The History of Christmas
By: Timothy L. Kerofsky, MA
18 December 2014
My Christmas definition:
- A Christian holiday honoring the birth of Jesus Christ, Christmas evolved over two millennia into a worldwide religious and secular celebration, incorporating many pre-Christian, pagan traditions into the festivities along the way.
- Today, Christmas is a time for family and friends to get together and exchange gifts, but this is not what it is really about. It is about giving to the poor and needy, helping others, and spreading joy and peace throughout the world and remembering what Christ did for us.
History of Christmas:
Christmas, like all so-called
holidays, gets its roots from Pagan traditions.
We Christians stole most of our
traditions from pagan worship.
Like the Pagans worshiped trees
and nature and during their time of Saturnalia, which is in the heart of Winter Solstice, they would decorate them.
This is why we decorate Christmas
Trees today.
- Roman pagans first introduced the holiday of Saturnalia, a week long period of harvest and lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25.
- In the 4th century, Christianity imported the Saturnalia festival hoping to take the pagan masses in with it.
- Christian leaders succeeded in converting large numbers of pagans to Christianity by promising them that they could continue to celebrate the Saturnalia as Christians
- The problem was that there was nothing Christian about Saturnalia. To remedy this, these Christian leaders named Saturnalia’s concluding day, December 25th, to be Jesus’ birthday.
- Popular myth puts Jesus’ birth on December 25th in the year 1 C.E.
- Dionysius Exiguus, a Scythian monk, wrote the modern calendar known as the Julian calendar; the Anno Domina, and really had no idea when Jesus was born. In fact the day and date he suggested, 733 in the Roman calendar, is four years after the time of Herald; in which Jesus was crucified during that time. This does not add up at all.
- Early Christians did not celebrate the birthday of Jesus. They celebrated his life and teachings.
Christmas Story:
- 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 this taxing was first made when Cyrenious was governor of Syria.)
- And all went to be taxed every one into his own city
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And Joseph also went
up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth,
into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is
called Bethlehem;
(because he was of the house and lineage of David :)
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To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being
great with child
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And so it was, that, while they were there, the
days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
- And she (Mary) 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
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- 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 people.
- For unto you is born this day in the city of David 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.
There are several things wrong with this Christmas story.
- For one; if there was a decree it would not be logical. Was there really a decree? If so why would Augustus have everyone go to their own city? Think about it – the Caesar was more organized than this. He would not have everyone travel like this with all the turmoil in Rome. No he would have most likely made a head count with everyone in the city they were already in. This is not just my opinion, but that of many Christian Scholars. Was Jesus born in the City of David? I believe he was, but Joseph and Mary did not travel there because of a decree, they traveled there because they were foretold by the Angels in Heaven. Just like the “wise men” traveled because of the star formation in Heaven foretelling them of the birth of the Messiah…The star formation was not a bright star either, nor was it a comet; for the people at that time feared comets. The star formation was just that a particular formation which was seen only by the scholars and wise men.
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For two; an inn is
not what we think of what an inn is. Let me set this part straight, we as
Christians picture this as Jesus being born in a stable (a barn type stable
with animals all around). This is somewhat true, but let me tell you what a
stable is with the buildings of the Middle East.
A stable and inn are in the same building. An inn is where people ate and slept
and the stable is the lower part where they keep their animals.
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For three; “The
Shepherd’s were keeping watch of there flocks by night.” If this statement is true than this
is proof that Jesus was not born on December 25th. The Shepherds
stop watching their flocks and bring them into the stables at the end of
September. The stable would have been way too crowded for Jesus to be born in
if all the flock was in the stable. There were probably a few young sheep, the
donkey, and maybe a young ox in the stable, but that would have been it. I
can’t dispute the rest of the story it seems to be true.
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In my conclusions
Jesus was born in 5 BC, which is the 5th year in the Berber
Calendar. He was really a God – like man; a human with qualities deriving from
God, but a human non-thy-less. Born from a Parathos – Greek meaning “Young
Woman” mother, we translate the word virgin in the bible as being untouched
by man. In biblical times a virgin was a young maiden. Jesus was raised by
human parents; a virgin mother named Miriam from Nazarene in which we call Mary
Nazareth and his adopted father Joseph from Bethlehem. Not much is said in the bible about
Jesus as a young boy. The only story that relates to him is when he was found
in the temple conversing with the high priests. As a teen he worked as a stone
layer with his father, Joseph. Not a carpenter like we are led to believe. In
reality there is not a lot of wood in Galilee.
The wood was mainly used for the Roman Crucifixions’. Therefore, a tecton
built with stone. The word tecton is actually translated as a day
laborer, not carpenter. Jesus was raised strictly as a Jew and followed the
Torah – the Laws passed down from Moses. His father died when he was a young
man and his mother Mary married the eldest brother of Joseph, Clophias. This
was done in accordance with Leviticus Law. Mary then bore 6 children, four boys
and two girls. The step brothers and sisters of Jesus are as follows (according
to age): James, Jude, Simon, Salome, Joseph Matthew, and Jose. Jesus helped
take care of the family. When his step brothers and sisters got older he left
on his quest given by God.
The First Santa Claus
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The first Santa was
Saint Nikolaus
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He was born Parara, Turkey
in 270 CE and later became Bishop of Myra.
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He would fill poor
children’s stockings with gold coins, which follows what the mythical Santa does today.
Polish Christmas
Traditions
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12 Course Christmas
Eve Feast; Pierogis, caraway soup, sauerkraut with dried peas, poppies seed noodles, pickled beets, borscht without meat, stuffed mushrooms, pickled herring with sour cream, fish with horseradish sauce, Norther Pike Polish style over baby red potatoes, rye bread, and Polish Christmas Cake
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Opening one present to
give back to Jesus; this gets donated to an orphanage. And opening others that are
exchanged.
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Having a polka dance
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Listening to
traditional Celtic and Polka Christmas music.
