The big Christmas debate

There are debates everywhere about Christmas and whether it really is about Christianity or more about the customs surrounding Christmas festivities.

It is safe to say that the Christmas tree is one of the most recognized symbols of Christmas, yet the origins of the Christmas tree are not so clear.

There is a legend that Saint Boniface started the custom of the Christmas tree in Germany around the eighth century.

It is said that Saint Boniface started the custom of the Christmas tree in Germany around the eighth century.  He found a group of pagans worshipping an oak tree and became angry and consequently, he proceeded to cut down the oak tree.  Immediately a small fir tree is said to have sprouted from the middle of the oak stump and reached to the sky. Thus, Saint Boniface told the onlookers that this would be their holy tree because it was evergreen, a symbol of everlasting life.

Historically, an oak tree named Irminsul (meaning Great Pillar) was in fact used by the Saxon tribes of Germany as the symbol of their chief god, Tiu, also known as Saxnot. It was destroyed on the orders of the Frankish emperor Charlemagne during the late 8th century, as part of a military campaign to subdue the Saxons and convert them to Christianity.

Although many versions, of the story of where the first Christmas tree was used, exist, authorities believe that the true origins come from ancient Egypt.  On December 21, the shortest day of the year, ancient Egyptians decorated their homes with green palm branches to symbolize life’s triumph over death.  Before Christianity, plants and trees that remained green throughout the year were believed to have special meaning for people in winter.   The Romans also had special reference to ever greens, during the winter festival of Saturnalia, which honored Saturn, the god of farming.”

Ancient Druids, also a member of an order of priests in ancient Gaul and Britain who appear in Welsh and Irish legend as prophets and sorcerers, were known to place evergreen branches over doors to frighten away evil spirits.

This pagan history involves more than just the tree!  People decorate the trees with baubles and tinsel to make it look really pretty to impress guests. Lights are put up outside houses as well to impress people in the cars driving past.

Even typical Christmas decorations like mistletoe and holly, etc.  But did you know that the decorations used during Christmas also have pagan connections?  The ringing bells, for example, are generally thought to have had its origin in the early pagan winter celebration of ringing of bells to drive out evil spirits.

Similarly, there was an early pagan tradition of lighting candles to drive away the forces of cold and darkness.

Two hundred years before the birth of Jesus, the Druids used mistletoe to celebrate the coming of winter. They believed the plant had special healing powers.  Scandinavians also thought of mistletoe as a plant of peace and harmony. They associated mistletoe with their goddess of love, Frigga.  The custom of kissing under the mistletoe probably derived from this belief.   The early church banned the use of mistletoe in Christmas celebrations because of its pagan origins.

And then the overall interesting question of whether Jesus was really born on 25 December and research show that speculation as to the time of Jesus’ birth dates back to the 3rd century, when Hyppolytus (ca. 170-236) claimed that Jesus was born on December 25. The earliest mention of some sort of observance on that date is in the Philoclian Calendar, representing Roman practice, of the year 336. Later, John Chrysostom favoured the same date of birth. Cyril of Jerusalem (348-386) had access to the original Roman birth census, which also documented that Jesus was born on the 25th of December. The date eventually became the officially recognized date for Christmas in part because it coincided with the pagan festivals celebrating Saturnalia and the winter solstice. The church thereby offered people a Christian alternative to the pagan festivities and eventually reinterpreted many of their symbols and actions in ways acceptable to Christian faith and practice.

December 25 has become more and more acceptable as the birth date of Jesus. However, some argue that the birth occurred in some other season, such as in the fall. Followers of this theory claim that the Judean winters were too cold for shepherds to be watching their flocks by night. History proves otherwise, however, and we have historical evidence that unblemished lambs for the Temple sacrifice were in fact kept in the fields near Bethlehem during the winter months.

The truth is we simply don’t know the exact date of the birth of Jesus. In fact, we don’t even know for sure the year in which He was born. Scholars believe it was somewhere between 6 B.C. and 4 B.C.

And Santa never existed!  He is based on the original St Niklaus, who lived in what is now modern-day Turkey back in the 3^rd or 4^th century.