Christmas

Christmas

For Christians, Christmas—which commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ—is one of the most important religious events in the year. It marks the gift from God described in the New Testament: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son” (John 3:16). In Christian liturgical calendars only the feast of Easter, commemorating the resurrection of Jesus, is of similar or possibly greater significance. Christmas, however, is certainly the most popularly observed occasion of the church year.

Over the centuries, Christmas has become a holiday as well as a holy day. In its social or festive aspect, December 25 is a curious hybrid of the seasonal traditions of numerous peoples: Persian, Roman, Norse, Gothic, and Anglo-Saxon, among others. At first glance, the staggering display of customs seems to have little to do with the birth in a stable at Bethlehem two thousand years ago. Turkey dinners, glittering trees, greeting cards, elaborate store window displays, bell-ringing Santa Clauses on street corners, Yule logs, gifts, and much more make up the special atmosphere of Christmas.

However, not everyone necessarily regards Christmas as an eagerly anticipated time of joyfulness. For example, Ogden Nash once commented that “roses are things which Christmas is not a bed of” and George Bernard Shaw observed that “Christmas is forced on a reluctant . . . nation by . . . shopkeepers and the press.” However, regardless of what critics may say about the commercialization and other excess of Christmas, December 25 is well entrenched both as a respected social institution and as an occasion for religious gratification.

The story of the birth of Jesus is told in the Gospel According to Luke (2:1–2:16) in this way:

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.…And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem (because he was of the house and lineage of David), to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, “Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.”

And they came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

Although December 25 is observed as the anniversary of the birth of Jesus, the exact date of his birth is unknown. Partly for this reason, Christmas was not one of the earliest feasts of the Christian church, since there was at first no general consensus about when the anniversary should be observed or even whether it should be observed at all. In fact, many early Christians were convinced that such a divine being could not have had a natural birth. In any event, the observance of birthdays generally was often condemned as a pagan custom repugnant to Christians. It was in this vein that Origen, the North African church father and philosopher, wrote in 245, that it was sinful even to contemplate observing Jesus' birthday “as though He were a King Pharaoh.”

Proposals for marking the birthday of Jesus, and attempts to determine when it was, nonetheless persisted. The Gospels furnished few clues, although some scholars have theorized that if, as Luke relates, the shepherds kept watch outdoors in the fields, the birth must have occurred during a warm season since in winter the sheep were usually penned at night in folds. Early Christian theologians in Egypt reportedly fixed the date as May 20, other scholars are said to have chosen late March or April dates, approximating the time of the Jewish Passover, or January 1 coinciding with the Roman new year under the calendar then in use. In fact, dates in almost every month of the year have been suggested by reputable scholars at one time or another. The most frequently put forth, however, were March 25 (which eventually became known as the Feast of the Annunciation or Lady Day), December 25, and January 6.

What seems clear is that early observances connected with the birth of Jesus took place in scattered places on various dates. January 6 emerged as the date most pertinent to the development of the Christmas observance we know today, and at first it was usually a dual celebration noting both the birth and the baptism of Jesus. Known as the Epiphany, meaning appearance or manifestation, the January 6 observance (often referred to since as “Little Christmas”) originated in Eastern churches around the beginning of the third century. The earliest record of any celebration comes from Clement of Alexandria, the Greek theologian, who around 200, mentioned that members of a certain sect in Egypt had commemorated Jesus' baptism on or about January 6.

It was considerably later, in the western part of the Roman Empire, that a separate celebration of Jesus' birth was introduced by the church at Rome. A Christian chronography or almanac issued in 354, showed the existence of such a commemoration and also indicated that the observance had been instituted some two decades earlier.

Even though controversy surrounded the actual date of Jesus' birth, the December 25 date was accepted by most Christian churches. Modern scholars agree, however, that it was selected arbitrarily for practical purposes rather than as a matter of chronological accuracy. The date happened to coincide with the winter solstice—December 25 by the calendar then in use—and thus also coincided with the numerous pagan celebrations connected with the solstice.

The solstitial festivities, which greatly predated Christianity, cut across several cultures. A number of ancient peoples regarded this time of the year as a period of crisis in which the deities of the upper world fought the spirits of disorder and darkness. The Mesopotamians performed special rites to support their god Marduk in his grim battle against the powers of chaos. The Greeks offered sacrifices in their temples, believing that their chief god Zeus was renewing the struggle against Kronos and the Titans. As victory approached and the lengthening days gave hope of a distant but sure spring, a festive mood ensued. Also during the solstice season, the Romans celebrated the boisterous feast of the Saturnalia in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The followers of the Persian sun god Mithras, whose cult in Rome vied with Christianity as the most popular religion for a while, observed December 25 as dies solis invicti nati, the “birthday of the invincible Sun.” Finally, at approximately the same time of the year, the Jews observed (as they still do) the holiday of Hanukkah, which celebrates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem.

It was only logical for early Christian leaders to wish to offer some competition to the winter festivals being celebrated at what had long been deemed a vital religious time and to make that period a Christian feast commemorating the birth of Jesus. Acceptance of the December 25 date initiated at Rome for the observance of Christmas spread gradually throughout western Europe, and more slowly in the East. After the Eastern churches adopted the observance of December 25 as Christmas beginning in the latter part of the fourth century, the Western church took up the observance of the Epiphany on January 6. The feast of Christmas continued to spread slowly. Not until 813 did it extend to Germany on a large scale, and it reached Norway only as late as the tenth century.

For several centuries, December 25 was purely a church anniversary, kept with appropriate religious services and later with banquets and perhaps the exchange of simple presents such as candles and clay dolls. As Christianity advanced in northern Europe, however, the local customs connected with the winter solstice rites began to blend with the Christian observance. Several church fathers condemned this assimilation as potentially dangerous and reiterated Augustine of Hippo's fourth-century warning: “We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun, but because of him who made it.” The majority of the missionaries who penetrated western Europe after the decline of the Roman Empire, however, preferred to follow the tolerant ruling of Pope Gregory I the Great. The pope instructed Augustine of Canterbury, sent to England in 596, to observe old customs and infuse them with Christian significance to propagate the faith “for from obdurate minds it is impossible to cut off everything at once.” On this liberal policy hinged the continuation of numerous traditional customs now connected with Christmas.

The pagan traditions adapted “to the praise of God” included the lighting of candles, blazing Yule logs, and huge bonfires to speed the sun on its way at the time of its yearly “rebirth.” These practices easily tied in with the Christian concept of Christ as the Light of the World. During this solstice season of both dread and festivity, the pagans filled their houses with evergreens, mistletoe, holly, and ivy, believing their greenness in midwinter to be evidence of a special power defying winter's ability to kill.

The use of mistletoe at Christmas goes back to the druids, who regarded it with reverence long before the Christian era. In celebration of the winter solstice, they gathered mistletoe, piled it on an altar, and burned it in sacrifice. Sprigs of the yellow-green leaves and waxen white berries were distributed among the people and hung up in their houses. The plant was regarded as a symbol of future hope and peace. Whenever enemies met under the mistletoe they would drop their weapons and embrace. The modern custom of kissing under the mistletoe may have grown out of this ancient practice.

As Christianity spread throughout western Europe in the early Middle Ages, Christmas (the English name dates from the eleventh century, when the feast was termed Cristes Maesse) grew into an important popular event. Coming at a time during which the common people had some of their rare leisure, between fall harvesting and spring sowing, it quickly developed into a boisterous period of singing, hunting, gambling, and feasting. From early times, the offering of food and drink was regarded as a sign of hospitality and good will. Accordingly, steaming beverages, especially spiced ale or beer known as wassail (derived from the Middle English waes haeil, meaning “be thou well” or “to your health”) were served during the holiday season. By the twelfth century, the giving of gifts (stemming ultimately from the scriptural account of the Three Magi who offered gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the Christ Child) had become common on Christmas. The giving of gifts later became connected to Santa Claus, a figure who stems from Saint Nicholas in Christianity, and appears in a variety of forms across different cultures.

A number of new Christmas traditions were introduced in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, including the Christmas tree and the greeting card. The Christmas tree, as it is now known, originated in Germany although its history goes back to antiquity. The custom spread slowly throughout other parts of western Europe, being popularized in England only in the 1840s, by Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's German consort. The royal family's gigantic tree, bedecked with wax tapers and sweetmeats, set the trend for the rest of Great Britain. Only as late as 1860, did glass baubles replace edible and handmade ornaments. In the early twentieth century, brightly colored electric lights replaced burning candles. Soon after the inauguration of England's penny post in 1839, the custom of sending greeting cards arose.

The first clearly recorded Christmas in America was that of 1607 (excluding an isolated event in 1604, by the French, who tried unsuccessfully to establish a permanent settlement on St. Croix Island off the coast of Maine). The observance was in Jamestown, Virginia, where about forty survivors of the original one hundred settlers commemorated the day in the crude wooden chapel of their fort. It was not a festive time, but an occasion marked by the uncertainties of survival in the wilderness.

In New England, however, the Puritans tried hard to stamp out the “pagan mockery” of Christmas, penalizing any frivolity. William Bradford's History of Plimoth Plantation recounts that the Pilgrims who started their colony on Christmas Day, 1620, worked hard building houses on the occasion and “no man rested all that day” although they were offered to at least “have some Beere.” The following year, Governor Bradford found a newly arrived contingent of colonists “at play, openly; some pitching the barr and some at stoole-ball, and shuch [sic] like sports. So he went to them . . . and tould them that was against his conscience, that they should play and others worke. . . . Since which time nothing hath been attempted that way, at least openly.”

In 1659, the general court of Massachusetts enacted a law making any observance of December 25 a penal offense. Massachusetts Bay Colony Puritans were subjected to a five shilling fine for “observing any such day as Christmas.” Although the law was repealed in 1681, in deference to the Puritan tradition many years passed before widespread Christmas festivities were held in New England. The solemn note continued until the ninteenth century, when the influx of German and Irish immigrants undermined the Puritan legacy. In 1856, the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow commented: “We are in a transition state about Christmas here in New England. The old Puritan feeling prevents it from being a cheerful hearty holiday; though every year makes it more so.” That same year, Massachusetts finally proclaimed Christmas a legal holiday. Historically, however, Arkansas and Louisiana were the first jurisdictions after the formation of the United States to make Christmas a legal holiday (both doing so in 1831).

In 1856, President Franklin Pierce set up the first Christmas tree inside the White House. In 1923, President Calvin Coolidge began the custom of lighting a National Christmas Tree on the White House grounds. In the twenty-first century, Christmas is celebrated by the majority of people in the US, regardless of religion, and the holiday has evolved to include a variety of religious and nonreligious traditions.

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