Fast Facts on Christmas

By Jeff

In a day when Christmas seems to have been co-opted by concerns for materialism, gifts, and commercial enterprise, I thought it might be good for us to reflect on the subversive origins of the holiday.

Why do we celebrate Christmas? The earliest Christians did not celebrate it. In fact, the scholarly Christian Origen (c. 185 – 254 A.D.) wrote that we should not celebrate the birth of Christ like we celebrate the birth of Caesar – with a special holiday. The disciples did not celebrate the birth of Christ. Jesus did not instruct us to remember his birth. There is no similar festival in the Old Testament, as in the case of Easter and Pentecost. So, why do we celebrate the birth of Christ? The festival itself probably was introduced to compete with several other pagan festivals —the Saturnalia, Sigillaria, and Juvenalia, Brumalia and Mithra—which were kept in Rome in the month of December. The Saturnalia was the feast of Saturn when all work stopped, prisoners were released, slaves were freed, and everyone had a general good time. The Sigillaria was a festival of images to the gods that were given to children as gifts. Juvenalia was a celebration of the children of Rome. The Brumalia was a celebration of the winter solstice – the ending of the dark season and the coming of light. The birth of Mithra – the god of unconquerable light- was celebrated on December 25th. For many Romans, December 25th was the most sacred day of the year.

Christians, then, introduced Christmas as a way of transforming these pagan festivals into a celebration of the birth of Christ. The Christian holiday would eventually absorb their pagan imagery (light and dark, image of God, gifts to children, freedom, equality, unconquerable light, etc.)

Why do we celebrate the birth of Christ in December? The date of Christ’s birth can not be known from Scripture. Most scholars place the birth somewhere between February and April. One reason for this is the reference to shepherds keeping their sheep out in the fields at night. Sheep would have been kept inside starting in November, certainly by December.

We have no reference to December 25th before the 4th century. Pope Julius I (c. 337–352 A.D.) designated December 25 as the official day of Christmas.

The feast of Epiphany (January 6th because if the first Adam was born on the 6th day, so must the second) marks the day of Jesus’ birth and his dedication in the temple – earliest times also celebrate Christ’s baptism on the 6th. This feast of Epiphany began in the Eastern Orthodox Church long before the festival of Christmas was introduced in the West. The days between Christmas (Dec 25) and the feast of Epiphany (January 6th) are the 12 Days of Christmas for which the Christmas Carol were written.

After Gregory the Great the four Sundays before Christmas began to be devoted to the preparation for the birth and second coming of Christ. Thus the name Advent – or preparation. Advent was meant to commemorate our darkness before the coming of Christ coupled with our anticipation of a rescuer to come.

So, as we celebrate the birth of Jesus on Tuesday, let’s remember that all other gods meet their doom in the celebration of the Christ child. It is not Caesar’s birth we celebrate, but a new Lord. It is not the sun god, but a new Light. It is not the changing of seasons, but the dawn of a new era. It is God coming to earth, to be known by us, to make a way for us to know Him. In Christ, all pagan celebrations find their fulfillment. Christ ends the need for religions with human priests, temples, hierarchies, rituals and laws. Christ makes God accessible to all, which is a real reason to celebrate.

For ancient Christian references to Christmas, visit www.ccel.org
For a history of Christmas, visit www.history.com