The Origin of Christmas and How It Has Changed!
Joyeux Noel. Shinnen Omedeto. Feliz Navidad. Merry Christmas. With over 2 billion Christians worldwide and numerous others who have taken to celebrating the more secular traditions around this holiday, nearly everyone the world over has at least some familiarity with the celebration of the holiday of Christmas. But from what, exactly, does the origin of Christmas derive?
This is a complicated and interesting question, one best viewed from several angles in order to develop a well-rounded understanding of this ubiquitous and important holiday.
It is surprising to many people to learn that most of the traditions surrounding the western celebration of this holiday derive from celebrations which predate the birth of Jesus Christ. (In fact, Puritan settlers in the new world outlawed Christmas as a pagan holiday.) It is also true that many of the faithful decry what they see as a growing tendency in modern society to secularize what should be a deeply religious holiday. Yet despite these facts, one would be woefully remiss to neglect to discuss the religious origins of this holiday, for the widespread celebration of this holiday the world over is certainly tied hand in hand with the development and spread of Christianity around the globe.
Judaism prophesied the birth of the Messiah, and Christians consider the birth of Jesus of Nazareth to have been the fulfillment of that prophecy. The event of the Messiah’s birth (and subsequent death) is considered by Christians to almost certainly be the most important religious event since Eve and Adam first ate from the Tree of Knowledge. Most Christian traditions hold that faith in Christ as the Son of God (concurrent with living a moral life) yields access to a glorious heaven in the afterlife, whereas a lack of faith to Christ and His teachings yields only a descent into hell and misery in the hereafter. It is this belief which separates over 2,000 denominations of Christianity from other Abrahamic religions like Islam (in which Jesus plays a much more minor role).
As the divine Son of God and Savior of mankind, Christ’s prominence in Christian faith is obvious, and it is certainly no great leap of logic to see how celebrating the birth of the Son of God on earth would be an occasion worth commemorating. And yet, the celebration of Christ’s birth was not a practice of the early Christian church. Celebration of an individual’s birth was not a part of the culture into which Jesus was born, and (unlike the Last Supper) the Holy Bible does not indicate that celebrating the birth of Jesus is a matter of religious significance. Indeed, the practice of celebrating the birth of Christ often met opposition in the first centuries after His death, such as by the theologian Origen in 245 AD, who wrote that only sinners, not saints, celebrated the day of their birth. (It was commonplace at the time for Egyptian pharaohs and the like to celebrate their birthdays.)
The rise of the prominence of the celebration of Christ’s birth among Christians was a gradual development requiring several centuries. This rise in prominence was very slow prior to the Medieval period, and was helped along when in 529 AD Emperor Justinian declared it a civic holiday, and helped again Charlemagne was crowned emperor of the Roman Empire on Christmas day in 800 AD. Other notable crownings or anointings followed Charlemagne’s lead, and by 1377 King Richard of England was reported to have celebrated the day with an enormous feast.
Interestingly, owing in part to pagan influences (see below), Christmas celebrations during this time were often marked by excesses, such as rowdiness, drunkenness, gambling, feasting, and promiscuity. The Roman Catholic Church, bowing to pressure by Protestants during the Reformation, attempted to de-emphasize the hedonistic aspects of the holiday in favor of more religious emphasis. Nevertheless, when Protestant victories in the English Civil War won them the throne, Christmas was banned for several years in England, and its importance declined. Ironically, in the United States the holiday was relegated to an “English tradition” during the Revolutionary War and thus fell from popularity. The writings of Charles Dickens, Washington Irving and others served to rejuvenate interest in celebrating Christmas and also reinvented it as not only a celebration of Christ’s birth but also as a time to promote family and goodwill towards fellow man. The poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” in 1822 (of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” fame) helped re-popularize the Christmas tradition of gift-giving, and by 1850 Harriet Beecher Stowe complained through her writings that the holiday was becoming too commercialized.
Nevertheless, many Christians today keep the religious aspects of the holiday alive, either by eschewing the secular celebrations for the religious observations, or by combining the two facets of the holiday.
As previously alluded to, many Christmas traditions commonly practiced in western society do not owe their origin to Christianity at all but instead were adapted from existing traditions. As mentioned above, birth dates were not considered of special importance in the culture into which Jesus was born, and the date of His birth is not found in the Holy Bible. (Owing to seasonal details alluded to in the first two books of the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew, many religious historians believe that Jesus was born in the autumn.) The Roman holiday Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, a celebration of the birth of the unconquered sun god, occurred on December 25, the final day of the days-long hedonistic celebration of Saturnalia, and the early Christian church settled on this day to celebrate the birth of their own Deity—perhaps to promote acceptance by converted pagans or, perhaps in the early days, because Christianity was originally illegal in the Roman empire and Christian celebrations would be unnoticed among the widespread revelry.
A few other Christmas traditions which have non-Christian origins include:
Boughs of holly and sprigs of mistletoe were hung to honor gods and goddesses of fertility, and kissing under these symbols was thought to invoke those deities’ powers.
The tradition of gift-giving was practiced in the ancient Roman Empire on New Year’s Day, and focused on gifts to children and the needy. The tradition of decorating the home with lights and greenery comes from this Roman holiday as well.
Yule logs and Yule cakes hail from Teutonic traditions honoring the Norse god “Thor”, and the Twelve Days of Christmas likewise comes from this and related influences.
It should perhaps not be surprising, when one considers how languages and cultures are affected by neighboring influences and thus change and evolve, that holidays should likewise be influenced, change and evolve as well. Some may decry this as a bad thing, but that may be short-sighted: if our holidays were still practiced as they were in the first century after Christ’s death, then Christmas wouldn’t be celebrated at all, and untold billions of people around the world and through the ages, both faithful and secular, would have missed out on this wonderful, important and joyous holiday.
About the Author: Angela Lytle is a sefl employed mother of four and the publisher of Christmas Decorations Online, a website featuring holiday decor from inlfatable Christmas decorations for your font yard to outdoor Chistmas lights to brighten up your home.
