Part one of a series on the history and traditions of Christmas.
When you think of the origin of the word "Christmas,” what immediately comes to your mind? Most likely, that it is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas comes from the Middle English term “Cristis Masse.” In literal translation, it means Christ’s Festival.
But Christmas has not always been so widely celebrated. In fact, in the earlier days of Christianity, Easter was the main holiday celebrated with relation to Jesus Christ. His birthday wasn't even celebrated at all! Only in the 4th century did Church officials declare Jesus Christ's birthday to become a celebrated holiday event.
What’s interesting about this holiday is that Jesus' actual birth date is not mentioned throughout the pages of the Bible. There are no "official" birth and death records from Jesus' time period we can look at to see exactly when He was born. However, there is some evidence to suggest that maybe His birth actually occurred earlier in the year than during winter. If you look at the Biblical evidence, it says that there were shepherds in the fields during the time Jesus was being delivered.
But, if no one knew what Jesus' actual birth date was, why would Pope Julius I have selected December 25th for it to be celebrated on? It’s most likely that December 25 became Christmas Day by a strategic political move. By three or four centuries after Christ, Christians were numerous, and perhaps in an effort to stop religious bickering and unite the Christians with the pagans, the pagan holiday of Saturnalia (approximately December 25) was combined with the biggest Christian celebration of the year: the birthday of Jesus. Presto, a universal holiday!
Some historians believe this was done to try to dissolve the Saturnalia festival in early Roman times along with other pagan worship festivals that were frowned upon by the Church occurring around this time such as European celebrations of the Winter Solstice. The Christmas celebration envisioned by the Church, or the celebration of Jesus Christ's birth, was appealing to many in its earliest form. Simply because it allowed different cultures to continue their celebrations on as they normally did, but to celebrate them at a specific designated time, December 25th.
In the following years, the Christmas celebration gained so much popularity so that it had extended all the way to places such as England by the end of the sixth century and Scandinavia by the end of the eighth. Now Christmas, or a form of it, is celebrated worldwide.
However, the path to its popularity has not been smooth. Some Christians, like the Puritans, didn't want to observe Christmas as a holiday. Nor would they allow their followers to either. The reason? They did not believe that December 25th was in fact the birth date of their Savior, Jesus Christ. Since the reason this date was chosen to represent His birth was to create a worldwide celebration in alignment with pagan religions, it was not a date that the Puritans wanted to celebrate. In fact, the celebration of Christmas was completely banned in Boston roughly between the years 1659 and 1681 by some early Puritan American colonists. And, if you were caught in the act of celebrating such a pagan originated holiday, you would be fined for doing so. However, other colonies did take part in Christmas celebrations throughout early America and went against the grain.
And so, this is how the celebration of Christmas has survived throughout the long years.
Preserve your own Christmas history and memories!
 White Christmas Tree with Stars on Red. Binders by Graphics_By_Metarla Create your own customized vinyl binder on zazzle.com |
 Merry Little Christmas Personalized Photo Binder by christmasshop Create your own custom vinyl binder at zazzle |
Author: Anne Jefferson
No comments:
Post a Comment