This year I have been hearing more references to the “true meaning” of Christmas. Every year, we seem to get the Bill O’Reilly type War on the War on Christmas silliness, but this year I have heard more “true meaning” stuff, by which the person discussing it tends to mean celebrating their Lord, Jesus Christ.
By itself, I certainly have no problem with this, especially since it is in this context, I hear Christians at their most concerned about Jesus’ messages of peace, love, and understanding divorced of the more pernicious political stuff about gays and abortions (neither of which Jesus had much to say about, as I understand it.) With some speakers, however, there seems to be an additional subtext to the effect that Christians should get more aggressive and “take back” their holiday.
But, the “true meaning” of Christmas is ambiguous. For starters, in many respects, the holiday seems to predate Jesus. Any number of cultures have had holidays celebrating the winter solstice. And why not? What day could be more powerful to pre-scientific cultures. The days keep getting shorter and shorter and shorter, until one day, that stops; and the sun and light begin returning. A second issue is that nobody really knows when Jesus was born. Early Christians assigned the date of his birth in the 4th century; and Christmas sort of glommed on to existing Roman holidays such as Saturnalia and, more prominently at the time, Sol Invictus where the Romans celebrated “the birthday of the unconquered sun.”
In the English speaking world, Christmas seems to have been largely ignored until about the mid-1800s; though the Germans regarded it as a significant celebration. Among other things, the division between Catholic and Protestant helped suppress Christmas in England. Oliver Cromwell had denounced Christmas as papist idolatry.
Among the most prominent elements of the resurgence of Christmas was Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol.” And, it’s because of the source of the resurgence that we have the particular trappings of Christmas which originated in Victorian England and was heavily influenced by the German heritage of Prince Albert: the sending of cards, the Christmas carols, the exchanging of gifts, and the set-piece Christmas dinner.
What I take from this as someone who is not religious is that Christmas has a meaning that does not depend on the divinity of Christ, though it is reflected in the teachings of Jesus and others. That meaning is that love of family and a desire for peace and understanding among humans are things to be valued and toward which we should strive. So, even as a non-Christian, I have no problem at all sharing gifts with my children under the Christmas tree or celebrating the holiday with my family; because these are (or should be) human values, not solely Christian values. And, what better time to celebrate these universal human values than when the sun finally conquers the darkness once again?
The Battle For Christmas by Stephen Nissenbaum is a good primer on the topic. Additionally, there’s zero evidence that Jesus was born on December 25th… or even close to that date. So believers will pardon me for not accepting their claims that Jesus is the “reason for the season.” You can take your pick on that date: Attis, et al.
Couldn’t have said it better. Can’t tell you how many times I get chastized for having anything to do with Christmas when I claim to be so non-religous.
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Thats twice in tow days Ive heard reference to Saturnalia. The other was on “The Big Bang Theory” on CBS. Hands-down second best comedy on TV right now (The Office, duh) – although thats not saying much given the state of TV programming.
Also required viewing for science nerds.
Oh yeah… great post. Happy Holidays. ;)
As some one who is a first born male Capricorn, and therefore also under Saturn’s reign (its the rings baby), and some one who is a modern traditionalist, and Catholic Clergy, with pagan tendencies, thank you for this post it was awesome!
Blessed Be You And Yours This Season!
Fr. Fozy Bear/ +Kenneth
I agree completely and am right there with you. I’ve always celebrated “christmas” but was never a christian. For us it is more about tradition and spending time with family.
And I completely agree with the bit about Big Bang Theory that BrianW brought up. Definite must see Geek TV. Even my wife, who is not a geek but has to live with one, enjoys it.
I don’t believe any of the religious aspects of Christmas. But I love the season and the holiday.
I’m especially fond of the Bing Crosby-era tunes. We have a tree in the house, and one in the yard. We’ve watched the Frosty and Rudolph DVD’s with Tommy about a dozen times each. It’s another excuse to cook a turkey and have my wife and boy close at hand.
I probably enjoy it and find it more meaningful that Bill O’Reilly, anyway.
Being up here in a ski town right before Christmas has been pretty cool with all the snow, fir trees everywhere, and decorations.
It’s kinda’ neat that Christmas isn’t on the winter solstice, it’s a few days later. Some say that’s because it would have been difficult for clockless primitives to measure the lengthening of the days (or the higher angle of the sun’s apex) for a few days after the solstice. One can only imagine that in the days of the Druids folks may have been just a bit nervous each year — would the sun simply quit coming up? And imagine their joy (and relief) when the priests were able to confirm that yes, the darkest days were in the past.
There’s a reason why the appointed reading for Christmas Day is John 1-“The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.”
Doesn’t quite have the same meaning for Christians in Tasmania;-)
Great post! I agree 100%! I seem to agree with a lot of your opinions and ideas, must be the Richmond connection.
I think that this is why the Christians in Europe adopted the pagan traditions of the area. People might be willing to switch their faith, but they REALLY don’t want to get rid of their traditions.
Jesus talked a LOT about the worship of money, and also about how the religious traditions were getting in the way of a relationship with God.
Sounds like Christmas: Worship of money and traditions.