Home and Family > Holidays > Lets not Freak out about Christmas
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Article rating : 0.00, 0 votes. Author : Jason Hastings
Go ahead and have a celebration. If you are Christian, celebrate the birth of Jesus and the gifts of the magi (even though they probably didn't arrive in Bethlehem until a year or two after he was born). If you are not a Christian, celebrate family, friends and gift giving. And Christians, don't worry about Christmas being commercialized. It always has been (more on this below). And let's keep it public. Who can complain about a holiday with family and gifts and cards and travel, and Christmas specials on TV. What about Christmas eve church services that includes people who usually don't attend church, nicely decorated city streets and parks, and houses dripping with lights, and big Christmas trees and manger scenes, and traveling, and food? Let's keep it a very public event.
Christians, this is our (human) holiday. It is not Christ's holiday. I can't find in the Bible where He told us to celebrate His birth, or even His resurrection (Easter). He didn't tell us to celebrate those events. But He did invite us to partake in Communion. Do you get as excited about Communion as you do about Christmas or Easter?
If you are not a Christian don't freak out if the little old lady who works at city hall puts a manger scene on the lawn. It won’t change you unless you want it to. And don't freak if I say Merry Christmas. If it offends you, let me know and I will try to remember not to wish you any merriment. If it doesn't offend you and you are just protesting because you think it might offend someone else who might overhear it (political correctness). Then you are a very silly person.
And if you prefer "Happy Holidays," isn't that the same as "Happy Holy Days?" Just asking.
Let's look at the commercialization of Christmas. The Christmas Holiday's growth in this country was due to its commercialization. The mostly Protestant settlers of the continental US did not typically celebrate Christmas. Christmas was a European (Catholic) tradition. Christmas = Christ Mass. It was too Catholic for them. The Protestant disdain for Christmas even helped us win the Revolutionary War. In 1776 we were getting our butts kicked. British troops occupied both Boston (though they were soon to leave) and New York. They thrashed George Washington's Army up and down Long Island. He was retreating to New Jersey and very close to total defeat. He was saved only because the British inexplicably failed to pursue and finish him off. Washington needed a military victory and he knew that nearby Hessian (German) soldiers in Trenton would be celebrating Christmas. So he made his famous boat ride across the Delaware River and captured the drunken Hessians and their supplies. The newly invigorated and freshly re-supplied Continental Army followed up this easy victory with another success in Princeton. They would go on to fight another year.
We have to progress into the 19th century before Christmas starts to be widely recognized in the states. A huge increase in Catholic immigration (Italian, Irish, et al) in the early part of the century, and later arrivals of German and Scandinavian celebrators helped to spread the holiday. American authors Washington Irving (The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.) and Clement Clarke Moore (Twas the Night before Christmas, actually A Visit from St. Nicholas), and Englishman Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol helped to popularize it. In the 1830s some of the southern states began to recognize it and in 1870 it became a national holiday.
Surrounding all of these events was a newly emerging industrial revolution that was rapidly improving the standard of living. People discovered a disposable income and the Christmas Holiday started to boom. Now throw in the growth of advertising in newspapers and catalogues, the creation of dependable electric power, and travel, and later radio, movies, TV, the internet, etc. Christmas was bound to evolve. I think the commercial success spurred Christmas, not vice-versa. I further think that Christians who protest the commercialization are self-righteous and just trying to showcase their moral indignation. It gets even crazier when the Pope denounces a materialistic Christmas. Have you ever been inside the Vatican?
I don't think Christ would be very upset that we have commercialized Christmas. It is our holiday, not His. That is the same lesson He gave us about the Sabbath long ago.
Now that I am done bashing some Christians, you secularists need a dope slap too. Your assault on Christmas is silly. Lighten up. You are not upholding the finest traditions of your made up mantra about the separation of church and state. All you are doing is trying to level down the Christians. Every year Ramadan is explored, Hanukkah is talked about, Kwanzaa is legitimized, but just try to mention Christmas and a liberal goes through the roof. Remember that your tolerance should also apply to Christians. You can't have selective tolerance. That is the same as intolerance.
In closing, let's discuss the actual date of Christmas. No one knows for sure when Christ was born. Below is a short discussion about some of the dates I have heard. I'm not going to offer any hard facts and references on these dates. I'm not attempting to convince you of some sort of conclusion. Just attempting to share some stuff I have picked up over the years.
Dec 25th- The traditional date in the Catholic Church. Why did they pick this date? Some claim that it was to counter the Roman feast of Saturnalia. But I have also read that this is redacted history. The Christian Holiday of Dec 25th was supposedly established before the feast of Saturnalia which really wasn't ever established. Just talked about.
Another interesting theory I heard was that this particular date was related to His death and conception. I heard of a Jewish belief that prophets have what is called an "integral age." This is the belief that a prophet's death was either on the anniversary of their birth or their conception. So, if Christ died at Easter (late March) and we use that as his conception. Nine months later would lead us to a December birth date.
Jan 6th - The traditional date in the Eastern Orthodox Church. You know, the 12 Days of Christmas (DEC 25th- Jan 6th). The Eastern Orthodox Church grew out of Asia Minor. This is the part of the world that the Apostles first witnessed to after giving up on Israel. If somebody has a traditional date that is accurate, then it would probably be this church.
Sep 11- This date gets the conspiracy nuts going (9/11). Anyway, someone looked at all of the Bible clues and did some calculations. The considered the Roman leader Pontius Pilate, the Jewish puppet King Herod, the census history, astronomy (the Star), and even the temple schedule of Zacharias. There is probably some other stuff I am overlooking but this is the date they came up with.
Mid-to-late October- This is my favorite choice. Certain events in Christ's life corresponded with Jewish festivals.
1. His crucifixion was during the Jewish festival of Passover (Pesach). Christ was the sacrificial Passover lamb.
2. His Ascension was during Pentecost (Shavuot) or the harvest festival. Perhaps this makes Christ the harvester of our souls (His fruits).
3. His birth might have been during Sukkoth, the feast of the Tabernacles. The "ushpizzin" or celebration of the 7 shepherds of Israel (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, and David) is a part of this festival. Christ is the shepherd to us, His sheep.
4. Pesach, Pentecost and Sukkoth make up the "Shalosh Regalim." Three Jewish festivals that require a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. If we use Sukkoth for his birth then this would complete a "trinity" of the major events in His life.
You might ask, if we are using Jewish festivals to milestone Christ's life, then why not use Hanukkah for his birth? Hanukkah is an important Jewish holiday and it would give us a December date for his birth. That is always a possibility, but Hanukkah isn't a major Jewish festival. It has only been brought to the forefront due to its close association with Christmas. So now maybe the Jews can freak out about Christmas because it is leading to the commercialization of Hanukkah. Just kidding.
And one more thing for us Christians. If Christmas is Christ's birthday, did you remember to give Him anything?
Merry Christmas!
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