Christmas is Not Pagan - Part IV By Dr. Richard P.

Bucher The Arguments Put Forth By Those Who Oppose Christmas (3) The date of Christmas (December 25), and its many customs all come from pagan sources. Therefore Christmas is pagan. It is when the "Christmas is pagan" literature examines the origin of the dating of Christmas on Dec. 25, that the anti-Christmas advocates become convinced that Christmas is wholly pagan. This is their strongest argument. The argument goes like this: Since no one knows when Jesus was born, where did the Church get the idea of celebrating it on Dec. 25? From the pagans who had several festivals the time of the winter solstice which honored pagan gods. Where did the pagans at the time of the Roman empire get the idea? It came from the paganism of ancient Babylon, a paganism begun by Nimrod and his wife. One example of this argument is "Are Christianity and Christmas Compatible?" by Adam Wiemers: Why is Christmas celebrated on Dec. 25th? The answer is rather surprising. Just a little research reveals that Christmas was actually adapted from a Roman celebration called Saturnalia. The Encyclopedia Romana* explains that "at the time of the winter solstice (December 25 in the Julian calendar), Saturnus, the god of seed and sowing, was honored with a festival." The encyclopedia goes on to state that "the Saturnalia did continue to be celebrated as Brumalia (from "bruma," winter solstice) down to the Christian era, when, by the middle of the fourth century AD, its rituals had become absorbed in the celebration of Christmas." Isn't that alarming? The very ways that Christmas is celebrated are directly borrowed from a festival to a god of the Romans! This is only partially true. It is certainly well known that the Bible does not tell us the exact date of Christ's birth. As we saw in the previous section, Christians have been trying to pinpoint that date since the early centuries of the Church. Nevertheless, no one can say for certain which date is accurate. The Romans, like many other cultures at the time of the winter solstice, had various festivals. Saturnalia, was a festival that honored Saturn, the god of agriculture, from Dec. 17-24. It was the most popular festival of the year and did involve merrymaking, gift-giving, relaxed morality, and temporary freedom for slaves, who were allowed to do and speak whatever they wanted. But not unlike many of our Christmas feasts today, by the early Fourth Century, the religious aspect of Saturnalia had faded, and the secular merrymaking had come to the fore. It is not likely, however, that Christians chose Dec. 25 to celebrate Christ's birth on the basis of Saturnalia. The earliest extant record of Christ's birth being observed on December 25 is the Chronography in 354 A.D. This document was based upon a calendar that dated it to about 336 (Herman Wegman, Christian Worship in East and West, New York: Pueblo Publishing, 1985, 103).The Chronography was a document of the Church of Rome that listed the various martyrs' feasts for the year. By the time that Chrysostom was Bishop of Constantinople (398-404), Christ's birth was being observed on Dec. 25 throughout Christendom, though the Church in Armenia observed it on January 6. But how did it happen that the early Christians began observing Christmas on December 25? Why this date? There are two theories about why December 25 was chosen.

(1) The first theory holds that after careful research, Julius (337-352), Bishop of Rome, determined that Christ had been born on December 25; or at least he determined that December 25 was the best authenticated date in the Tradition. John Chrystostom states this in one of his writings (John Chrysostom, Homil. Diem Natal., 2; PL, 49, 552ff.). Chrysostom claims that Julius, after he had been requested by Cyril of Jerusalem, had the official records of the Roman census examined and determined that December 25 was the correct date. As Weiser points out, however, there is no evidence to back this up; in fact, "it was expressly stated in Rome that the actual date of the Saviour's birth was unknown and that different traditions prevailed in different parts of the world" (F. Weiser, Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Company, 1958, 61.). (2) The second theory states that the Church of Rome deliberately chose December 25 as the date of Christ's birth to turn people away from a pagan feast that was observed at the same time. Since the time of the Roman emperor Elagabulus (218-222), the god Sol Invictus (he Unconquered Sun god), had been one of the chief deities worshiped by the Romans. When emperor Aurelian (270-275) came to power, he sought to restore the worship of the Sun god to prominence and make him the chief deity. In the last years of his reign, Sol was hailed as "The Lord of the Roman Empire." Sol, along, with Jupiter, appeared on the coins Aurelian had minted. In 274, the emperor built a magnificent temple to Sun god, and established a new college of senators which he named "the priests of the Sun god." Finally, December 25 was observed as "the birthday of the Sun god" (natalis solis invicti). Because the Sun god was identifed with Mithra, a popular Persian god that also was viewed as the Sun god, pagan celebrations occurred throughout the empire on Dec. 25 (see Clement A. Miles, Christmas, New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1912, 23). The Church at Rome seems to have chosen this date to counteract this pagan feast of the sun god and turn people instead to the "Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings" (Malachi 4:2; Luke 1:78). Or put another way, Julius chose December 25 so that the Son of God rather than the Sun god would be worshiped. Though there no direct evidence that proves that the Church of Rome deliberately chose December 25 so that Christ's birth would replace "the birthday of the sun," we do have sermons from fathers of the church who soon after this used this line of reasoning. For example, Augustine (354-430) in his sermon 202 and Leo the Great (440-461 -- PL 54 Sources chrtiennes 22) gives this line of reasoning. Therefore, the second theory seems to be the probable one. December 25 was chosen not because it had somehow been proven from extra-biblical sources that Christ was definitely born on December 25. Rather the date was chosen to counteract a very popular pagan holiday that already had been occurring on this date. Given what we learned about emperor Constantine in the previous section, it is likely that his embracing of Christianity and example influenced the Church of Rome in doing what they did. But there is no evidence of Constantine's direct involvement. Now does the fact that the Church of Rome chose the same date to celebrate Christ's birth as a popular pagan festival mean that "Christmas is based on a pagan festival" or that "Christmas is pagan"? I don't think so! What kind of reasoning is that? It simply means that they chose the same day - why, we don't exactly know. Perhaps they chose it to keep Christians from taking part in the pagan festivities, or perhaps to entice pagans to join the Christian faith. If a group of Christians chose to celebrate Christ's birth on Halloween or on some well known Satanic day, would it be fair or right to accuse them of basing Christ's birth on paganism, so that from then on Christmas would be forever pagan? Of course not! In this case the Christians might be doing this to give themselves something Christian to celebrate on the day. Is that wrong? Placing a Christian feast on a well known non-Christian day does not make the Christian feast nonChristian. They are merely sharing the day. We worship our God on Sunday, which in Roman times, was the day dedicated to the Sun-god. Does that make our worship on Sunday pagan? Perhaps we should worship on Saturday. But that day in Roman times was named in honor of the god Saturn. Would that make our festivals on Saturday pagan? Of course not. But this is the kind of faulty logic used by the "Christmas is pagan" crowd. It gets worse. The "Christmas is pagan" argument typically asks a further question: Where did the Romans get their pagan festivals at the time of the winter solstice? Answer: From the paganism of ancient Babylon,

which was initiated by Nimrod and his wife, Semiramus. A classic example of this argument is found in a tract by the World Wide Church of God entitled, "The Plain Truth About Christmas," here quoted at some length. But if we got Christmas from the Roman Catholics, and they got it from paganism, where did the pagans get it? Where, when, and what as its real origin? It is a chief custom of the corrupt system denounced all through Bible prophecies and teachings under the name of Babylon. And it started and originated in the original Babylon of ancient Nimrod! Yes, it stems from roots whose beginning was shortly this side of the Flood! Nimrod, grandson of Ham, son of Noah, was the real founder of the Babylonish system that has gripped the world ever since . . . . Nimrod built the tower of Babel, the original Babylon, ancient Nineveh, and many other cities. He organized this world's first kingdom. The name Nimrod, in Hebrew, is derived from "Marad," meaning "he rebelled." . . . Nimrod was so evil, it is said he married his own mother, whose name was Semiramis. After Nimrod's untimely death, his so-called mother-wife, Semiramis, propagated the evil doctrine of the survival of Nimrod as a spirit being. She claimed a full-grown evergreen tree sprang overnight from a dead tree stump, which symbolized the springing forth unto new life the dead Nimrod. On each anniversary of his birth, she claimed, Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts upon it. December 25th was the birthday of Nimrod. This is the real origin of the Christmas tree. Through her scheming and designing, Semiramis became the Babylonian "Queen of Heaven," and Nimrod, under various names, became the "divine son of heaven." Through the generations, in this idolatrous worship, Nimrod also became the false Messiah, son of Baal the Sun-god. In this false Babylonish system, the "Mother and Child" (Semiramis and Nimrod reborn) became chief objects of worship. This worship of "Mother and Child" spread over the world. The names varied in different countries and languages. In Egypt it was Isis and Osiris. In Asia, Cybele and Deoius. . . . Thus, during the fourth and fifth centuries, when the pagans of the Roman world were "accepting" the new popular "Christianity" by the hundreds of thousands, carrying their old pagan customs and beliefs along with them, merely cloaking them with Christian-sounding names . . . . The real origin of Christmas goes back to ancient Babylon. It is bound up in the organized apostasy which has gripped a deceived world these many centuries! In Egypt, it was always believed that the son of Isis (Egyptian name for "Queen of Heaven") was born December 25th. Paganism celebrated this famous birthday over most of the known world for centuries before the birth of Christ. December 25th is not the birthday of Jesus the true Christ! So goes the argument, which is repeated by many different anti-Christmas authors. Where in the world did such an argument come from? This was the thesis of Alexander Hislop, who in the Nineteenth Century wrote a book entitled, "The Two Babylons: Or the Papal Worship Proved to be the Worship of Nimrod and His Wife." It was Hislop's thesis that the Roman Catholic Church was a direct descendent of the paganism of Nimrod and ancient Babylon. One of his arguments was that some of the chief holy days of the Roman Catholic Church, such as Christmas, prove this to be so. The stamp of Hislop's thesis is found all over most of the anti-Christmas literature that I've seen. But is his argument sound? Hardly. I have no doubt that Hislop consulted a vast amount of sources in writing his book. This is obvious in reading it. But some of its key arguments are flawed. He makes many philological leaps of faith to prove his points. For example, his entire argument rests on making the Babylonian "Ninus" the same person as the Biblical "Nimrod." (Nimrod is mentioned in only three places in the Scriptures, Gen. 10:8-12, 1 Chr. 1:10, and Micah 5:6). Only then can he claim that the wife of Nimrod was Semiramis, and that both were worshiped as divine mother and son, etc. Hislop himself recognizes how important this is, in this very interesting sentence: Now, assuming that Ninus is Nimrod, the way in which that assumption explains what is otherwise inexplicable in the statements of ancient history greatly confirms the truth of the assumption itself (The Two Babylons, 25). Got that? The point is that this turns out to be a big assumption. In other ancient literature, the father of Ninus was Bel, and it is said that he built the city of Nineveh. The Bible on the other hand says that Nimrod

built Nineveh, and that Cush was his father. The way in which Hislop attempts to reconcile this contradiction is a truly remarkable example of literary gymnastics that is hardly convincing. He argues that Bel is the same as Hermes/Mercury, and the same as Janus/Chaos, which is the same as Cush. Right. (See for yourself by reading the "The Two Babylons," 25-29). It is possible that Nimrod, the grandson of Cush, led people into pagan worship. But the argument that all paganism, and especially that all pagan festivals at the time of the winter solstice, can be traced back to Nimrod, just doesn't hold. To say it is a scholarly stretch is an understatement. Yet most of the "Christmas is pagan" literature bases its arguments on Hislop's thesis. Isn't it more likely, that many primitive cultures and religions would choose to celebrate the birth of their gods at a time when the sun began to grow stronger, and thus be reborn? Isn't it much more likely that this is the reason that so many pagan religions have festivals at the time of the winter solstice? I'll let you decide which thesis is stronger. The last part of the third anti-Christmas argument to be considered is that the origin of the customs were pagan and therefore Christmas is pagan. It is well known that most of the customs of Christmas were also observed in pagan culture and religion. Lights and mistletoe, trees and gift-giving, merry-making and revelry, yule logs and holly, and yes, Santa Claus, all found use or expression in ancient pagan religion and culture (The reader is encouraged to read my articles on "The Origin of the Christmas Tree," "The Origin of Santa Claus and the Christan Response," and the "Christian Customs FAQ."). But is similarity the same as dependence or derivation? In other words, just because we use similar customs does it mean in every case that these are directly derived from pagan religions? Cultures all over the world have used lights and trees, gift-giving and revelry for their celebrations. Why is it assumed that because Christians use these things at Christmas that they have taken them directly from paganism? If it is discovered that pagans drank milk or hugged their families at their pagan festivals, does that mean that if Christians do so, they are engaging in paganism? But this is the kind of logic used by the anti-Christmas crowd. Of course some Christmas customs are certainly taken from paganism. The use of the word yule and the various customs associated with it, for example, come from pagan culture. The word probably came the Anglo-Saxon geol, which meant "feast." It is thought that among the Anglo-Saxons, the time of the winter solstice was a time of a great feast. But so what? Is everything that was once used by paganism centuries ago, now off limits when Christians apply them to Christmas or other Christian festivals? Are we prepared to strictly apply that to everything we do? Why can't we use some of the same words, symbols or customs, which long ago ceased to be used in the worship of false gods? We need to remember that before pagans coopted them centuries ago, God had given many of the things used in custom, as good gifts to be enjoyed by his people. Why then can Christians not redeem these good gifts for their use as they celebrate Christmas? In my opinion, it is sufficient to point out to people the origin of these customs, and distinguish these "winter customs" from the true Christmas celebration, which has to do with the birth of God's Son, Jesus Christ. In my perfect world, people would call all of those customs "winter customs" or "holiday customs" rather than "Christmas customs." "Christmas" would only be used to refer to the Christian holy day that remembers Christ's birth. But I don't see that happening any time soon. We cannot and should not stop the peoples of the world from celebrating at the time of the winter solstice. There is obviously something in us that makes us want and need to celebrate at this time of the year. Therefore we should not be surprised that at this time of the year even non-Christians are celebrating "Christmas," that is, using many of the customs now called Christmas customs. I have not written this essay to condemn the "Christmas is pagan" crowd. And I certainly haven't written it to convince them that they must celebrate Christmas. Christians have never been commanded to celebrate

Christ's birth annually. Therefore they are free to do so or not do so. I have written this essay, however, to those dear Christians who have been falsely taught that celebrating Christmas is celebrating paganism, and they are wracked with guilt because of it. My message to them is: you are doing nothing wrong to celebrate the birth of God's Son; in fact, praising and thanking God for the gift of His Son is beautiful worship in the sight of God. There is also nothing wrong with using some of the winter customs, provided you keep them in perspective and don't allow them to bury the celebration of Christ's birth. May all who read this, have a truly joyous Christmas celebration.

Christmas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search "Christmas Day" redirects here. For other uses, see Christmas (disambiguation) and Christmas Day (disambiguation).

Christmas

Christmas decorations on display. Christ's Mass Nativity Also called Noel Feast of the Nativity Christians Observed by Many non-Christians[1] Type Christian, cultural Significance Traditional birthday of Jesus December 25 (alternatively January 6, Date 7 or 19)[2][3][4] (see below) Gift giving, church services, family Observances and other social gatherings, symbolic decorating Annunciation, Advent, Epiphany, Related to Baptism of the Lord Christmas or Christmas Day is a holiday[5][6][7] generally observed on December 25 (with alternative days of January 6, 7 and 19[2]) to commemorate the birth of Jesus, the

central figure of Christianity.[8][9] The exact birthday of Jesus is not known, and historians place his year of birth some time between 7 BC and 2 BC. Narratives of his birth are included in two of the Canonical gospels in the New Testament of the Bible. The date of Christmas may have initially been chosen to correspond with either the day exactly nine months after Christians believe Jesus to have been conceived,[10] the date of the Roman winter solstice,[11] or one of various ancient winter festivals.[10][12] Christmas is central to the Christmas and holiday season, and in Christianity marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days.[13] Although nominally a Christian holiday, Christmas is celebrated by an increasing number of non-Christians worldwide,[1][14][15] and many of its popular celebratory customs have pre-Christian or secular themes and origins. Popular modern customs of the holiday include gift-giving, music, an exchange of Christmas cards, church celebrations, a special meal, and the display of various decorations; including Christmas trees, lights, garlands, mistletoe, nativity scenes, and holly. In addition, several figures, known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, and Santa Claus, among other names, are associated with bringing gifts to children during the Christmas season.[16] Because gift-giving and many other aspects of the Christmas festival involve heightened economic activity among both Christians and non-Christians, the holiday has become a significant event and a key sales period for retailers and businesses. The economic impact of Christmas is a factor that has grown steadily over the past few centuries in many regions of the world.

Contents
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1 Etymology 2 Celebration o 2.1 Date of celebration 2.1.1 Using the Julian calendar o 2.2 Commemorating Jesus birth o 2.3 Decorations o 2.4 Music and carols o 2.5 Food o 2.6 Cards o 2.7 Stamps o 2.8 Gift giving 2.8.1 Legendary gift-bringing figures 3 History o 3.1 Pre-Christian background 3.1.1 Dies Natalis Solis Invicti 3.1.2 Winter festivals o 3.2 Christian feast 3.2.1 Feast established 3.2.2 Middle Ages o 3.3 Reformation into the 19th century 4 Controversy and criticism 5 Economics 6 See also 7 References and notes o 7.1 Further reading 8 External links

Etymology
The word Christmas originated as a compound meaning "Christ's Mass". It is derived from the Middle English Christemasse and Old English Cristes msse, a phrase first recorded in 1038.[9] "Cristes" is from Greek Christos and "msse" is from Latin missa (the holy mass).

Celebration
Further information: Christmas worldwide Christmas Day is celebrated as a major festival and public holiday in countries around the world, including many whose populations are mostly non-Christian. In some nonChristian countries, periods of former colonial rule introduced the celebration (e.g. Hong

Kong); in others, Christian minorities or foreign cultural influences have led populations to observe the holiday. Countries such as Japan and Korea, where Christmas is popular despite there being only a small number of Christians, have adopted many of the secular aspects of Christmas, such as gift-giving, decorations and Christmas trees. Notable countries in which Christmas is not a formal public holiday include People's Republic of China, (excepting Hong Kong and Macao), Japan, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Thailand, Nepal, Iran, Turkey and North Korea. Christmas celebrations around the world can vary markedly in form, reflecting differing cultural and national traditions. Among countries with a strong Christian tradition, a variety of Christmas celebrations have developed that incorporate regional and local cultures. For Christians, participating in a religious service plays an important part in the recognition of the season. Christmas, along with Easter, is the period of highest annual church attendance. In Catholic countries, the people hold religious processions or parades in the days preceding Christmas. In other countries, secular processions or parades featuring Santa Claus and other seasonal figures are often held. Family reunions and the exchange of gifts are a widespread feature of the season. Gift giving takes place on Christmas Day in most countries. Others practice gift giving on December 6, Saint Nicholas Day, and January 6, Epiphany.

The Nativity by Charles-Franois Poerson, 1667.

Date of celebration
For centuries, Christian writers accepted that Christmas was the actual date on which Jesus was born.[17] John Chrysostom preached a sermon in Antioch c. 386 which established the date of Christmas as December 25 on the Julian calendar since the conception of Jesus (Luke 1:26) had been announced during the sixth month of Elisabeth's pregnancy with John the Baptist (Luke 1:10-13) as dated from the duties

Zacharias performed on the Day of Atonement during the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar Ethanim or Tishri (Lev. 16:29, 1 Kings 8:2) which falls in September-October.[9] In the early 18th century, scholars began proposing alternative explanations. Isaac Newton argued that the date of Christmas was selected to correspond with the winter solstice,[11] which the Romans called bruma and celebrated on December 25.[18] In 1743, German Protestant Paul Ernst Jablonski argued Christmas was placed on December 25 to correspond with the Roman solar holiday Dies Natalis Solis Invicti and was therefore a "paganization" that debased the true church.[12] In 1889, Louis Duchesne suggested that the date of Christmas was calculated as nine months after Annunciation, the traditional date of the conception of Jesus.[19] The December 25 date may have been selected by the church in Rome in the early 4th century. At this time, a church calendar was created and other holidays were also placed on solar dates: "It is cosmic symbolism...which inspired the Church leadership in Rome to elect the winter solstice, December 25, as the birthday of Christ, and the summer solstice as that of John the Baptist, supplemented by the equinoxes as their respective dates of conception. While they were aware that pagans called this day the 'birthday' of Sol Invictus, this did not concern them and it did not play any role in their choice of date for Christmas," according to modern scholar S.E. Hijmans.[20] However, today, whether or not the birth date of Jesus is on December 25 is not considered to be an important issue in mainstream Christian denominations;[21][22][23] rather, celebrating the coming of God into the world in the form of man to atone for the sins of humanity is considered to be the primary meaning of Christmas.[21][22][23]

Using the Julian calendar

Eastern Orthodox national churches, including those of Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and the Greek Patriarchate of Jerusalem mark feasts using the older Julian calendar. December 25 on the Julian calendar currently corresponds to January 7 on the internationally-used Gregorian calendar. However, other Orthodox Christians, such as the churches of Greece, Romania, Antioch, Alexandria, Albania, Finland and the Orthodox Church in America, among others, began using the Revised Julian calendar in the early 20th century, which corresponds exactly to the Gregorian calendar.[4] These Orthodox Churches celebrate Christmas on the same day as Western Christianity. Oriental Orthodox churches also use their own calendars, which are generally similar to the Julian calendar. The Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates the nativity in combination with the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6. Armenian churches customarily use the Gregorian calendar, but some use the Julian calendar and thus celebrate Christmas Day on January 19, and Christmas Eve on January 18 (according to the Gregorian calendar).[4]

Commemorating Jesus birth

Main articles: Annunciation, Nativity of Jesus, and Child Jesus Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus to the Virgin Mary as a fulfillment of the Old Testament's Messianic prophecy.[24] The Bible contains two accounts which describe the events surrounding Jesus' birth. Depending on one's perspective, these accounts either differ from each other or tell two versions of the same story [25] [26][27][28] These biblical accounts are found in the Gospel of Matthew, namely Matthew 1:18, and the Gospel of Luke, specifically Luke 1:26 and 2:40. According to these accounts, Jesus was born to Mary, assisted by her husband Joseph, in the city of Bethlehem. According to popular tradition, the birth took place in a stable, surrounded by farm animals, though neither the stable nor the animals are specifically mentioned in the Biblical accounts. However, a manger is mentioned in Luke 2:7, where it states, "She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." Early iconographic representations of the nativity placed the animals and manger within a cave (located, according to tradition, under the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem). Shepherds from the fields surrounding Bethlehem were told of the birth by an angel, and were the first to see the child.[29] The Gospel of Matthew also describes a visit by several Magi, or astrologers, who bring gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the infant Jesus. The visitors were said to be following a mysterious star, commonly known as the Star of Bethlehem, believing it to announce the birth of a king of the Jews.[30] The commemoration of this visit, the Feast of Epiphany celebrated on January 6, is the formal end of the Christmas season in some churches.

Anbetung der Hirten (Adoration of the Shepherds) (c. 150010), by Italian painter Giorgio da Castelfranco Christians celebrate Christmas in various ways. In addition to this day being one of the most important and popular for the attendance of church services, there are other devotions and popular traditions. In some Christian denominations, children re-enact the events of the Nativity with animals to portray the event with more realism or sing carols that reference the event. Some Christians also display a small re-creation of the Nativity, known as a Nativity scene or crche, in their homes, using figurines to portray the key characters of the event. Prior to Christmas Day, the Eastern Orthodox Church practices

the 40-day Nativity Fast in anticipation of the birth of Jesus, while much of Western Christianity celebrates four weeks of Advent. The final preparations for Christmas are made on Christmas Eve. A long artistic tradition has grown of producing painted depictions of the nativity in art. Nativity scenes are traditionally set in a barn or stable and include Mary, Joseph, the child Jesus, angels, shepherds and the Three Wise Men: Balthazar, Melchior, and Caspar, who are said to have followed a star, known as the Star of Bethlehem, and arrived after his birth.[31]

Decorations
Main article: Christmas decoration See also: Christmas tree, Christmas lights, Christmas stocking, and Christmas ornament

Clifton Mill in Clifton, Ohio is the site of this Christmas display with over 3.5 million lights. The practice of putting up special decorations at Christmas has a long history. From preChristian times, people in the Roman Empire brought branches from evergreen plants indoors in the winter. Decorating with greenery was also part of Jewish tradition : "Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. " (Leviticus 23:40) Christians incorporated such customs in their developing practices. In the 15th century, it was recorded that in London it was the custom at Christmas for every house and all the parish churches to be "decked with holm, ivy, bays, and whatsoever the season of the year afforded to be green".[32] The heart-shaped leaves of ivy were said to symbolize the coming to earth of Jesus, while holly was seen as protection against pagans and witches, its thorns and red berries held to represent the Crown of Thorns worn by Jesus at the crucifixion and the blood he shed.[33][34]

A Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, New York City Nativity scenes are known from 10th-century Rome. They were popularised by Saint Francis of Asissi from 1223, quickly spreading across Europe.[35] Different types of decorations developed across the Christian world, dependent on local tradition and available resources. The first commercially produced decorations appeared in Germany in the 1860s, inspired by paper chains made by children.[36] In countries where a representation of the Nativity Scene is very popular, people are encouraged to compete and create the most original or realistic ones. Within some families, the pieces used to make the representation are considered a valuable family heirloom. The traditional colors of Christmas are green and red.[37] White, silver and gold are also popular. Red symbolizes the blood of Jesus, which was shed in his crucifixion, while green symbolizes eternal life, and in particular the evergreen tree, which does not lose its leaves in the winter.[34][37] The Christmas tree is considered by some as Christianisation of pagan tradition and ritual surrounding the Winter Solstice, which included the use of evergreen boughs, and an adaptation of pagan tree worship.[38] The English language phrase "Christmas tree" is first recorded in 1835[39] and represents an importation from the German language. The modern Christmas tree tradition is believed to have begun in Germany in the 18th century[38] though many argue that Martin Luther began the tradition in the 16th century.
[40][41]

From Germany the custom was introduced to Britain, first via Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, and then more successfully by Prince Albert during the reign of Queen Victoria. By 1841 the Christmas tree had become even more widespread throughout Britain.[42] By the 1870s, people in the United States had adopted the custom of putting up a Christmas tree.[43] Christmas trees may be decorated with lights and ornaments.

Saint Anselm College decorates with traditional candles in each window and a large Christmas wreath Since the 19th century, the poinsettia, a native plant from Mexico, has been associated with Christmas. Other popular holiday plants include holly, mistletoe, red amaryllis, and Christmas cactus. Along with a Christmas tree, the interior of a home may be decorated with these plants, along with garlands and evergreen foliage. The display of Christmas villages has also become a tradition in many homes during this season. The outside of houses may be decorated with lights and sometimes with illuminated sleighs, snowmen, and other Christmas figures. Other traditional decorations include bells, candles, candy canes, stockings, wreaths, and angels. Both the displaying of wreaths and candles in each window are a more traditional Christmas display. The concentric assortment of leaves, usually from an evergreen, make up Christmas wreaths and are designed to prepare Christians for the Advent season. Candles in each window are meant to demonstrate the fact that Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the ultimate light of the world.[44] Both of these antiquated, more subdued, Christmas displays are seen in the image to the right of Saint Anselm College. Christmas lights and banners may be hung along streets, music played from speakers, and Christmas trees placed in prominent places.[45] It is common in many parts of the world for town squares and consumer shopping areas to sponsor and display decorations. Rolls of brightly colored paper with secular or religious Christmas motifs are manufactured for the purpose of wrapping gifts. In some countries, Christmas decorations are traditionally taken down on Twelfth Night, the evening of January 5.

Music and carols

Main article: Christmas music

Christmas carolers in New Jersey. The first specifically Christmas hymns that we know of appear in 4th century Rome. Latin hymns such as Veni redemptor gentium, written by Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, were austere statements of the theological doctrine of the Incarnation in opposition to Arianism. Corde natus ex Parentis (Of the Father's love begotten) by the Spanish poet Prudentius (d. 413) is still sung in some churches today.[46] In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Christmas "Sequence" or "Prose" was introduced in North European monasteries, developing under Bernard of Clairvaux into a sequence of rhymed stanzas. In the 12th century the Parisian monk Adam of St. Victor began to derive music from popular songs, introducing something closer to the traditional Christmas carol. By the 13th century, in France, Germany, and particularly, Italy, under the influence of Francis of Asissi, a strong tradition of popular Christmas songs in the native language developed.[47] Christmas carols in English first appear in a 1426 work of John Awdlay, a Shropshire chaplain, who lists twenty-five "caroles of Cristemas", probably sung by groups of wassailers, who went from house to house.[48] The songs we know specifically as carols were originally communal folk songs sung during celebrations such as "harvest tide" as well as Christmas. It was only later that carols began to be sung in church. Traditionally, carols have often been based on medieval chord patterns, and it is this that gives them their uniquely characteristic musical sound. Some carols like "Personent hodie", "Good King Wenceslas", and "The Holly and the Ivy" can be traced directly back to the Middle Ages. They are among the oldest musical compositions still regularly sung. Adeste Fidelis (O Come all ye faithful) appears in its current form in the mid-18th century, although the words may have originated in the 13th century.

Child singers in Bucharest, 1841. Singing of carols initially suffered a decline in popularity after the Protestant Reformation in northern Europe, although some Reformers, like Martin Luther, wrote carols and encouraged their use in worship. Carols largely survived in rural communities until the revival of interest in popular songs in the 19th century. The 18th century English reformer Charles Wesley understood the importance of music to worship. In addition to setting many psalms to melodies, which were influential in the Great Awakening in the United States, he wrote texts for at least three Christmas carols. The best known was originally entitled "Hark! How All the Welkin Rings", later renamed "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing".[49] Felix Mendelssohn wrote a melody adapted to fit Wesley's words. In Austria in 1818 Mohr and Gruber made a major addition to the genre when they composed "Silent Night" for the St. Nicholas Church, Oberndorf. William B. Sandys' Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern (1833) contained the first appearance in print of many now-classic English carols, and contributed to the mid-Victorian revival of the festival.[50] Completely secular Christmas seasonal songs emerged in the late 18th century. "Deck The Halls" dates from 1784, and the American, "Jingle Bells" was copyrighted in 1857. In the 19th and 20th century, African American spirituals and songs about Christmas, based in their tradition of spirituals, became more widely known. An increasing number of seasonal holidays songs were commercially produced in the 20th century, including jazz and blues variations. In addition, there was a revival of interest in early music, from groups singing folk music, such as The Revels, to performers of early medieval and classical music.

Food
Further information: Christmas dinner

Christmas pudding A special Christmas family meal is traditionally an important part of the holiday's celebration, and the food that is served varies greatly from country to country. Some regions, such as Sicily, have special meals for Christmas Eve, when 12 kinds of fish are served. In England and countries influenced by its traditions, a standard Christmas meal includes turkey or goose, meat, gravy, potatoes, vegetables, sometimes bread and cider. Special desserts are also prepared, such as Christmas pudding, mince pies and fruit cake.
[51][52]

In Poland and other parts of eastern Europe and Scandinavia, fish often is used for the traditional main course, but richer meat such as lamb is increasingly served. In Germany, France and Austria, goose and pork are favored. Beef, ham and chicken in various recipes are popular throughout the world. The Maltese traditionally serve Imbuljuta tal-Qastan, [53] a chocolate and chestnuts beverage, after Midnight Mass and throughout the Christmas season. Slovaks prepare the traditional Christmas bread potica, bche de Nol in France, panettone in Italy, and elaborate tarts and cakes. The eating of sweets and chocolates has become popular worldwide, and sweeter Christmas delicacies include the German stollen, marzipan cake or candy, and Jamaican rum fruit cake. As one of the few fruits traditionally available to northern countries in winter, oranges have been long associated with special Christmas foods.

Cards
Main article: Christmas card Christmas cards are illustrated messages of greeting exchanged between friends and family members during the weeks preceding Christmas Day. The traditional greeting reads "wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year", much like that of the first commercial Christmas card, produced by Sir Henry Cole in London in 1843.[54] The custom of sending them has become popular among a wide cross-section of people with the emergence of the modern trend towards exchanging E-cards. Christmas cards are purchased in considerable quantities, and feature artwork, commercially designed and relevant to the season. The content of the design might relate directly to the Christmas narrative with depictions of the Nativity of Jesus, or Christian

symbols such as the Star of Bethlehem, or a white dove which can represent both the Holy Spirit and Peace on Earth. Other Christmas cards are more secular and can depict Christmas traditions, mythical figures such as Santa Claus, objects directly associated with Christmas such as candles, holly and baubles, or a variety of images associated with the season, such as Christmastime activities, snow scenes and the wildlife of the northern winter. There are even humorous cards and genres depicting nostalgic scenes of the past such as crinolined shoppers in idealized 19th century streetscapes. Some prefer cards with a poem, prayer or Biblical verse; while others distance themselves from religion with an all-inclusive "Season's greetings".

Stamps
Main article: Christmas stamp A number of nations have issued commemorative stamps at Christmastime. Postal customers will often use these stamps to mail Christmas cards, and they are popular with philatelists. These stamps are regular postage stamps, unlike Christmas seals, and are valid for postage year-round. They usually go on sale some time between early October and early December, and are printed in considerable quantities. In 1898 a Canadian stamp was issued to mark the inauguration of the Imperial Penny Postage rate. The stamp features a map of the globe and bears an inscription "XMAS 1898" at the bottom. In 1937, Austria issued two "Christmas greeting stamps" featuring a rose and the signs of the zodiac. In 1939, Brazil issued four semi-postal stamps with designs featuring the three kings and a star of Bethlehem, an angel and child, the Southern Cross and a child, and a mother and child. Both the US Postal Service and the Royal Mail regularly issue Christmas-themed stamps each year.

Gift giving
See also: Gift economy The exchanging of gifts is one of the core aspects of the modern Christmas celebration, making the Christmas season the most profitable time of year for retailers and businesses throughout the world. Gift giving was common in the Roman celebration of Saturnalia, an ancient festival which took place in late December and may have influenced Christmas customs.[55] Christmas gift giving was banned by the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages due to its suspected pagan origins.[55] It was later rationalized by the Church on the basis that it associated St. Nicholas with Christmas, and that gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh were given to the infant Jesus by the Biblical Magi.

Legendary gift-bringing figures

Main articles: Santa Claus and Father Christmas See also: Saint Nicholas and Saint Basil

Sinterklaas or Saint Nicholas, considered by many to be the original Santa Claus. A number of figures of both Christian and mythical origin have been associated with Christmas and the seasonal giving of gifts. Among these are Father Christmas, also known as Santa Claus, Pre Nol, and the Weihnachtsmann; Saint Nicholas or Sinterklaas; the Christkind; Kris Kringle; Joulupukki; Babbo Natale; Saint Basil; and Father Frost. The most famous and pervasive of these figures in modern celebration worldwide is Santa Claus, a mythical gift bringer, dressed in red, whose origins have diverse sources. The name Santa Claus can be traced back to the Dutch Sinterklaas, which means simply Saint Nicholas. Nicholas was Bishop of Myra, in modern day Turkey, during the 4th century. Among other saintly attributes, he was noted for the care of Children, generosity, and the giving of gifts. His feast on the 6th of December came to be celebrated in many countries with the giving of gifts.[56] Saint Nicholas traditionally appeared in bishop's attire, accompanied by helpers, inquiring about the behaviour of children during the past year before deciding whether they deserved a gift or not. By the 13th century, Saint Nicholas was well known in the Netherlands, and the practice of gift-giving in his name spread to other parts of central and southern Europe. At the Reformation in 16th17th century Europe, many Protestants changed the gift bringer to the Christ Child or Christkindl, corrupted in English to Kris Kringle, and the date of giving gifts changed from December the 6th to Christmas Eve.[56]

The modern popular image of Santa Claus, however, was created in the United States, and in particular in New York. The transformation was accomplished with the aid of notable contributors including Washington Irving and the German-American cartoonist Thomas Nast (18401902). Following the American Revolutionary War, some of the inhabitants of New York City sought out symbols of the city's non-English past. New York had originally been established as the Dutch colonial town of New Amsterdam and the Dutch Sinterklaas tradition was reinvented as Saint Nicholas.[57] In 1809, the New-York Historical Society convened and retroactively named Sancte Claus the patron saint of Nieuw Amsterdam, the Dutch name for New York City.[58] At his first American appearance in 1810, Santa Claus was drawn in bishops' robes. However as new artists took over, Santa Claus developed more secular attire.[59] Nast drew a new image of "Santa Claus" annually, beginning in 1863. By the 1880s, Nast's Santa had evolved into the robed, fur clad, form we now recognize, perhaps based on the English figure of Father Christmas. The image was standardized by advertisers in the 1920s.[60]

Santa Claus is famous around the world for giving gifts to good children. Father Christmas, a jolly, well nourished, bearded man who typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas, predates the Santa Claus character. He is first recorded in early 17th century England, but was associated with holiday merrymaking and drunkenness rather than the bringing of gifts.[39] In Victorian Britain, his image was remade to match that of Santa. The French Pre Nol evolved along similar lines, eventually adopting the Santa image. In Italy, Babbo Natale acts as Santa Claus, while La Befana is the bringer of gifts and arrives on the eve of the Epiphany. It is said that La Befana set out to bring the baby Jesus gifts, but got lost along the way. Now, she brings gifts to all children. In some cultures Santa Claus is accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht, or Black Peter. In other versions, elves make the toys. His wife is referred to as Mrs. Claus. There has been some opposition to the narrative of the American evolution of Saint Nicholas into the modern Santa. It has been claimed that the Saint Nicholas Society was not founded until 1835, almost half a century after the end of the American War of Independence.[61] Moreover, a study of the "children's books, periodicals and journals" of New Amsterdam by Charles Jones revealed no references to Saint Nicholas or

Sinterklaas.[62] However, not all scholars agree with Jones's findings, which he reiterated in a booklength study in 1978;[63] Howard G. Hageman, of New Brunswick Theological Seminary, maintains that the tradition of celebrating Sinterklaas in New York was alive and well from the early settlement of the Hudson Valley on.[64] Current tradition in several Latin American countries (such as Venezuela and Colombia) holds that while Santa makes the toys, he then gives them to the Baby Jesus, who is the one who actually delivers them to the children's homes, a reconciliation between traditional religious beliefs and the iconography of Santa Claus imported from the United States. In South Tyrol (Italy), Austria, Czech Republic, Southern Germany, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Slovakia and Switzerland, the Christkind (Jeek in Czech, Jzuska in Hungarian and Jeiko in Slovak) brings the presents. The German St. Nikolaus is not identical with the Weihnachtsmann (who is the German version of Santa Claus/Father Christmas). St. Nikolaus wears a bishop's dress and still brings small gifts (usually candies, nuts and fruits) on December 6 and is accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht. Although many parents around the world routinely teach their children about Santa Claus and other gift bringers, some have come to reject this practice, considering it deceptive.[65]

History

Mosaic of Jesus as Christo Sole (Christ the Sun) in Mausoleum M in the pre-fourthcentury necropolis under St Peter's Basilica in Rome.[66]

Pre-Christian background

Dies Natalis Solis Invicti

Main article: Sol Invictus Dies Natalis Solis Invicti means "the birthday of the unconquered sun". Modern scholars have argued that the festival was placed on the date of the solstice because this was on this day that the Sun reversed its southward retreat and proved itself

to be "unconquered".[citation needed] Some early Christian writers connected the rebirth of the sun to the birth of Jesus.[9] "O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born...Christ should be born", Cyprian wrote.[9] John Chrysostom also commented on the connection: "They call it the 'Birthday of the Unconquered'. Who indeed is so unconquered as Our Lord . . .?"[9] Although Dies Natalis Solis Invicti has been the subject of a great deal of scholarly speculation,.[citation needed] the only ancient source for it is a single mention in the Chronography of 354, and modern Sol scholar Steven Hijmans argues that there is no evidence that the celebration precedes that of Christmas:[20] "[W]hile the winter solstice on or around the 25th of December was well established in the Roman imperial calendar, there is no evidence that a religious celebration of Sol on that day antedated the celebration of Christmas, and none that indicates that Aurelian had a hand in its institution."[20]

Winter festivals
Main article: List of winter festivals A winter festival was the most popular festival of the year in many cultures. Reasons included the fact that less agricultural work needs to be done during the winter, as well as an expectation of better weather as spring approached.[67] Modern Christmas customs include: gift-giving and merrymaking from Roman Saturnalia; greenery, lights, and charity from the Roman New Year; and Yule logs and various foods from Germanic feasts.[68] Pagan Scandinavia celebrated a winter festival called Yule, held in the late December to early January period.[citation needed] As Northern Europe was the last part to Christianize, its pagan traditions had a major influence on Christmas, especially Koleda,[69] which was incorporated into the Christmas carol. Scandinavians still call Christmas Jul. In English, the word Yule is synonymous with Christmas,[70] a usage first recorded in 900.

Christian feast
The New Testament does not give a date for the birth of Jesus.[9][71] Around AD 200, Clement of Alexandria wrote that a group in Egypt celebrated the nativity on 25 Pashons. [9] This corresponds to May 20.[72] Tertullian (d. 220) does not mention Christmas as a major feast day in the Church of Roman Africa.[9] However, in Chronographai, a reference work published in 221, Sextus Julius Africanus suggested that Jesus was conceived on the spring equinox, popularizing the idea that Christ was born on December 25.[73][74] The equinox was March 25 on the Roman calendar, so this implied a birth in December.[75] In 245, the theologian Origen of Alexandria stated that, "only sinners (like Pharaoh and Herod)" celebrated their birthdays.[76] In 303, Christian writer Arnobius ridiculed the idea of celebrating the birthdays of gods. However, since Christmas does not celebrate Christ's birth "as God" but "as man", this is not evidence against Christmas being a feast at this

time.[9] Moreover, the fact that the innovation rejecting Donatist Church of North Africa celebrated Christmas suggests that the feast had been established before the living memory of those who began that Church in 311.

Feast established
The earliest known reference to the date of the nativity as December 25 is found in the Chronography of 354, an illuminated manuscript compiled in Rome.[77] In the East, early Christians celebrated the birth of Christ as part of Epiphany (January 6), although this festival emphasized celebration of the baptism of Jesus.[78] Christmas was promoted in the Christian East as part of the revival of Catholicism following the death of the pro-Arian Emperor Valens at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. The feast was introduced to Constantinople in 379, and to Antioch in about 380. The feast disappeared after Gregory of Nazianzus resigned as bishop in 381, although it was reintroduced by John Chrysostom in about 400.[9]

The Examination and Trial of Father Christmas, (1686), published shortly after Christmas was reinstated as a holy day in England.

Middle Ages
In the Early Middle Ages, Christmas Day was overshadowed by Epiphany, which in the west focused on the visit of the magi. But the Medieval calendar was dominated by Christmas-related holidays. The forty days before Christmas became the "forty days of St. Martin" (which began on November 11, the feast of St. Martin of Tours), now known as Advent.[79] In Italy, former Saturnalian traditions were attached to Advent.[79] Around the 12th century, these traditions transferred again to the Twelve Days of Christmas (December 25 January 5); a time that appears in the liturgical calendars as Christmastide or Twelve Holy Days.[79]

The prominence of Christmas Day increased gradually after Charlemagne was crowned Emperor on Christmas Day in 800. King Edmund the Martyr was anointed on Christmas in 855 and King William I of England was crowned on Christmas Day 1066. By the High Middle Ages, the holiday had become so prominent that chroniclers routinely noted where various magnates celebrated Christmas. King Richard II of England hosted a Christmas feast in 1377 at which twenty-eight oxen and three hundred sheep were eaten.[79] The Yule boar was a common feature of medieval Christmas feasts. Caroling also became popular, and was originally a group of dancers who sang. The group was composed of a lead singer and a ring of dancers that provided the chorus. Various writers of the time condemned caroling as lewd, indicating that the unruly traditions of Saturnalia and Yule may have continued in this form.[79] "Misrule" drunkenness, promiscuity, gamblingwas also an important aspect of the festival. In England, gifts were exchanged on New Year's Day, and there was special Christmas ale.
[79]

Christmas during the Middle Ages was a public festival that incorporated ivy, holly, and other evergreens.[80] Christmas gift-giving during the Middle Ages was usually between people with legal relationships, such as tenant and landlord.[80] The annual indulgence in eating, dancing, singing, sporting, and card playing escalated in England, and by the 17th century the Christmas season featured lavish dinners, elaborate masques and pageants. In 1607, King James I insisted that a play be acted on Christmas night and that the court indulge in games.[81] It was during the Reformation in 16th17th century Europe that many Protestants changed the gift bringer to the Christ Child or Christkindl, and the date of giving gifts changed from December 6 to Christmas Eve.[56]

Reformation into the 19th century

Ebenezer Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present. From Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, 1843. Following the Protestant Reformation, groups such as the Puritans strongly condemned the celebration of Christmas, considering it a Catholic invention and the "trappings of popery" or the "rags of the Beast."[82] The Catholic Church responded by promoting the festival in a more religiously oriented form. King Charles I of England directed his noblemen and gentry to return to their landed estates in midwinter to keep up their old style Christmas generosity.[81] Following the Parliamentarian victory over Charles I during the English Civil War, England's Puritan rulers banned Christmas in 1647.[82] Protests followed as pro-Christmas rioting broke out in several cities and for weeks Canterbury was controlled by the rioters, who decorated doorways with holly and shouted royalist slogans.[82] The book, The Vindication of Christmas (London, 1652), argued against the Puritans, and makes note of Old English Christmas traditions, dinner, roast apples on the fire, card playing, dances with "plow-boys" and "maidservants", and carol singing.[83] The Restoration of King Charles II in 1660 ended the ban, but many clergymen still disapproved of Christmas celebration. In Scotland, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland also discouraged observance of Christmas. James VI commanded its celebration in 1618, however attendance at church was scant.[84] In Colonial America, the Puritans of New England shared radical Protestant disapproval of Christmas. Celebration was outlawed in Boston from 1659 to 1681. The ban by the Pilgrims was revoked in 1681 by English governor Sir Edmund Andros, however it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in the Boston region.[85] At the same time, Christian residents of Virginia and New York observed the holiday freely. Pennsylvania German Settlers, pre-eminently the Moravian settlers of Bethlehem, Nazareth and Lititz in Pennsylvania and the Wachovia Settlements in North Carolina, were enthusiastic celebrators of Christmas. The Moravians in Bethlehem had the first Christmas trees in America as well as the first Nativity Scenes.[86] Christmas fell out of favor in the United States after the American Revolution, when it was considered an English custom.[87] George Washington attacked Hessian (German) mercenaries on Christmas during the Battle of Trenton in 1777, Christmas being much more popular in Germany than in America at this time. By the 1820s, sectarian tension had eased in Britain and writers, including William Winstanly, began to worry that Christmas was dying out. These writers imagined Tudor Christmas as a time of heartfelt celebration, and efforts were made to revive the holiday. In 1843, Charles Dickens wrote the novel A Christmas Carol, that helped revive the 'spirit' of Christmas and seasonal merriment.[88][89] Its instant popularity played a major role in portraying Christmas as a holiday emphasizing family, goodwill, and compassion.
[90]

The Queen's Christmas tree at Windsor Castle published in the Illustrated London News, 1848, and republished in Godey's Lady's Book, Philadelphia, December 1850. Dickens sought to construct Christmas as a family-centered festival of generosity, in contrast to the community-based and church-centered observations, the observance of which had dwindled during the late 18th century and early 19th century.[91] Superimposing his secular vision of the holiday, Dickens influenced many aspects of Christmas that are celebrated today in Western culture, such as family gatherings, seasonal food and drink, dancing, games, and a festive generosity of spirit.[92] A prominent phrase from the tale, 'Merry Christmas', was popularized following the appearance of the story.[93] The term Scrooge became a synonym for miser, with 'Bah! Humbug!' dismissive of the festive spirit.[94] In 1843, the first commercial Christmas card was produced by Sir Henry Cole.[95] The revival of the Christmas Carol began with William B. Sandys Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern (1833), with the first appearance in print of 'The First Noel', 'I Saw Three Ships', 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing' and 'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen', popularized in Dickens' A Christmas Carol. In Britain, the Christmas tree was introduced in the early 19th century following the personal union with the Kingdom of Hanover, by Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen to King George III. In 1832 a young Queen Victoria wrote about her delight at having a Christmas tree, hung with lights, ornaments, and presents placed round it.[96] After her marriage to her German cousin Prince Albert, by 1841 the custom became more widespread throughout Britain.[42] An image of the British royal family with their Christmas tree at Windsor Castle, created a sensation when it was published in the Illustrated London News in 1848. A modified version of this image was published in the United States in 1850.[43][97] By the 1870s, putting up a Christmas tree had become common in America.[43]

A Norwegian Christmas, 1846 painting by Adolph Tidemand. In America, interest in Christmas had been revived in the 1820s by several short stories by Washington Irving which appear in his The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon and "Old Christmas". Irving's stories depicted harmonious warm-hearted English Christmas festivities he experienced while staying in Aston Hall, Birmingham, England, that had largely been abandoned,[98] and he used the tract Vindication of Christmas (1652) of Old English Christmas traditions, that he had transcribed into his journal as a format for his stories.[81] In 1822, Clement Clarke Moore wrote the poem A Visit From St. Nicholas (popularly known by its first line: Twas the Night Before Christmas).[99] The poem helped popularize the tradition of exchanging gifts, and seasonal Christmas shopping began to assume economic importance.[100] This also started the cultural conflict of the holiday's spiritualism and its commercialism that some see as corrupting the holiday. In her 1850 book "The First Christmas in New England", Harriet Beecher Stowe includes a character who complains that the true meaning of Christmas was lost in a shopping spree.[101] While the celebration of Christmas was not yet customary in some regions in the U.S., Henry Wadsworth Longfellow detected "a transition state about Christmas here in New England" in 1856. "The old puritan feeling prevents it from being a cheerful, hearty holiday; though every year makes it more so".[102] In Reading, Pennsylvania, a newspaper remarked in 1861, "Even our presbyterian friends who have hitherto steadfastly ignored Christmas threw open their church doors and assembled in force to celebrate the anniversary of the Savior's birth".[102] The First Congregational Church of Rockford, Illinois, 'although of genuine Puritan stock', was 'preparing for a grand Christmas jubilee', a news correspondent reported in 1864.[102] By 1860, fourteen states including several from New England had adopted Christmas as a legal holiday.[103] In 1870, Christmas was formally declared a United States Federal holiday, signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant.[103] Subsequently,

in 1875, Louis Prang introduced the Christmas card to Americans. He has been called the "father of the American Christmas card".[104]

Controversy and criticism

Main article: Christmas controversy Throughout the holiday's history, Christmas has been the subject of both controversy and criticism from a wide variety of different sources. The first documented Christmas controversy was Christian-led, and began during the English Interregnum, when England was ruled by a Puritan Parliament.[105] Puritans (including those who fled to America) sought to remove the remaining pagan elements of Christmas. During this brief period, the English Parliament banned the celebration of Christmas entirely, considering it "a popish festival with no biblical justification", and a time of wasteful and immoral behavior.[106] Controversy and criticism continues in the present-day, where some Christian and nonChristians have claimed that an affront to Christmas (dubbed a "war on Christmas" by some) is ongoing.[107][108] In the United States there has been a tendency to replace the greeting Merry Christmas with Happy Holidays.[109] Groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union have initiated court cases to bar the display of images and other material referring to Christmas from public property, including schools.[110] Such groups argue that government-funded displays of Christmas imagery and traditions violate the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prohibits the establishment by Congress of a national religion.[111] In 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Lynch vs. Donnelly that a Christmas display (which included a Nativity scene) owned and displayed by the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island did not violate the First Amendment.[112] In November 2009, the Federal appeals court in Philadelphia endorsed a school district's ban on the singing of Christmas carols.[113] In the private sphere also, it has been alleged that any specific mention of the term "Christmas" or its religious aspects was being increasingly censored, avoided, or discouraged by a number of advertisers and retailers. In response, the American Family Association and other groups have organized boycotts of individual retailers.[114] In the United Kingdom there have been some minor controversies, one of the most famous being the temporary promotion of the Christmas period as Winterval by Birmingham City Council in 1998. There were also protests in November 2009 when the city of Dundee promoted its celebrations as the Winter Night Light festival, initially with no specific Christmas references.[115]

Economics
See also: Christmas by medium, Christmas tree production, Christmas tree cultivation, and Christmas Price Index

Christmas market in Metz, France. Christmas is typically the largest annual economic stimulus for many nations around the world. Sales increase dramatically in almost all retail areas and shops introduce new products as people purchase gifts, decorations, and supplies. In the U.S., the "Christmas shopping season" starts as early as October.[116][117] In Canada, merchants begin advertising campaigns just before Halloween (October 31), and step up their marketing following Remembrance Day on November 11. In the UK and Ireland, the Christmas shopping season starts from mid November, around the time when high street Christmas lights are turned on.[118][119] In the United States, it has been calculated that a quarter of all personal spending takes place during the Christmas/holiday shopping season.[120] Figures from the U.S. Census Bureau reveal that expenditure in department stores nationwide rose from $20.8 billion in November 2004 to $31.9 billion in December 2004, an increase of 54 percent. In other sectors, the pre-Christmas increase in spending was even greater, there being a November December buying surge of 100 percent in bookstores and 170 percent in jewelry stores. In the same year employment in American retail stores rose from 1.6 million to 1.8 million in the two months leading up to Christmas.[121] Industries completely dependent on Christmas include Christmas cards, of which 1.9 billion are sent in the United States each year, and live Christmas Trees, of which 20.8 million were cut in the USA in 2002.[122] In the UK in 2010, up to 8 billion was expected to be spent online at Christmas, approximately a quarter of total retail festive sales.[119] In most Western nations, Christmas Day is the least active day of the year for business and commerce; almost all retail, commercial and institutional businesses are closed, and almost all industries cease activity (more than any other day of the year), whether laws require such or not. In England and Wales, the Christmas Day (Trading) Act 2004 prevents all large shops from trading on Christmas Day. Scotland is currently planning similar legislation. Film studios release many high-budget movies during the holiday season, including Christmas films, fantasy movies or high-tone dramas with high production values. One economist's analysis calculates that, despite increased overall spending, Christmas is a deadweight loss under orthodox microeconomic theory, because of the effect of giftgiving. This loss is calculated as the difference between what the gift giver spent on the item and what the gift receiver would have paid for the item. It is estimated that in 2001, Christmas resulted in a $4 billion deadweight loss in the U.S. alone.[123][124] Because of complicating factors, this analysis is sometimes used to discuss possible flaws in current microeconomic theory. Other deadweight losses include the effects of Christmas on the

environment and the fact that material gifts are often perceived as white elephants, imposing cost for upkeep and storage and contributing to clutter.[125]

See also
Christmas portal Holidays portal

Christmas Eve Christmas Sunday Christmas worldwide Little Christmas Midwinter Christmas Midwinter Twelve days of Christmas Yuletide Waffle_day (March 25th, 9 months before Christmas)

References and notes

1. ^ a b Christmas as a Multi-faith FestivalBBC News. Retrieved September 30, 2008. 2. ^ a b Several traditions of Eastern Christianity that use the Julian calendar also celebrate on December 25 according to that calendar, which is now January 7 on the Gregorian calendar. Armenian Churches observed the nativity on January 6 even before the Gregorian calendar originated. Most Armenian Christians use the Gregorian calendar, still celebrating Christmas Day on January 6. Some Armenian churches use the Julian calendar, thus celebrating Christmas Day on January 19 on the Gregorian calendar, with January 18 being Christmas Eve. 3. ^ Ramzy, John. "The Glorious Feast of Nativity: 7 January? 29 Kiahk? 25 December?". Coptic Orthodox Church Network. http://www.copticchurch.net/topics/coptic_calendar/nativitydate.html. Retrieved January 17, 2011. 4. ^ a b c "Christmas in Bethlehem". http://www.sacreddestinations.com/israel/bethlehem-christmas. 5. ^ Canadian Heritage Public holidays Government of Canada. Retrieved November 27, 2009. 6. ^ 2009 Federal Holidays U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Retrieved November 27, 2009. 7. ^ Bank holidays and British Summer time HM Government. Retrieved November 27, 2009. 8. ^ Christmas, Merriam-Webster. Retrieved October 6, 2008. Archived 2009-10-31. 9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Christmas", The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913.

10. ^ a b McGowan, Andrew. "How December 25 Became Christmas, Biblical Archaeology Review, Retrieved 2009-12-13". Bib-arch.org. http://www.bibarch.org/e-features/christmas.asp. Retrieved 2011-02-24. 11. ^ a b Newton, Isaac, Observations on the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John (1733). Ch. XI. A sun connection is possible because Christians consider Jesus to be the "sun of righteousness" prophesied in Malachi 4:2. 12. ^ a b "Christmas", Encarta Roll, Susan K., Toward the Origins of Christmas, (Peeters Publishers, 1995), p.130. Tighe, William J., "Calculating Christmas". Archived 2009-10-31. 13. ^ "The Christmas Season". CRI / Voice, Institute. http://www.cresourcei.org/cyxmas.html. Retrieved 2008-12-25. 14. ^ Why I celebrate Christmas, by the world's most famous atheist DailyMail. December 23, 2008. Retrieved December 20, 2010. 15. ^ Non-Christians focus on secular side of Christmas Sioux City Journal. Retrieved November 18, 2009. 16. ^ "Poll: In a changing nation, Santa endures", Associated Press, December 22, 2006. Retrieved November 18, 2009. 17. ^ For example, Pope Benedict XIV argued in 1761 that the church fathers would have known the correct date of birth from Roman census records. (Roll, Susan K., Toward the Origins of Christmas, (Peeters Publishers, 1995), p. 129.) 18. ^ "Bruma", Seasonal Festivals of the Greeks and Romans Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 18:59 19. ^ Roll, pp. 8890. Duchesne, Louis, Les Origines du Culte Chrtien, Paris, 1902, 262 ff. 20. ^ a b c S.E. Hijmans, Sol, the sun in the art and religions of Rome, 2009, pp. 587588. 21. ^ a b The Liturgical Year. Thomas Nelson. 2009-11-03. ISBN 9780849901195. http://books.google.com/? id=inhMGc5732kC&pg=PT40&dq=date+of+christmas+important#v=onepage&q =date%20of%20christmas%20important&f=false. Retrieved 2009-04-02. "Christmas is not really about the celebration of a birth date at all. It is about the celebration of a birth. The fact of the date and the fact of the birth are two different things. The calendrical verification of the feast itself is not really that important...What is important to the understanding of a life-changing moment is that it happened, not necessarily where of when it happened. The message is clear: Christmas is not about marking the actual birth date of Jesus. It is about the Incarnation of the One who became like us in all things but sin (Heb. 4:15) and who humbled Himself "to the point of death-even death on a cross" (Phil. 2:8). Christmas is a pinnacle feast, yes, but it is not the beginning of the liturgical year. It is a memorial, a remembrance, of the birth of Jesus, not really a celebration of the day itself. We remember that because the Jesus of history was born, the Resurrection of the Christ of faith could happen." 22. ^ a b "The Christmas Season". CRI / Voice, Institute. http://www.crivoice.org/cyxmas.html. Retrieved 2009-04-02.

23. ^ a b The School Journal, Volume 49. Harvard University. 1894. http://books.google.com/? id=x_kBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA469&dq=date+of+christmas+unimportant#v=onep age&q=date%20of%20christmas%20unimportant&f=false. Retrieved 2009-0402. "Throughout the Christian world the 25th of December is celebrated as the birthday of Jesus Christ. There was a time when the churches were not united regarding the date of the joyous event. Many Christians kept their Christmas in April, others in May, and still others at the close of September, till finally December 25 was agreed upon as the most appropriate date. The choice of that day was, of course, wholly arbitrary, for neither the exact date not the period of the year at which the birth of Christ occurred is known. For purposes of commemoration, however, it is unimportant whether the celebration shall fall or not a the precise anniversary of the joyous event." 24. ^ Geza Vermes, The Nativity: History and Legend, London, Penguin, 2006, p22.; E. P. Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus, 1993, p.85. 25. ^ Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing The Hidden Contradictions In The Bible (And Why We Don't Know About Them), Harper Collins, 2009, Bart D. Ehrman, P. 19-60 26. ^ Larry W. Hurtado (2005-12-15). Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity. Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. ISBN 9780802831675. http://books.google.com/? id=k32wZRMxltUC&pg=PA327&dq=nativity+accounts#v=onepage&q=nativity %20accounts&f=false. Retrieved 2010-12-02. "Yet, as in a number of other matters, in this emphasis Matthew essentially has extended and elaborated an affirmation that is already made in Mark, which opens (1:2-3) with a citation of "Isaiah the prophet" to introduce and frame the ensuing story of Jesus. The Lukan nativity account shows a similar concern and emphasis, even though the author uses different techniques in presenting them." 27. ^ JPH. "The Nativity Stories Harmonized". TEKTON. http://www.tektonics.org/af/birthnarr.html. Retrieved 2010-12-02. 28. ^ Richard Bruce. "Reconciling the Nativity Stories of Matthew and Luke". http://richleebruce.com/miracle/nativity.html. Retrieved 2010-12-02. 29. ^ "Luke 2:16". Biblegateway.com. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%202:1-16;&version=9;. Retrieved 2011-02-24. 30. ^ Matthew 2:2. 31. ^ "Matthew 2:111". Biblegateway.com. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%202:1-11;&version=9;. Retrieved 2011-02-24. 32. ^ Miles, Clement A, Christmas customs and traditions, Courier Dover Publications, 1976, ISBN 0-486-23354-5, p. 272. 33. ^ Heller, Ruth, Christmas: Its Carols, Customs & Legends, Alfred Publishing (1985), ISBN 0-7692-4399-1, p. 12. 34. ^ a b Ace Collins (2010-04-01). Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas. Zondervan. ISBN 9780310873884. http://books.google.com/?

id=mo8vgZoROl8C&pg=PT71&dq=christmas+colors#v=onepage&q=christmas %20colors&f=false. Retrieved 2010-12-02. 35. ^ Collins, Ace, Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas, Zondervan, (2003), ISBN 0-310-24880-9 p.47. 36. ^ Collins p. 83. 37. ^ a b Hal Siemer, Christmas Magic: The History and Traditions of the Holiday, QuestMagazine.com, 2004-12-02. 38. ^ a b van Renterghem, Tony. When Santa was a shaman. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1995. ISBN 1-56718-765-X 39. ^ a b Harper, Douglas, Christ, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001. 40. ^ "The Chronological History of the Christmas Tree". The Christmas Archives. http://www.christmasarchives.com/trees.html. Retrieved 2007-12-18. 41. ^ "Christmas Tradition The Christmas Tree Custom". Fashion Era. http://www.fashion-era.com/Christmas/christmas_customs_tree_history.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-18. 42. ^ a b Lejeune, Marie Claire. Compendium of symbolic and ritual plants in Europe, p.550. University of Michigan ISBN 90-77135-04-9 43. ^ a b c Shoemaker, Alfred Lewis. (1959) Christmas in Pennsylvania: a folk-cultural study. Edition 40. pp. 52, 53. Stackpole Books 1999. ISBN 0-81170328-2. 44. ^ http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=1173 45. ^ Murray, Brian. "Christmas lights and community building in America," History Matters, Spring 2006. 46. ^ Miles, Clement, Christmas customs and traditions, Courier Dover Publications, 1976, ISBN 0-486-23354-5, p.32 47. ^ Miles, pp. 3137 48. ^ Miles, pp. 4748 49. ^ Dudley-Smith, Timothy (1987). A Flame of Love. London: Triangle/SPCK. ISBN 0-281-04300-0. 50. ^ Richard Michael Kelly. A Christmas carol p.10. Broadview Press, 2003 ISBN 1-55111-476-3 51. ^ Broomfield, Andrea (2007) Food and cooking in Victorian England: a history pp.149-150. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007 52. ^ Muir, Frank (1977) Christmas customs & traditions p.58. Taplinger Pub. Co., 1977 53. ^ Imbuljuta 54. ^ Christmas card sold for record price BBC News. Retrieved 28 October 2011 55. ^ a b The Origin of the American Christmas Myth and Customs Ball State University. Swartz Jr., BK. Archived version retrieved October 19, 2011. 56. ^ a b c Forbes, Bruce David, Christmas: a candid history, University of California Press, 2007, ISBN 0-520-25104-0, pp. 6879. 57. ^ Jona Lendering (2008-11-20). "Saint Nicholas, Sinterklaas, Santa Claus". Livius.org. http://www.livius.org/nenn/nicholas/nicholas_of_myra3.html#New. Retrieved 2011-02-24.

58. ^ John Steele Gordon, The Great Game: The Emergence of Wall Street as a World Power: 16532000 (Scribner) 1999. 59. ^ Forbes, Bruce David, Christmas: a candid history, pp. 8081. 60. ^ Mikkelson, Barbara and David P., "The Claus That Refreshes", Snopes.com, 2006. 61. ^ "History of the Society". The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York. http://www.saintnicholassociety.org/history.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-05. 62. ^ Jones, Charles W.. "Knickerbocker Santa Claus". The New-York Historical Society Quarterly XXXVIII (4) 63. ^ Charles W. Jones, Saint Nicholas of Myra, Bari, and Manhattan: Biography of a Legend (Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1978). 64. ^ Hageman, Howard G. (1979). "Review of Saint Nicholas of Myra, Bari, and Manhattan: Biography of a Legend". Theology Today (Princeton: Princeton Theological Seminary) 36 (3). http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/oct1979/v36-3bookreview15.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-05 65. ^ Matera, Mariane. "Santa: The First Great Lie", Citybeat, Issue 304 66. ^ Kelly, Joseph F., The Origins of Christmas, Liturgical Press, 2004, p. 67-69. 67. ^ ""Christmas An Ancient Holiday", The History Channel, 2007. 68. ^ Coffman, Elesha. Why December 25? Christian History & Biography, Christianity Today, 2000. 69. ^ Encyclopedia of Ukraine 70. ^ Yule. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved December 3, 2006. 71. ^ "Christmas, Encyclopdia Britannica Chicago: Encyclopdia Britannica, 2006. 72. ^ Roll, p. 78, citing calculations by Roger Beckworth. Roll, pp. 7980, then cites Roland Bainton to say that Clement may have used two separate calendars and the discrepancies between them eventually "yields 6 January, in 2 CE". 73. ^ "Christmas, Encyclopdia Britannica Chicago: Encyclopdia Britannica, 2006. 74. ^ Roll, p. 79, 80. Only fragments of Chronographai survive. In one fragment, Africanus referred to "Pege in Bethlehem" and "Lady Pege, Springbearer." See "Narrative Narrative of Events Happening in Persia on the Birth of Christ Narrative". 75. ^ Bradt, Hale, Astronomy Methods, (2004), p. 69. Roll p. 87. 76. ^ Origen, "Levit., Hom. VIII"; Migne P.G., XII, 495. "Natal Day", The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911. 77. ^ This document was prepared privately for a Roman aristocrat. The reference in question states, "VIII kal. ian. natus Christus in Betleem Iude".[1] It is in a section copied from an earlier manuscript produced in 336.[2] This document also contains the earliest known reference to the feast of Sol Invictus. [3] 78. ^ Pokhilko, Hieromonk Nicholas, "History of Epiphany"

79. ^ a b c d e f Murray, Alexander, "Medieval Christmas", History Today, December 1986, 36 (12), pp. 31 39. 80. ^ a b McGreevy, Patrick. "Place in the American Christmas," (JSTOR), Geographical Review, Vol. 80, No. 1. January 1990, pp. 3242. Retrieved September 10, 2007. 81. ^ a b c Restad, Penne L. (1995). Christmas in America: a History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-510980-5 82. ^ a b c Durston, Chris, "Lords of Misrule: The Puritan War on Christmas 164260", History Today, December 1985, 35 (12) pp. 7 14. 83. ^ "A Christmassy post | Mercurius Politicus". Mercuriuspoliticus.wordpress.com. 2008-12-21. http://mercuriuspoliticus.wordpress.com/2008/12/21/a-christmassy-post/. Retrieved 2010-08-08. 84. ^ Chambers, Robert (1885). Domestic Annals of Scotland. p. 211. 85. ^ "When Christmas Was Banned The early colonies and Christmas". Apuritansmind.com. http://www.apuritansmind.com/Christmas/DankoChristmasBanned.htm. Retrieved 2011-02-24. 86. ^ Nancy Smith Thomas. Moravian Christmas in the South. p. 20. 2007 ISBN 0-8078-3181-6 87. ^ Andrews, Peter (1975). Christmas in Colonial and Early America. USA: World Book Encyclopedia, Inc.. ISBN 7-166-2001-4. 88. ^ Les Standiford. The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits, Crown, 2008. ISBN 978-0-307-40578-4 89. ^ Minzesheimer, Bob (December 22, 2008). "Dickens' classic 'Christmas Carol' still sings to us". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-12-17-dickens-main_N.htm. Retrieved April 30, 2010. 90. ^ Rowell, Geoffrey, Dickens and the Construction of Christmas, History Today, Volume: 43 Issue: 12, December 1993, pp. 17 24 91. ^ Ronald Hutton Stations of the Sun: The Ritual Year in England. 1996. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-285448-8. 92. ^ Richard Michael Kelly (ed.) (2003), A Christmas Carol. pp.9,12 Broadview Literary Texts, New York: Broadview Press ISBN 1-55111-476-3 93. ^ Robertson Cochrane. Wordplay: origins, meanings, and usage of the English language. p.126 University of Toronto Press, 1996 ISBN 0-8020-7752-8 94. ^ Joe L. Wheeler. Christmas in my heart, Volume 10. p.97. Review and Herald Pub Assoc, 2001. ISBN 0-8280-1622-4 95. ^ Earnshaw, Iris (November 2003). "The History of Christmas Cards". Inverloch Historical Society Inc.. http://home.vicnet.net.au/~invhs/2004.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-25. 96. ^ The girlhood of Queen Victoria: a selection from Her Majesty's diaries. p.61. Longmans, Green & co., 1912. University of Wisconsin

97. ^ Godey's Lady's Book, 1850. Godey's copied it exactly, except he removed the Queen's crown, and Prince Albert's mustache, to remake the engraving into an American scene. 98. ^ Kelly, Richard Michael (ed.) (2003), A Christmas Carol. p.20. Broadview Literary Texts, New York: Broadview Press, ISBN 1-55111-476-3 99. ^ Moore's poem transferred the genuine old Dutch traditions celebrated at New Year in New York, including the exchange of gifts, family feasting, and tales of sinterklass (a derivation in Dutch from Saint Nicholas, from whence comes the modern Santa Claus) to Christmas.The history of Christmas: Christmas history in America, 2006 100. ^ usinfo.state.gov Americans Celebrate Christmas in Diverse Ways November 26, 2006 101. ^ First Presbyterian Church of Watertown Oh . . . and one more thing December 11, 2005 102. ^ a b c Restad, Penne L. (1995), Christmas in America: a History. p.96. Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-510980-5 103. ^ a b "Christian church of God history of Christmas". Christianchurchofgod.com. http://www.christianchurchofgod.com/httpwww.christianchurchofgod.comhistofc hristmas.htm. Retrieved 2011-02-24. 104. ^ Meggs, Philip B. A History of Graphic Design. 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p 148 ISBN 0-471-29198-6 105. ^ "Marta Patio, The Puritan Ban on Christmas". Timetravel-britain.com. http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/christmas/ban.shtml. Retrieved 201102-24. 106. ^ "Why did Cromwell abolish Christmas?". Oliver Cromwell. The Cromwell Association. 2001. http://www.olivercromwell.org/faqs4.htm. Retrieved 2006-12-28. 107. ^ Christmas controversy article Muslim Canadian Congress. 108. ^ "Jews for Christmas"NewsMax article 109. ^ Don Feder on Christmas Jewish World review 110. ^ Gibson, John, The War on Christmas, Sentinel Trade, 2006, pp. 16 111. ^ Ostling, Richard. "Have Yourself A Merry Little Lawsuit This Season." Buffalo Law Journal 12/1/2005, Vol. 77 Issue 96, p. 1-4. 112. ^ Lynch vs. Donnelly (1984) 113. ^ "Appeals Court: School district can ban Christmas carols". Philly.com. Philadelphia Inquirer. 2009-11-25. http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20091125_Appeals_Court__School_ district_can_ban_Christmas_carols.html. Retrieved 2009-11-28.[dead link] 114. ^ "Boycott Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic this Christmas". Action.afa.net. http://action.afa.net/Detail.aspx?id=2147489466. Retrieved 201102-24. 115. ^ April Mitchinson (2009-11-29). "Differences set aside for Winter Night Light festival in Dundee". The Press and Journal. http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1502592?UserKey=. Retrieved 2009-11-29.

116. ^ Varga, Melody. "Black Friday, About:Retail Industry. 117. ^ "Definition Christmas Creep - What is Christmas Creep". Womeninbusiness.about.com. 2010-11-02. http://womeninbusiness.about.com/od/womeninbusinessanswers/a/Wib-AnswersWhat-Is-The-Definition-Of-Christmas-Creep.htm. Retrieved 2011-02-24. 118. ^ South Molton and Brook Street Christmas Lights (Tuesday 16th November 2010) View London.co.uk 119. ^ a b Julia Kollewe Monday (29 November 2010) West End spree worth 250m marks start of Christmas shopping season The Guardian 120. ^ Gwen Outen (2004-12-03). "ECONOMICS REPORT Holiday Shopping Season in the U.S.". Voice Of America. http://voanews.com/specialenglish/archive/2004-12/a-2004-12-03-2-1.cfm. 121. ^ US Census Bureau. "Facts. The Holiday Season" December 19, 2005. (accessed Nov 30 2009) 122. ^ US Census 2005 123. ^ "The Deadweight Loss of Christmas", American Economic Review, December 1993, 83 (5) 124. ^ "Is Santa a deadweight loss?" The Economist December 20, 2001 125. ^ Reuters. "Christmas is Damaging the Environment, Report Says" December 16, 2005.

How December 25 Became Christmas

by Andrew McGowan Talkback Add Your Comment

Click to view a slide show of larger images and captions. On December 25, Christians around the world will gather to celebrate Jesus birth. Joyful carols, special liturgies, brightly wrapped gifts, festive foodsthese all characterize the feast today, at least in the northern hemisphere. But just how did the Christmas festival originate? How did December 25 come to be associated with Jesus birthday?

The Bible offers few clues: Celebrations of Jesus Nativity are not mentioned in the Gospels or Acts; the date is not given, not even the time of year. The biblical reference to shepherds tending their flocks at night when they hear the news of Jesus birth (Luke 2:8) might suggest the spring lambing season; in the cold month of December, on the other hand, sheep might well have been corralled. Yet most scholars would urge caution about extracting such a precise but incidental detail from a narrative whose focus is theological rather than calendrical. Learn more about the history of Christmas and the date of Jesus birth in the free e-book The First Christmas: The Story of Jesus Birth in History and Tradition. The extrabiblical evidence from the first and second century is equally spare: There is no mention of birth celebrations in the writings of early Christian writers such as Irenaeus (c. 130200) or Tertullian (c. 160225). Origen of Alexandria (c. 165264) goes so far as to mock Roman celebrations of birth anniversaries, dismissing them as pagan practices a strong indication that Jesus birth was not marked with similar festivities at that place and time.1 As far as we can tell, Christmas was not celebrated at all at this point. This stands in sharp contrast to the very early traditions surrounding Jesus last days. Each of the Four Gospels provides detailed information about the time of Jesus death. According to John, Jesus is crucified just as the Passover lambs are being sacrificed. This would have occurred on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Nisan, just before the Jewish holiday began at sundown (considered the beginning of the 15th day because in the Hebrew calendar, days begin at sundown). In Matthew, Mark and Luke, however, the Last Supper is held after sundown, on the beginning of the 15th. Jesus is crucified the next morningstill, the 15th.a Easter, a much earlier development than Christmas, was simply the gradual Christian reinterpretation of Passover in terms of Jesus Passion. Its observance could even be implied in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 5:78: Our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the festival...); it was certainly a distinctively Christian feast by the mid-second century C.E., when the apocryphal text known as the Epistle to the Apostles has Jesus instruct his disciples to make commemoration of [his] death, that is, the Passover. Jesus ministry, miracles, Passion and Resurrection were often of most interest to firstand early-second-century C.E. Christian writers. But over time, Jesus origins would become of increasing concern. We can begin to see this shift already in the New Testament. The earliest writingsPaul and Markmake no mention of Jesus birth. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke provide well-known but quite different accounts of the eventalthough neither specifies a date. In the second century C.E., further details of Jesus birth and childhood are related in apocryphal writings such as the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and the Proto-Gospel of James.b These texts provide everything from the names of Jesus grandparents to the details of his educationbut not the date of his birth.

Finally, in about 200 C.E., a Christian teacher in Egypt makes reference to the date Jesus was born. According to Clement of Alexandria, several different days had been proposed by various Christian groups. Surprising as it may seem, Clement doesnt mention December 25 at all. Clement writes: There are those who have determined not only the year of our Lords birth, but also the day; and they say that it took place in the 28th year of Augustus, and in the 25th day of [the Egyptian month] Pachon [May 20 in our calendar]...And treating of His Passion, with very great accuracy, some say that it took place in the 16th year of Tiberius, on the 25th of Phamenoth [March 21]; and others on the 25th of Pharmuthi [April 21] and others say that on the 19th of Pharmuthi [April 15] the Savior suffered. Further, others say that He was born on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi [April 20 or 21].2 Clearly there was great uncertainty, but also a considerable amount of interest, in dating Jesus birth in the late second century. By the fourth century, however, we find references to two dates that were widely recognizedand now also celebratedas Jesus birthday: December 25 in the western Roman Empire and January 6 in the East (especially in Egypt and Asia Minor). The modern Armenian church continues to celebrate Christmas on January 6; for most Christians, however, December 25 would prevail, while January 6 eventually came to be known as the Feast of the Epiphany, commemorating the arrival of the magi in Bethlehem. The period between became the holiday season later known as the 12 days of Christmas. The earliest mention of December 25 as Jesus birthday comes from a mid-fourth-century Roman almanac that lists the death dates of various Christian bishops and martyrs. The first date listed, December 25, is marked: natus Christus in Betleem Judeae: Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea.3 In about 400 C.E., Augustine of Hippo mentions a local dissident Christian group, the Donatists, who apparently kept Christmas festivals on December 25, but refused to celebrate the Epiphany on January 6, regarding it as an innovation. Since the Donatist group only emerged during the persecution under Diocletian in 312 C.E. and then remained stubbornly attached to the practices of that moment in time, they seem to represent an older North African Christian tradition. In the East, January 6 was at first not associated with the magi alone, but with the Christmas story as a whole.

Click to view a slide show of larger images and captions.

So, almost 300 years after Jesus was born, we finally find people observing his birth in midwinter. But how had they settled on the dates December 25 and January 6? There are two theories today: one extremely popular, the other less often heard outside scholarly circles (though far more ancient).4 The most loudly touted theory about the origins of the Christmas date(s) is that it was borrowed from pagan celebrations. The Romans had their mid-winter Saturnalia festival in late December; barbarian peoples of northern and western Europe kept holidays at similar times. To top it off, in 274 C.E., the Roman emperor Aurelian established a feast of the birth of Sol Invictus (the Unconquered Sun), on December 25. Christmas, the argument goes, is really a spin-off from these pagan solar festivals. According to this theory, early Christians deliberately chose these dates to encourage the spread of Christmas and Christianity throughout the Roman world: If Christmas looked like a pagan holiday, more pagans would be open to both the holiday and the God whose birth it celebrated. Despite its popularity today, this theory of Christmass origins has its problems. It is not found in any ancient Christian writings, for one thing. Christian authors of the time do note a connection between the solstice and Jesus birth: The church father Ambrose (c. 339397), for example, described Christ as the true sun, who outshone the fallen gods of the old order. But early Christian writers never hint at any recent calendrical engineering; they clearly dont think the date was chosen by the church. Rather they see the coincidence as a providential sign, as natural proof that God had selected Jesus over the false pagan gods. Its not until the 12th century that we find the first suggestion that Jesus birth celebration was deliberately set at the time of pagan feasts. A marginal note on a manuscript of the writings of the Syriac biblical commentator Dionysius bar-Salibi states that in ancient times the Christmas holiday was actually shifted from January 6 to December 25 so that it fell on the same date as the pagan Sol Invictus holiday.5 In the 18th and 19th centuries, Bible scholars spurred on by the new study of comparative religions latched on to this idea.6 They claimed that because the early Christians didnt know when Jesus was born, they simply assimilated the pagan solstice festival for their own purposes, claiming it as the time of the Messiahs birth and celebrating it accordingly. More recent studies have shown that many of the holidays modern trappings do reflect pagan customs borrowed much later, as Christianity expanded into northern and western Europe. The Christmas tree, for example, has been linked with late medieval druidic practices. This has only encouraged modern audiences to assume that the date, too, must be pagan. There are problems with this popular theory, however, as many scholars recognize. Most significantly, the first mention of a date for Christmas (c. 200) and the earliest celebrations that we know about (c. 250300) come in a period when Christians were not borrowing heavily from pagan traditions of such an obvious character.

Granted, Christian belief and practice were not formed in isolation. Many early elements of Christian worshipincluding eucharistic meals, meals honoring martyrs and much early Christian funerary artwould have been quite comprehensible to pagan observers. Yet, in the first few centuries C.E., 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 C.E. This would change only after Constantine converted to Christianity. From the mid-fourth century on, we do find Christians deliberately adapting and Christianizing pagan festivals. A famous proponent of this practice was Pope Gregory the Great, who, in a letter written in 601 C.E. to a Christian missionary in Britain, recommended that local pagan temples not be destroyed but be converted into churches, and that pagan festivals be celebrated as feasts of Christian martyrs. At this late point, Christmas may well have acquired some pagan trappings. But we dont have evidence of Christians adopting pagan festivals in the third century, at which point dates for Christmas were established. Thus, it seems unlikely that the date was simply selected to correspond with pagan solar festivals. The December 25 feast seems to have existed before 312before Constantine and his conversion, at least. As we have seen, the Donatist Christians in North Africa seem to have know it from before that time. Furthermore, in the mid- to late fourth century, church leaders in the eastern Empire concerned themselves not with introducing a celebration of Jesus birthday, but with the addition of the December date to their traditional celebration on January 6.7 There is another way to account for the origins of Christmas on December 25: Strange as it may seem, the key to dating Jesus birth may lie in the dating of Jesus death at Passover. This view was first suggested to the modern world by French scholar Louis Duchesne in the early 20th century and fully developed by American Thomas Talley in more recent years.8 But they were certainly not the first to note a connection between the traditional date of Jesus death and his birth. Around 200 C.E. Tertullian of Carthage reported the calculation that the 14th of Nisan (the day of the crucifixion according to the Gospel of John) in the year Jesus diedc was equivalent to March 25 in the Roman (solar) calendar.9 March 25 is, of course, nine months before December 25; it was later recognized as the Feast of the Annunciation the commemoration of Jesus conception.10 Thus, Jesus was believed to have been conceived and crucified on the same day of the year. Exactly nine months later, Jesus was born, on December 25.d This idea appears in an anonymous Christian treatise titled On Solstices and Equinoxes, which appears to come from fourth-century North Africa. The treatise states: Therefore our Lord was conceived on the eighth of the kalends of April in the month of March [March 25], which is the day of the passion of the Lord and of his conception. For on that day he was conceived on the same he suffered.11 Based on this, the treatise dates Jesus birth to the winter solstice.

Augustine, too, was familiar with this association. In On the Trinity (c. 399419) he writes: For he [Jesus] is believed to have been conceived on the 25th of March, upon which day also he suffered; so the womb of the Virgin, in which he was conceived, where no one of mortals was begotten, corresponds to the new grave in which he was buried, wherein was never man laid, neither before him nor since. But he was born, according to tradition, upon December the 25th.12 In the East, too, the dates of Jesus conception and death were linked. But instead of working from the 14th of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, the easterners used the 14th of the first spring month (Artemisios) in their local Greek calendarApril 6 to us. April 6 is, of course, exactly nine months before January 6the eastern date for Christmas. In the East too, we have evidence that April was associated with Jesus conception and crucifixion. Bishop Epiphanius of Salamis writes that on April 6, The lamb was shut up in the spotless womb of the holy virgin, he who took away and takes away in perpetual sacrifice the sins of the world.13 Even today, the Armenian Church celebrates the Annunciation in early April (on the 7th, not the 6th) and Christmas on January 6.e Thus, 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 day (March 25 or April 6) and coming up with two close but different results (December 25 and January 6). Connecting Jesus conception and death in this way will certainly seem odd to modern readers, but it reflects ancient and medieval understandings of the whole of salvation being bound up together. One of the most poignant expressions of this belief is found in Christian art. In numerous paintings of the angels Annunciation to Marythe moment of Jesus conceptionthe baby Jesus is shown gliding down from heaven on or with a small cross (see photo of detail from Master Bertrams Annunciation scene); a visual reminder that the conception brings the promise of salvation through Jesus death. The notion that creation and redemption should occur at the same time of year is also reflected in ancient Jewish tradition, recorded in the Talmud. The Babylonian Talmud preserves a dispute between two early-second-century C.E. rabbis who share this view, but disagree on the date: Rabbi Eliezer states: 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. (The other rabbi, Joshua, dates these same events to the following month, Tishri.)14 Thus, the dates of Christmas and Epiphany may well have resulted from Christian theological reflection on such chronologies: Jesus would have been conceived on the same date he died, and born nine months later.15 In the end we are left with a question: How did December 25 become Christmas? We cannot be entirely sure. Elements of the festival that developed from the fourth century until modern times may well derive from pagan traditions. Yet the actual date might really derive more from Judaismfrom Jesus death at Passover, and from the rabbinic notion that great things might be expected, again and again, at the same time of the year than from paganism. Then again, in this notion of cycles and the return of Gods redemption, we may perhaps also be touching upon something that the pagan Romans

who celebrated Sol Invictus, and many other peoples since, would have understood and claimed for their own too.16 Notes 1. Origen, Homily on Leviticus 8. 2. Clement, Stromateis 1.21.145. In addition, Christians in Clements native Egypt seem to have known a commemoration of Jesus baptismsometimes understood as the moment of his divine choice, and hence as an alternate incarnation storyon the same date (Stromateis 1.21.146). See further on this point Thomas J. Talley, Origins of the Liturgical Year, 2nd ed. (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1991), pp. 118120, drawing on Roland H. Bainton, Basilidian Chronology and New Testament Interpretation, Journal of Biblical Literature 42 (1923), pp. 81134; and now especially Gabriele Winkler, The Appearance of the Light at the Baptism of Jesus and the Origins of the Feast of the Epiphany, in Maxwell Johnson, ed., Between Memory and Hope: Readings on the Liturgical Year (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000), pp. 291347. 3. The Philocalian Calendar. 4. Scholars of liturgical history in the English-speaking world are particularly skeptical of the solstice connection; see Susan K. Roll, The Origins of Christmas: The State of the Question, in Between Memory and Hope: Readings on the Liturgical Year (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000), pp. 273290, especially pp. 289290. 5. A gloss on a manuscript of Dionysius Bar Salibi, d. 1171; see Talley, Origins, pp. 101 102. 6. Prominent among these was Paul Ernst Jablonski; on the history of scholarship see especially Roll, The Origins of Christmas, pp. 277283. 7. For example, Gregory of Nazianzen, Oratio 38; John Chrysostom, In Diem Natalem. 8. Louis Duchesne, Origines du culte Chrtien, 5th ed. (Paris: Thorin et Fontemoing, 1925), pp. 275279; and Talley, Origins. 9. Tertullian, Adversus Iudaeos 8. 10. There are other relevant texts for this element of argument, including Hippolytus and the (pseudo-Cyprianic) De pascha computus; see Talley, Origins, pp. 86, 9091. 11. De solstitia et aequinoctia conceptionis et nativitatis domini nostri iesu christi et iohannis baptistae. 12. Augustine, Sermon 202. 13. Epiphanius is quoted in Talley, Origins, p. 98. 14. b. Rosh Hashanah 10b11a. 15. Talley, Origins, pp. 8182. 16. On the two theories as false alternatives, see Roll, Origins of Christmas. a. See Jonathan Klawans, Was Jesus Last Supper a Seder? BR 17:05. b. See the following BR articles: David R. Cartlidge, The Christian Apocrypha: Preserved in Art, BR 13:03; Ronald F. Hock, The Favored One, BR 17:03; and Charles W. Hedrick, The 34 Gospels, BR 18:03. c. For more on dating the year of Jesus birth, see Leonara Neville, Fixing the Millennium,&rd; AO 03:01. d. The ancients were familiar with the 9-month gestation period based on the observance of womens menstrual cycles, pregnancies and miscarriages.

e.

In the West (and eventually everywhere), the Easter celebration was later shifted from the actual day to the following Sunday. The insistence of the eastern Christians in keeping Easter on the actual 14th day caused a major debate within the church, with the easterners sometimes referred to as the Quartodecimans, or Fourteenthers. Is Christmas Pagan? Gregory Koukl Greg sets the record straight on some old rumors about the origin of Christmas and separates the concepts of the meaningof Christmas from the spirit of Christmas.

The question of whether Christmas is pagan enters into the idea of cultural practices. Some have made the assertion that Christmas has pagan origins. Christmas does not have pagan origins, but there are winter celebrations that are pagan. There was, for example, a saturnal celebration around the time of Christmas that pagans celebrated, which was actually a temptation for Christians to participate in that had pagan content to it. So the church changed the day that they celebrated the birth of Christ. They used to celebrate it in the Spring. But the church said, "We can celebrate it any time we want. Let's celebrate it at the same time the pagans are celebrating their pagan festival. It'll act as a contrast to that pagan festival because our celebration is the birth of the God-man, Jesus Christ. It has Biblical content. Plus it will protect Christians from being wooed away by this other celebration to participate in what was a pagan celebration". We make things wrong that the Bible doesn't make wrong. It was really a wise thing that they did and the kind of thing that many missionaries do even nowadays. They take the momentum of a cultural practice--a cultural practice that may even have religious content to it, offensive religious content--and they redeem that for Christianity. They redefine what people have been doing. They reinvest it with new meaning. They capture the cultural form and they reinvest it with spiritual meaning. By the way, there is an example of this in the Bible. Circumcision was practiced by the Egyptians before it was practiced by the Jews. It was a cultural practice which had some religious significance. God captured the practice, gave it to Abraham, reinvested it with new meaning and it became a religious rite for Abraham to worship his creator. We think of circumcision as this really holy thing in the Old Testament associated with the covenant, which it was. But it wasn't that way originally. By golly, it seems to me that if God can do such a thing--take a practice that had heathen content to it, save the practice, reinvest new information to it--then it certainly is okay for the church to do it. We've done that many times. We've done that in other cultures and it served to offer a springboard for us into cultures using cultural forms and reinvesting them with new meaning. If you read Don Richardson's books Eternity in Their Hearts or Peace Child, this

is what he talks about. They captured cultural forms that had one meaning and reinvested it with a new meaning, and this became a springboard to reach into these cultures with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And we've done the same thing with Christmas. Now there is nothing at all wrong with that. We're not celebrating a pagan holiday because the pagan holiday was the saturnal and we're not worshipping the god of Saturn, or whatever the content was. We are not doing that. If you listen to the words of the song "Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree," the original was written with the Christmas tree being a type of Jesus Christ. You look at the words and the gospel is in the words of the Christmas tree. So this is not a Christmas tree that we're putting in our house as an idol to some tree god, or something like that. No, this is a tree that we are using as a cultural expression that can be invested with religious meaning for the Christian. The same thing with the giving of gifts. That may have had a pagan meaning for others who practiced the other holiday. But for us giving of gifts is appropriate because it reflects the gift that God gave us in the person of Jesus. Tokens are only things that represent something else It doesn't have meaning or value in itself. The Christmas tree for a Christian no longer betokens worshipping nature. It betokens worshipping Jesus. My point is that we have liberty in reinvesting cultural forms with spiritual meaning. We have done that with Christmas. I don't think there is anything wrong with that at all. I think it's good and healthy for us to do so. I think it can be legalistic to say one should not celebrate Christmas. There are different ways the term legalism can be used. One way it's used is to mean that we take laws that aren't God's laws, but are in fact man's laws, and we make them equal with God's laws. For example, we take a man's law that says we shouldn't smoke. Now the Bible doesn't say we shouldn't smoke, it doesn't say you shouldn't drink, it doesn't say you shouldn't go to movies. We take our rules that we apply in our church or denomination and apply it to all Christians. That's a type of legalism. In other words, we make things wrong that the Bible doesn't make wrong. It appears that is what is going on with Christmas. If you celebrate the birth of Christ, then you're doing something wrong. My point is, this view is legalistic in that it makes things that aren't Scripturally wrong and it makes them wrong. It makes something a rule to apply to men when God didn't give them that rule. I think the practice of Christmas is fully legitimate even though there may have some pagan elements that were originally associated with a celebration at this time. That doesn't make our celebration of Christmas the same as that old celebration. In fact, it's quite

different. We are celebrating the birth of Jesus. Now, we aren't obliged to do so. There is nothing in the Scripture that says that we ought to, but it strikes me that it is entirely appropriate. It is appropriate, but not obligatory. If you look back in the Old Testament, one of the things that God did is He arranged for the Jews to celebrate festivals that He established to remind themselves of the significance of that event by participating in these annual festivals year to year. Even Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, wasn't given by God in the Scriptures. It's something that they do to recollect a deliverance, a special deliverance, that God gave them during what we call the inter-testamental period, those 400 years between Malachi and Jesus. Theirs is a festival that is commonplace now but which doesn't have its source in a direct command in Scripture; but it does function like many of those other things that are in Scripture. It reminds people year to year of God's faithfulness and His goodness. What we do on Christmas is focus on the birth of Jesus Christ. I don't understand how anyone can look at the Christmas carols that we sing during this time and say that this is pagan. Even if the word Christmas came from the Catholic Christ Mass, it doesn't mean that now. This is a fallacy--going back to the original etymology of the word, and holding that if you say this word you are affirming that meaning instead of the meaning that you hold the word to have at the present moment. Words don't work that way. What the word Christmas means is the day that Christians celebrate the birth of Christ. That is what it means. There is not a bit of paganism in that, and for anyone to say that 500 years ago it meant this is inconsequential. It doesn't mean that anymore. When we say the word Christmas, we are not blaspheming. It just doesn't mean that. It just seems to be much ado about nothing. Should a Christian celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ? That's really what we are talking about. Some say no. Why? Because when you celebrate the birth of the Messiah, you are doing something pagan. How does that make any sense? Should someone have a Christmas tree or stockings? That's a separate question. But should someone celebrate the birth of Christ? How could anybody object to that. I don't agree with the assessment of the stockings or Christmas tree either. Frankly, there are probably all kinds of things I could find in their daily life--their little habits and things that they do--that if you went back to their beginnings their foundation has all kinds of questionable ideology, but they don't have that significance for people now. here is a difference between the true meaning of Christmas and the spirit of Christmas. The true meaning of Christmas has to do with Jesus Christ. The spirit of Christmashas to do with the feeling you have. Actually, the language thing is a real important parallel because our words change

meaning as time goes on. They are tokens for a particular meaning. At one point in history a word meant a particular thing, at a later point that word means something different so you can't say that when you use the term later on you're referring to the earlier meaning. That doesn't make sense. By the same token, Christmas trees and gifts and stockings, and that kind of thing, are tokens also. Now tokens are only things that represent something else, like a bus token. A bus token represents a ticket to ride on the bus. It doesn't have meaning or value in itself; it's simply a token of something else. Technically, this other thing is called a type. Now it may have been that a Christmas tree was a token in the past of a pagan type. It betokened worshipping nature, for example. The Christmas tree for a Christian no longer betokens worshipping nature. It betokens worshipping Jesus. A Christmas tree doesn't mean anything to me. It means Christmas trees are part of Christmas. The significant point here is that my tree has no pagan content. That's the critical issue. There is a difference between the true meaning of Christmas and the spirit of Christmas. They are entirely different things. One of them is theological, the second one is emotional. The true meaning of Christmas has to do with Jesus Christ. It isn't about love, it isn't about giving, it isn't about peace on earth, it is about Jesus Christ. The other things may be related, but it isn't about those things. The spirit of Christmas, in my view, has to do with the feeling you have. The feeling is a result of your past experiences with Christmas. For me, the spirit of Christmas has nothing to do with Jesus. But this is why I can say, I have a Christmas tree not because the Christmas tree reminds me of Jesus, though I could imagine for some people it does, and if you were taught early on that the Christmas tree is representative of theological truth, then that becomes a theological meaning for you. But for me a tree and ornaments are just my cultural expression that has to do with the emotional impact with Christmas, and I think that's fine.

Christmas is not a pagan holiday

Biblical Archaeology Review has an interesting article on why Christmas is celebrated on December 25. The article also dispells the widely held urban myth that Christmas was a pagan holiday.

The most loudly touted theory about the origins of the Christmas date(s) is that it was borrowed from pagan celebrations. The Romans had their mid-winter Saturnalia festival in late December; barbarian peoples of northern and western Europe kept holidays at similar times. To top it off, in 274 C.E., the Roman emperor Aurelian established a feast of the birth of Sol Invictus (the Unconquered Sun), on December 25. Christmas, the argument goes, is really a spin-off from these pagan solar festivals. According to this theory, early Christians deliberately chose these dates to encourage the spread of Christmas and Christianity throughout the Roman world: If Christmas looked like a pagan holiday, more pagans would be open to both the holiday and the God whose birth it celebrated. Despite its popularity today, this theory of Christmass origins has its problems. It is not found in any ancient Christian writings, for one thing. Christian authors of the time do note a connection between the solstice and Jesus birth: The church father Ambrose (c. 339397), for example, described Christ as the true sun, who outshone the fallen gods of the old order. But early Christian writers never hint at any recent calendrical engineering; they clearly dont think the date was chosen by the church. Rather they see the coincidence as a providential sign, as natural proof that God had selected Jesus over the false pagan gods. Its not until the 12th century that we find the first suggestion that Jesus birth celebration was deliberately set at the time of pagan feasts. A marginal note on a manuscript of the

writings of the Syriac biblical commentator Dionysius bar-Salibi states that in ancient times the Christmas holiday was actually shifted from January 6 to December 25 so that it fell on the same date as the pagan Sol Invictus holiday.5 In the 18th and 19th centuries, Bible scholars spurred on by the new study of comparative religions latched on to this idea.6 They claimed that because the early Christians didnt know when Jesus was born, they simply assimilated the pagan solstice festival for their own purposes, claiming it as the time of the Messiahs birth and celebrating it accordingly. . . . There are problems with this popular theory, however, as many scholars recognize. Most significantly, the first mention of a date for Christmas (c. 200) and the earliest celebrations that we know about (c. 250300) come in a period when Christians were not borrowing heavily from pagan traditions of such an obvious character. . . . In the first few centuries C.E., 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 C.E. . . . . There is another way to account for the origins of Christmas on December 25: Strange as it may seem, the key to dating Jesus birth may lie in the dating of Jesus death at Passover. This view was first suggested to the modern world by French scholar Louis Duchesne in the early 20th century and fully developed by American Thomas Talley in more recent years.8 But they were certainly not the first to note a connection between the traditional date of Jesus death and his birth. Around 200 C.E. Tertullian of Carthage reported the calculation that the 14th of Nisan (the day of the crucifixion according to the Gospel of John) in the year Jesus diedc was equivalent to March 25 in the Roman (solar) calendar.9 March 25 is, of course, nine months before December 25; it was later recognized as the Feast of the Annunciation the commemoration of Jesus conception.10 Thus, Jesus was believed to have been conceived and crucified on the same day of the year. Exactly nine months later, Jesus was born, on December 25.d This idea appears in an anonymous Christian treatise titled On Solstices and Equinoxes, which appears to come from fourth-century North Africa. The treatise states: Therefore our Lord was conceived on the eighth of the kalends of April in the month of March [March 25], which is the day of the passion of the Lord and of his conception. For on that day he was conceived on the same he suffered.11 Based on this, the treatise dates Jesus birth to the winter solstice.

Is Christmas a Sin?
Some Christians believe that Christians should not observe Christmas. Some object to the commercialism of the holiday; others object to its origins. In order to understand this subject, it is helpful to trace some of the history of Christmas avoidance, particularly its roots in Puritanism.

The Puritans believed that the first-century church modeled a Christianity that modern Christians should copy. They attempted to base their faith and practice solely on the New Testament, and their position on Christmas reflected their commitment to practice a pure, scriptural form of Christianity. Puritans argued that God reserved to himself the determination of all proper forms of worship, and that he disapproved of any human innovations even innovations that celebrated the great events of salvation. The name Christmas also alienated many Puritans. Christmas meant "the mass of Christ." The mass was despised as a Roman Catholic institution that undermined the Protestant concept of Christ, who offered himself once for all. The Puritans' passionate avoidance of any practice that was associated with papal Rome caused them to overlook the fact that in many countries the name for the day had nothing to do with the Catholic mass, but focused instead on Jesus' birth. The mass did not evolve into the form abhorred by Protestants until long after Christmas was widely observed. The two customs had separate, though interconnected, histories. As ardent Protestants, Puritans identified the embracing of Christianity by the Roman Emperor Constantine in the early 300s as the starting point of the degeneration and corruption of the church. They believed the corruption of the church was brought on by the interweaving of the church with the pagan Roman state. To Puritans, Christmas was impure because it entered the Roman Church sometime in this period. No one knows the exact year or under what circumstances Roman Christians began to celebrate the birth of their Lord, but by the mid-300s, the practice was well established. No evidence exists that the Christian leaders who began this practice consciously wanted to compromise with paganism. They may simply have wanted to celebrate the birth of Jesus. However, modern scholars generally agree that the date they chose for Christmas was influenced by a pagan celebration on or about that same date honoring the "Invincible Sun." Consequently, some customs unrelated to the birth of Jesus that commonly characterize modern Christmas celebrations were also present in pre-Christian pagan celebrations. This syncretistic character of most forms of Christmas celebration was enough for Puritans to avoid the holiday as a compromise with the pure exercise of Christian faith. The New England culture was permeated with Puritan values. As late as 1847, no college in New England had a Christmas holiday. The fact that anti-Christmas sentiment exists among some groups originating in New England should not be surprising. However, there are today no churches that call themselves Puritans. Yet their theological descendants Presbyterians, Congregationalists and many Baptists remain. Gone, except among their most conservative offspring, is any concern about Christmas. The central issue regarding Christmas observance is this: How much freedom do Christians have in the new covenant, either individually or as a church, to express their faith, worship and thanks toward Christ in forms not found in the Bible? Are Christians ever free to innovate in worship? May church leaders establish special days to celebrate the great acts of salvation?

Devout Christians sometimes confuse ancient forms with modern substance. "Once pagan, always pagan" is the way some people reason. They may admit the transforming power of Christ for people, they deny it for customs and traditions. Yet many of the practices God approved for ancient Israel had previously existed in paganism. Temples, priests, harvest festivals, music in worship, circumcision and tithing all had ancient pagan counterparts. God transformed these customs into a form of worship devoted to him. Even the sun, universally worshipped as a god by pagan cultures, God used to symbolize an aspect of the Christ (Malachi 4:2). Jesus taught, "Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment" (John 7:24). Too often, Puritan criticism of Christmas was based on outward appearances and a strong anti-Catholic perspective. When Israel added Hanukkah and Purim to its religious calendar events that celebrated God's saving acts in Jewish history these were acceptable to God. So, too, was the addition of the synagogue itself and its traditions. Examples such as these have led many Christians to conclude that the church also has the freedom to add to its calendar festivals that celebrate God's intervention in human affairs, such as the birth of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus. Unless we are to conclude that celebrating Christ's arrival as God in the flesh is a bad thing, its celebration on what was once a pagan holiday is irrelevant. Christians who keep Christmas are not pagans. They do not worship nor regard pagan gods. They honor Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It is true that certain customs attached to December 25 are practiced in a pagan spirit by many people. But a truly Christian observance of Christmas does not include drunkenness, fornication, carousing or any other conduct unworthy of saints. No one knows the exact date of Jesus' birth. But this lack of knowledge does not diminish the value of celebrating his birth, any more than not knowing when Christ will return diminishes the value of celebrating his return. It is not a sin to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. After all, his entrance into the world was a cause of great rejoicing and celebration, because it made possible human reconciliation to God. At his birth people who loved God rejoiced in praise, and even the angels sang for joy (Luke 1:46-2:38). Love motivates many Christians to celebrate Christmas. They love their Savior and they love their families. Christmas provides an opportunity for them to express both. To harshly judge those who choose to practice their faith in this spirit of devotion conflicts with many New Testament principles. The fact that non-Christians or even some Christians celebrate Christmas as a secular holiday or in a profane way is not a reason to avoid Christmas any holiday can be misused. The problem is not the date, but the behavior.

We encourage people to observe Christmas as a celebration of a very important event in our salvation: the birth of Jesus Christ. We encourage them to celebrate it as a religious holiday, not a commercialized one. Christ should be the center of the celebration. Some may choose not to celebrate, and we hope that Christians who celebrate Christmas and those who do not are both seeking to honor Jesus Christ (Romans 14:5-6).