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History
See other History Articles

Title: The Real Story of Christmas
Source: History Channel
URL Source: http://www.history.com/minisite.do? ... 2&display_order=1&mini_id=1290
Published: Dec 1, 2006
Author: History Channel
Post Date: 2006-12-01 00:12:08 by Morgana le Fay
Keywords: None
Views: 229
Comments: 20

An Ancient Holiday

The middle of winter has long been a time of celebration around the world. Centuries before the arrival of the man called Jesus, early Europeans celebrated light and birth in the darkest days of winter. Many peoples rejoiced during the winter solstice, when the worst of the winter was behind them and they could look forward to longer days and extended hours of sunlight.

Real StoryIn Scandinavia, the Norse celebrated Yule from December 21, the winter solstice, through January. In recognition of the return of the sun, fathers and sons would bring home large logs, which they would set on fire. The people would feast until the log burned out, which could take as many as 12 days. The Norse believed that each spark from the fire represented a new pig or calf that would be born during the coming year.

The end of December was a perfect time for celebration in most areas of Europe. At that time of year, most cattle were slaughtered so they would not have to be fed during the winter. For many, it was the only time of year when they had a supply of fresh meat. In addition, most wine and beer made during the year was finally fermented and ready for drinking.

In Germany, people honored the pagan god Oden during the mid-winter holiday. Germans were terrified of Oden, as they believed he made nocturnal flights through the sky to observe his people, and then decide who would prosper or perish. Because of his presence, many people chose to stay inside.

Saturnalia

In Rome, where winters were not as harsh as those in the far north, Saturnalia—a holiday in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture—was celebrated. Beginning in the week leading up to the winter solstice and continuing for a full month, Saturnalia was a hedonistic time, when food and drink were plentiful and the normal Roman social order was turned upside down. For a month, slaves would become masters. Peasants were in command of the city. Business and schools were closed so that everyone could join in the fun.

SaturnaliaAlso around the time of the winter solstice, Romans observed Juvenalia, a feast honoring the children of Rome. In addition, members of the upper classes often celebrated the birthday of Mithra, the god of the unconquerable sun, on December 25. It was believed that Mithra, an infant god, was born of a rock. For some Romans, Mithra's birthday was the most sacred day of the year.

In the early years of Christianity, Easter was the main holiday; the birth of Jesus was not celebrated. In the fourth century, church officials decided to institute the birth of Jesus as a holiday.Unfortunately, the Bible does not mention date for his birth (a fact Puritans later pointed out in order to deny the legitimacy of the celebration). Although some evidence suggests that his birth may have occurred in the spring (why would shepherds be herding in the middle of winter?), Pope Julius I chose December 25. It is commonly believed that the church chose this date in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival. First called the Feast of the Nativity, the custom spread to Egypt by 432 and to England by the end of the sixth century. By the end of the eighth century, the celebration of Christmas had spread all the way to Scandinavia. Today, in the Greek and Russian orthodox churches, Christmas is celebrated 13 days after the 25th, which is also referred to as the Epiphany or Three Kings Day. This is the day it is believed that the three wise men finally found Jesus in the manger.

By holding Christmas at the same time as traditional winter solstice festivals, church leaders increased the chances that Christmas would be popularly embraced, but gave up the ability to dictate how it was celebrated. By the Middle Ages, Christianity had, for the most part, replaced pagan religion. On Christmas, believers attended church, then celebrated raucously in a drunken, carnival-like atmosphere similar to today's Mardi Gras. Each year, a beggar or student would be crowned the "lord of misrule" and eager celebrants played the part of his subjects. The poor would go to the houses of the rich and demand their best food and drink. If owners failed to comply, their visitors would most likely terrorize them with mischief. Christmas became the time of year when the upper classes could repay their real or imagined "debt" to society by entertaining less fortunate citizens.

An Outlaw Christmas

In the early 17th century, a wave of religious reform changed the way Christmas was celebrated in Europe. When Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan forces took over England in 1645, they vowed to rid England of decadence and, as part of their effort, cancelled Christmas. By popular demand, Charles II was restored to the throne and, with him, came the return of the popular holiday.

The pilgrims, English separatists that came to America in 1620, were even more orthodox in their Puritan beliefs than Cromwell. As a result, Christmas was not a holiday in early America. From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was actually outlawed in Boston. Anyone exhibiting the Christmas spirit was fined five shillings. By contrast, in the Jamestown settlement, Captain John Smith reported that Christmas was enjoyed by all and passed without incident.

After the American Revolution, English customs fell out of favor, including Christmas. In fact, Congress was in session on December 25, 1789, the first Christmas under America's new constitution. Christmas wasn't declared a federal holiday until June 26, 1870.

Irving Reinvents Christmas

It wasn't until the 19th century that Americans began to embrace Christmas. Americans re-invented Christmas, and changed it from a raucous carnival holiday into a family-centered day of peace and nostalgia. But what about the 1800s peaked American interest in the holiday?

The early 19th century was a period of class conflict and turmoil. During this time, unemployment was high and gang rioting by the disenchanted classes often occurred during the Christmas season. In 1828, the New York city council instituted the city's first police force in response to a Christmas riot. This catalyzed certain members of the upper classes to begin to change the way Christmas was celebrated in America.

In 1819, best-selling author Washington Irving wrote The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, gent., a series of stories about the celebration of Christmas in an English manor house. The sketches feature a squire who invited the peasants into his home for the holiday. In contrast to the problems faced in American society, the two groups mingled effortlessly. In Irving's mind, Christmas should be a peaceful, warm-hearted holiday bringing groups together across lines of wealth or social status. Irving's fictitious celebrants enjoyed "ancient customs," including the crowning of a Lord of Misrule. Irving's book, however, was not based on any holiday celebration he had attended - in fact, many historians say that Irving's account actually "invented" tradition by implying that it described the true customs of the season.

A Christmas Carol

Also around this time, English author Charles Dickens created the classic holiday tale, A Christmas Carol. The story's message-the importance of charity and good will towards all humankind-struck a powerful chord in the United States and England and showed members of Victorian society the benefits of celebrating the holiday.

The family was also becoming less disciplined and more sensitive to the emotional needs of children during the early 1800s. Christmas provided families with a day when they could lavish attention-and gifts-on their children without appearing to "spoil" them.

As Americans began to embrace Christmas as a perfect family holiday, old customs were unearthed. People looked toward recent immigrants and Catholic and Episcopalian churches to see how the day should be celebrated. In the next 100 years, Americans built a Christmas tradition all their own that included pieces of many other customs, including decorating trees, sending holiday cards, and gift-giving.

Although most families quickly bought into the idea that they were celebrating Christmas how it had been done for centuries, Americans had really re-invented a holiday to fill the cultural needs of a growing nation.

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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 5.

#2. To: Morgana le Fay (#0)

I've shown verses on this site several times that show that the bible does specifically ridicule the christmas tree custom. says it is a good example of a stupid custom that people come up with. and that verse was written several hundred years before jesus.

christmas is OK in my book, but it is also a stupid custom. people do stupid things - that is the norm.

Red Jones  posted on  2006-12-01   6:40:26 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#4. To: Red Jones (#2)

I've shown verses on this site several times that show that the bible does specifically ridicule the christmas tree custom. says it is a good example of a stupid custom that people come up with.

Not only ridicule it, but we are specifically told NOT to do it... Jeremiah 10:1-5 explains that this is a custom of the heathen, and if you look up the word heathen in the dictionary it is defined as pagan...

So those who do put up "christmas trees" are in fact pagans.

I'd say that's a bit beyond a "stupid custom".

innieway  posted on  2006-12-01   14:35:23 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#5. To: innieway, Morgana le Fay (#4)

... Jeremiah 10:1-5 explains that this is a custom of the heathen, and if you look up the word heathen in the dictionary it is defined as pagan...

If y'all want to call Christmas pagan, fine, but Jeremiah 10:1-5 refers, I think, to the 'gods'/idols the people used to make for themselves:

Jer 10:2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

Jer 10:3 For the customs of the people [are] vain: for [one] cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

Jer 10:4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

Jer 10:5 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........

http://www.bluelet terbible.org/kjv/Jer/Jer010.html#top

[i.e.,]

Psa 115:5 They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:

Psa 115:6 They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:

Psa 115:7 They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.

Psa 115:8 They that make them are like unto them; [so is] every one that trusteth in them....

Jer 10:9 Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple [is] their clothing: they [are] all the work of cunning [men]........

http://www.blueletterb ible.org/tsk_b/Jer/10/5.html

Matthew Henry commentary, from blueletterbible:

".....(1.) Consider what the idol is that is worshipped. It was a tree cut out of the forest originally. It was fitted up by the hands of the workman, squared, and sawed, and worked into shape; see Isa. 44:12, etc. But, after all, it was but the stock of a tree, fitter to make a gate-post of than any thing else. But, to hide the wood, they deck it with silver and gold, they gild or lacquer it, or they deck it with gold and silver lace, or cloth of tissue. They fasten it to its place, which they themselves have assigned it, with nails and hammers, that it fall not, nor be thrown down, nor stolen away, v. 4. The image is made straight enough, and it cannot be denied but that the workman did his part, for it is upright as the palm-tree (v. 5); it looks stately, and stands up as if it were going to speak to you, but it cannot speak; it is a poor dumb creature; nor can it take one step towards your relief. If there be any occasion for it to shift its place, it must be carried in procession, for it cannot go. Very fitly does the admonition come in here, "Be not afraid of them, any more than of the signs of heaven; be not afraid of incurring their displeasure, for they can do no evil; be not afraid of forfeiting their favour, for neither is it in them to do good. If you think to mend the matter by mending the materials of which the idol is made, you deceive yourselves. Idols of gold and silver are an unworthy to be worshipped as wooden gods. The stock is a doctrine of vanities, v. 8. It teaches lies, teaches lies concerning God. It is an instruction of vanities; it is wood.’’ It is probable that the idols of gold and silver had wood underneath for the substratum, and then silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, imported from beyond sea, and gold from Uphaz, or Phaz, which is sometimes rendered the fine or pure gold, Ps. 21:3. A great deal of art is used, and pains taken, about it. They are not such ordinary mechanics that are employed about these as about the wooden gods, v. 3. these are cunning men; it is the work of the workman; the graver must do his part when it has passed through the hands of the founder. Those were but decked here and there with silver and gold; these are silver and gold all over. And, that these gods might be reverenced as kings, blue and purple are their clothing, the colour of royal robes (v. 9), which amuses ignorant worshippers, but makes the matter no better. For what is the idol when it is made and when they have made the best they can of it? He tells us (v. 14): They are falsehood; they are not what they pretend to be, but a great cheat put upon the world. They are worshipped as the gods that give us breath and life and sense, whereas they are lifeless senseless things themselves, and there is no breath in them; there is no spirit in them (so the word is); they are not animated, or inhabited, as they are supposed to be, by any divine spirit or numen—divinity. They are so far from being gods that they have not so much as the spirit of a beast that goes downward. They are vanity, and the work of errors, v. 15. Enquire into the use of them and you will find they are vanity; they are good for nothing; no help is to be expected from them nor any confidence put in them. They are a deceitful work, works of illusions, or mere mockeries; so some read the following clause. They delude those that put their trust in them, make fools of them, or, rather, they make fools of themselves. Enquire into the use of them and you will find they are the work of errors, grounded upon the grossest mistakes that ever men who pretended to reason were guilty of. They are the creatures of a deluded fancy; and the errors by which they were produced they propagate among their worshippers. (2.) Infer hence what the idolaters are that worship these idols. (v. 8): They are altogether brutish and foolish. Those that make them are like unto them, senseless and stupid, and there is no spirit in them—no use of reason, else they would never stoop to them, v. 14. Every man that makes or worships idols has become brutish in his knowledge, that is, brutish for want of knowledge, or brutish in that very thing which one would think they should be fully acquainted with; compare Jude 10, What they know naturally, what they cannot but know by the light of nature, in those things as brute beasts they corrupt themselves. Though in the works of creation they cannot but see the eternal power and godhead of the Creator, yet they have become vain in their imaginations, not liking to retain God in their knowledge. See Rom. 1:21, 18. Nay, whereas they thought it a piece of wisdom thus to multiply gods, it really was the greatest folly they could be guilty of. The world by wisdom knew not God, 1 Co. 1:21; Rom. 1:22. Every founder is himself confounded by the graven image; when he has made it by a mistake he is more and more confirmed in his mistake by it; he is bewildered, bewitched, and cannot disentangle himself from the snare; or it is what he will one time or other be ashamed of.

2. The God of Israel is the one only living and true God, and those that have him for their God need not make their application to any other; nay, to set up any other in competition with him is the greatest affront and injury that can be done him. Let the house of Israel cleave to the God of Israel and serve and worship him only, for,.........."

'course we could all go back to worshipping like the Jews would have us do, and replace Christmas with Hanukah:

".....when the Jews cleaned out the Holy Temple, He rewarded them by causing one day's worth of oil to burn miraculously for eight days in the menorah. This eight-day festival is celebrated in December as Hanukah.

The "New Testament": Pagan revenge

Between G-d's own miracles and the Jewish teaching of His Word, the pagan priesthoods of Egypt, Greece, and Rome were steadily losing their power over the gentile populations. They decided to fight back by creating a new religion, one that would claim to be the fulfillment of the Hebrew "Old Testament," yet would bring back the pagan lies in a new disguise.

Thus the "New Testament" was written, in Greek rather than Hebrew, and attached to the original Hebrew scriptures to try to change their meaning back toward paganism.

The "New Testament" tried to change G-d from One, as in the Hebrew scriptures, into a "trinity" as in Egyptian cults or the eastern religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. It described Jesus as G-d in a human body, like the pagans always described Pharoah and other wicked kings. It declared G-d's Law to be a "curse" that no one can truly obey, announced that there must be a "mediator" between G- d and man, and pretended that salvation could now be achieved outside the Law.

To blind the gentile nations, the "New Testament" also warned people not to learn from the Jews, declaring that Israel no longer possessed the true, complete Word of G-d.

In the Bible, the book of Daniel warned of an evil power--a false religion-- that would believe in the true "G-d of fortresses... plus a god its fathers did not know." This religion would "speak bizarre words about the Most High, wear out the holy ones (the Jews), and plan to change the festivals and the religious Law."7 The Christian Church has indeed replaced Passover with Easter (the pagan holiday of Astarte and Ishtar) and Hanukah with Christmas (the pagan winter holiday).

Since then, Christian paganism has expanded to include Christmas trees, Easter eggs, and so forth.

How to celebrate genuine Biblical holidays

The only answer is to return to the original Truth of the Hebrew scriptures. The Bible established Passover, Shavuos, and other holidays, while the judges of Israel (the rabbis) acted upon their G-d-given authority to institute such holidays as Hanukah. When we celebrate these true holidays instead of neo-pagan festivals, we clear our homes of dangerous idolatrous symbols, replacing them with G-dly spirituality........."

http://www.noahide.com/paganism.htm

CHRISTIANS ARE IDOL WORSHIPPERS CHRISTMAS MUST BE ABOLISHED

Here is the flier the Lubavitchers are circulating.

"....Why Torah obligates all Jews in this campaign:

"...according to the known Jewish ruling that Christians are idol worshippers." (Likkutei Sichos 37:198)

A gentile...is liable for the death penalty...if he has invented a religious holiday for himself... The general principle is we do not allow them to make new religious rituals and to make 'mitzvahs' for themselves by their own devices. Rather they may either become a Ger Tzeddek and accept all the Mitvahs; or he (the Noahide) should stand fast in his Torah (the seven Noahide Laws) without adding or diminishing...and if he does make some new 'mitzvah,' we lash him, punish him, and inform him that he is obligated with the death penalty for this..." (Rambam Mishne Torah—Hilchos Melachim 10:9)......"

Campaign to Abolish X-mas

http://www.noahide.com/xmas.htm

[No longer found on my server....fliers replaced by Jewish halos and "hate- crime" legislation aimed at Christians. ]

AllTheKings'HorsesWontDoIt  posted on  2006-12-03   16:38:51 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 5.

#8. To: AllTheKings'HorsesWontDoIt (#5) (Edited)

The Bible established Passover, Shavuos, and other holidays, while the judges of Israel (the rabbis) acted upon their G-d-given authority to institute such holidays as Hanukah.

A gentile...is liable for the death penalty...if he has invented a religious holiday for himself...

Jews, Christians, it doesn't matter. NO ONE has any authority to add to - nor take away from - the Law. And nowhere in Scripture is either christmas or hanukah mentioned as being a holiday (holy day). It is irrelevant what the "intentions" are.

I agree about the book of Esther, and the BS holiday of "purim"... BUT, like I said above - wrong is wrong no matter what the "intentions". Making a "holy day" out of thin air is as wrong as our practice of creating "money" out of thin air.

Nowhere in Scripture do ANY of the disciples or apostles of the Messiah ever call themselves christians. They were called that by others; but as I've mentioned before, just because someone calls you something doesn't make it a fact. I am convinced that the Messiah as well as His followers did in fact follow Mosaic Law. If He were indeed sent to "lead by example", then perhaps we should follow the example He set, and keep the Law.

Christianity (as we know it today) does in fact parallel MANY pagan customs. And as I've mentioned before, Paul is a very difficult writer to understand. His writings often seem to contradict everything else in Scripture - even the teachings of the Messiah Himself. I personally have a tendency to put Paul's writings on the "back burner" more than "in the forefront". Remember, Paul was a lawyer commissioned to "teach" other lawyers. And if you've ever listened to 2 lawyers speaking in "legal-ese" you know it can get very confusing in a hurry.

As far as I can discern, christianity as we know it (and as most that claim that title practice today) started with the Roman church. And there is little doubt that the Roman church is nothing more than a carryover of Babylonian practices. It is paganism plain and simple.

I choose not to call myself christian - not because I don't believe the Messiah existed, but rather because christians as a whole do things which I believe are wrong and don't do other things which I believe we should be doing. I just don't fit the mold. You simply cannot put the arguement in front of the school board that you want your child exempted from vaccinations because it "violates your religious principles" if you claim to be christian. The school board sees all the other "christian" kids getting their shots...

innieway  posted on  2006-12-04 12:39:04 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


End Trace Mode for Comment # 5.

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