer states in the Talmod: “In
Nisan the world was created; in Nisan the Patriarchs were born; on
Passover Isaac was born … and in Nisan they [our ancestors] will be
redeemed in time to come.” So the thought process was “we know
when the Lord died, and He would have died on the same date He was
conceived.” He was placed in the unused (virgin) grave on the same
date that he was placed in the virgin womb. So, if they think they
know when he was conceived, then the next step is to count 9 months
and then you have the date of birth. Nine months from that point puts
it at December 25th.
So,
we have Christians in two parts of the world calculating Jesus’
birth on the basis that his death and conception took place on the
same date (March 25 or April 6) and coming up with two close but
different results (December 25 and January 6).
The
Christian authors of the time do note a connection between the Pagan
holiday and Jesus’ birth: but they never saw it as being engineered
by the Church or pagan influence on the Church, but rather a coincidence or as a providential sign, as
natural proof that God had selected Jesus over the false pagan gods.
So,
I think it's clear that the origins of Christmas were not born out of
paganism as many have stated. But has it been influenced by Paganism
over the centuries? Like most things it has been influenced by pagan
practices. Many of the European customs like Yule logs, holly,
mistletoe and many other elements are from old pagan holidays that
were introduced to the Christmas celebration during the middle ages.
Many of these customs were lost in America because the puritans of
America didn't celebrate Christmas because of all the pagan influence
added to it during the middle ages and so Christmas really didn't
catch on in America until the 1800's.
Santa:
As
for Santa, actually Saint Nicolas is the Saint of children and
commerce. Ancient legend tells of Nicolas going to the poor houses
and leaving gold coins in the stockings people would hang up near the
fireplace to dry. There is actually a Saint Nicolas day on December 6th. It used to be a festival for children however at one point due to religious
persecution it was banned but Christmas on the other hand was allowed to continue and so they ended up merging the two together forever linking Saint
Nicolas to Christmas. However, the modern incarnation of Santa was
actually invented by the Coca-Cola company near the turn of the last
century and he, and the legend surrounding him, bare little
resemblance to the original. One could make an argument that the
modern day Santa is nothing more than a pagan symbol that doesn't
belong in the Christmas celebration. One could also argue that Saint Nicolas is a legitimate early Christian leader that is recognized by both Catholic and many protestant Churches.
The
Christmas tree:
Is
the Christmas tree really the modern equivalent of the winter
solstice pagan tradition of bringing greenery inside? Actually the
history of the Christmas tree is completely separate from the
traditions of the winter solstice. Again, it's only lazy and sloppy
research that suggests the tie between the two.
In
medieval western Europe, mystery or miracle plays taught biblical
stories and Christian ideas to a largely illiterate population. The
most famous and loved of these plays was The paradise play, which
recounted the story of Adam and Eve. This was traditionally performed
on the Church steps at around Christmas time.
Although the play
featured the story of the Creation and the disobedience of Adam and
Eve, it closed with the promise of the coming of a Savior. This made
it appropriate for the celebration of Christmas. The paradise tree
served as the central prop for the paradise play. It represented the
two important trees of the Garden of Eden:
century but since they were so
popular among the people, many people performed it privately and
would even put a paradise tree on their front pouch out of protest.
That is why even today much of Europe places their Christmas tree on
the front porch instead of inside like Americans do. Later it was
widely called the Christ tree and the red ball shaped ornaments that
still represented the apples from the paradise tree were taken down
on Christmas day and they would stomp on them and shatter them as a
symbol of Christ defeating sin.
While
some of the practices might not be good, the intent of the holiday
and the day it was placed on is not one of the bad practices.
So,
in closing, if we ask now is Christmas a pagan holiday just clocked
in Christianity? Was the pagan holiday just renamed and all of it's
pagan practices just relabeled? I think anyone who puts in just a
little effort can clearly see that this is not the case. The date was
used long before many people think. And the Christmas tree, the
iconic symbol of Christmas, is it simply a pagan winter solstice
tradition? Absolutely not. We can clearly trace the origins of the
Christmas tree back in time and see that it indeed has it's own
history apart from the winter solstice traditions. Does Christmas
contain pagan traditions? Unfortunately like most things in our world
it does. In the middle ages it adopted some of the pagan symbols of
the winter solstice which are heavily ingrained in it to this day in
Europe and to a lesser extent elsewhere.
I would not fault or criticize someone for not celebrating it on the grounds that it has acquired too much paganism over the centuries. But when people point their finger at me and tell me that Christmas is a Pagan holiday and that if I celebrate it then I am a pagan sun-god worshiper, I will correct them.
Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival,a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Colossians 2:16-17
