The History of Christmas
In ancient pagan times, the last day of winter in the
Northern Hemisphere was celebrated as
the night that the Great Mother Goddess gives birth to the
baby Sun God. It is also called
Yule, the day a huge log is added to a bonfire, around which
everyone would dance and sing
to awaken the sun from its long winter sleep.
In Roman times, it became the celebrations honouring
Saturnus (the harvest god) and
Mithras (the ancient god of light), a form of sun worship
that had come to Rome from Syria a
century before with the cult of Sol Invictus. It announced
that winter is not forever, that life
continues, and an invitation to stay in good spirit.
The last day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere occurs
between the 20th and 22
December. The Roman celebrated Saturnalia between 17 and 24
December.
The Early Christians
To avoid persecution during the Roman pagan festival, early
Christians decked their homes
with Saturnalia holly. As Christian numbers increased and
their customs prevailed, the
celebrations took on a Christian observance. But the early
church actually did not celebrate
the birth of Christ in December until Telesphorus, who was
the second Bishop of Rome from
125 to 136AD, declared that Church services should be held
during this time to celebrate
"The Nativity of our Lord and Saviour." However,
since no-one was quite sure in which month
Christ was born, Nativity was often held in September, which
was during the Jewish Feast of
Trumpets (modern-day Rosh Hashanah). In fact, for more than
300 years, people observed
the birth of Jesus on various dates.
In the year 274AD, solstice fell on 25th December. Roman
Emperor Aurelian proclaimed
the date as "Natalis Solis Invicti," the festival
of the birth of the invincible sun. In 320 AD,
Pope Julius I specified the 25th of December as the official
date of the birth of Jesus Christ.
Christmas official, but not generally observed
In 325AD, Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman
emperor, introduced
Christmas as an immovable feast on 25 December. He also
introduced Sunday as a holy day
in a new 7-day week, and introduced movable feasts (Easter).
In 354AD, Bishop Liberius of
Rome officially ordered his members to celebrate the birth
of Jesus on 25 December.
However, even though Constantine officiated 25 December as
the birthday of Christ,
Christians, recognising the date as a pagan festival, did
not share in the emperor's good
meaning. Christmas failed to gain universal recognition
among Christians until
quite recently. In England, Oliver Cromwell banned Christmas
festivities between 1649 and
1660 through the so-called Blue Laws, believing that
Christmas should be a solemn day.
When many Protestants escaped persecution by fleeing to the
colonies all over the
world, interest in joyous Christmas celebrations was
rekindled there. Still, Christmas was not
even a legal holiday until the 1800s. And, keep in mind,
there was no Father Christmas
(Santa Claus) figure at that time.
Christmas becomes popular
The popularity of Christmas was spurred on in 1820 by
Washington Irving's book The
Keeping of Christmas at Bracebridge Hall. In 1834, Britain's
Queen Victoria brought her
German husband, Prince Albert, into Windsor Castle,
introducing the tradition of the
Christmas tree and carols that were held in Europe to the
British Empire. A week before
Christmas in 1834, Charles Dickens published A Christmas
Carol (in which he wrote that
Scrooge required Cratchit to work, and that the US Congress
met on Christmas Day). It was
so popular that neither the churches nor the governments
could not ignore the importance of
Christmas celebrations. In 1836, Alabama became the first
state in the US to declare
Christmas a legal holiday. In 1837, T.H. Hervey's The Book
of Christmas also became a best
seller. In 1860, American illustrator Thomas Nast borrowed
from the European stories about
Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children, to create
Father Christmas (Santa Claus). In
1907, Oklahoma became the last US state to declare Christmas
a legal holiday. Year by year,
countries all over the world started to recognise Christmas
as the day for celebrating the birth
of Jesus.
Have a merry Christmas
Today, many of the pagan uses are reflected in Christmas.
Jesus was born in March, yet
his birth is celebrated on 25 December, the time of
solstice. The Christmas celebrations end
the 12th day of Christmas (6 January), the same amount of
days that the return of the sun
was celebrated by ancient and Roman pagans. It thus is no
surprise that Christian puritans -
or even conservative Christians - often are upset that
Christmas "is not as religious as it was
meant to be," forgetting that Christmas was not
celebrated at all until fairly recently.
(Merry Christmas to all my dear Christian friends)
GOD BLESS YOU DEARS
from shahjahan Hajana
کوئی تبصرے نہیں: