The Origin of Christmas

Evening Star, Issue 20053, 19 December 1928, Page 14

The Origin of Christmas

History of Festival—The Year of the Natiylf w

[Written by Noun for the ‘Evening Star.]

As Christmas is the day on which the nativity of Christ is observed, we would naturally conclude that it had its origin nineteen hundred, and twentyeight years ago. But, in truth, 'there is no exact certainty in regard to the year in vvhich Christ was born. Most chronologists place it about the year xi.o, 4, or 750 years after the building of Rome, but this date, too, is doubted, for there are some early historians who fix the “ dies natalis ’’ in 753, others in 749 a.tj.c. The gospel of St. Matthew, however, records that Jesus was born in the reign of Herod, who died in 750 A.tr.c., just before the Passover. This year coincides with the general contention of many chronologists that Christ was born about four years earlier than the year which commenced our present calendar. But St. Matthew states that Herod, just prior to bis death, " sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time that he had diligently enquired of the wise men.” If Herod reckoned on this period as synchronising with Christ’s birth, then the child conld have been two years old when the king died. This interpretation would then place the year about b.c. 6. Thus the controversy is centred around these early years before the date which marks the beginning of our present calendar. THE DAY OF THE NATIVITY. ft is almost certain, too, that the 2oth December cannot be tbo exact date of Christ’s natal day. This traditional view is questioned on the supposition that the winter months .were unsuitabe for shepherding sheep, which were usually folded during such i season because of the ’ inclemency of Mie weather and the shortage of grass for pasturage. Summer is also questioned, as the grass on the hills and plains became scorched with the intense heat. So springtime is stated as being the most suitable period when shepherds and sheep could pass the night under the canopy of heaven. This would carry the day on to the Jewish Passover, and consequently to about April. Some theologians have definitely placed it on the 19th or 20th of this month. When Milton wrote in his ‘ Hymn of the Nativity,’ It was the wintry wild While the heaven-born child All meanly wrapt, in the rude manger lies, he was undoubtedly influenced by the wintry conditions associated with the time of England’s Christmas celebrations, but the outlying shepherds on the verdant hills of Palestine were living witnesses to the reverse. Another theory is deducted from the reference to “ the course of Abia ” (Abijah) in St. Luke i., 5. This course is said to have officiated in April and October. Through certain coincidences, then, the latter month is fastened on by some as having held the day of Christ’s birth. _ Others have looked upon May as being the most likely month. Clement' of Alexandria relates that there were certain Egyptian theologians who curiously assigned Christ’s birth to the 20th day of May. Others again have advanced theories in favour oi the 28th day of March, because that day had come to be regraded by some as the time when the material sun was created. One historian shows that there is no month in the year to which respectable authorities have not assigned Christ’s birth. ORIGIN OF THE DATE OF THE NATIVITY.

the Roman Bishop Liberius, that th# December festival was first widely celebrated, and the very extent of its celebrations showed that it was previously known. The Philocabian calendar compiled in 354 a.d. gave December 25 as the day of Christ’s birth, in Bethlehem of Judtea. From the fourth century every calendar in the Roman world assigned the Nativity to that date. Eastern Asia, however, did not accept it for some years afterwards. SPREADING TO THE EAST. It is almost universally concluded that the orthodox champions of Rome caused this new festival to be made known in the East by way of the Bosphorus during the great anti-Arian revival. Constantinople consequently entered into its celebration about the year 379 a.d. The sermons of Gregory of Nyssa revealed riiat this Christmas feast haJ been patronised in Cappadoeia in 380 a.d. Chrysostom in 886 a.d,, when attempting to induce Antioch to unite in celebrating Christ’s birthday on December 25, clearly said that the feast had become known there less than 10 years before. In the subsequent year he statd that the feast, thoug’ new, was fast becoming equal in authority with the more ancient high festivals. Usually when something new is contemplated or launched, all are not satisfied. Many denounced the new festival as an innovation, and, as a result, Chrysostom gave a detailed argument in support of its validity. So from about the dose of the fourth century the Christmas festival came to receive general recognition among the Eastern churches. ON THE CONTINENT.

During the next three centuries Christmas became the parent of numerous festivals, such as those of the Virgin and the “Christmas cycle,” which latter “ surpassed all other groups of holidays in the manifold richness of its festal usages.” The missionary passion was now awakened. Christianity swept north-westward over the continent, and Christians came to be stamped with the spirit and customs of the more materially-minded nations of Europe. The Britons, Saxons, and Norsemen celebrated on December 25 the feast of the winter solstice in honour of the fiery sun-wheel. This feast was called Yule. The nature of this old heathen festival was soon transformed, for history tells us that the Sn king of Norway, Haakon the , who reigned 1223-1263 a.d., made a law that the festival of Yule should be celebrated as a holy day in conjunction with that of the Christians. This law was thus a recognition of, and a tribute holy Nativity. Such an amalgamation, however, did not take place without the incorporation into Christianity of many beliefs and usages associated with Yule Attempts were then made by religious leaders to purify the festival of these heathen accretions. To a crtain extent this was accomplished by the introduction of a carefully devised liturgy, and a dramatisation of the birth of Christ and the early events of His life- This action brought into existence the socalled manger songs, Christmas carols, and dramas. DAYS OF CROMWELL.

In 1652, during the Regency of Cromwell, the Puritans entered an emphatic protest against the celebration of Christmas, regarding it as a wicked and Popish custom and out of harmony with the Holy Scriptures. Parliament favourably considered their objections, and as a consequence passed an Act abolishing the observance of this day. Heavy penalties • are prescribed for any infringments. On this occasion, when the church dignitaries protested, _ the mustard sellers became its champions, for their trade was pra tically ruined, as large quantities of mustard were consumed with brawn and meats at Christmas time. Thesee tradesmen appealed to Parliament to repeal the Act. but they were unsuccessful. After the termination of the Commonwealth the old-fashioned Christmas was restored in England, but it has gradually changed, and nowadays very little of the original celebration remains. With our continually increasing round of pleasures and celebrations there is little left to distinguish this season from the remainder of the year, and yet, as one has written, “ it is full 'of ideas aim associations, which are on a plane of their own, and whether we think it or not, round about the season lingers, like a breath from an Eastern garden, the memory of Him in whoso Jionour the feast was founded.”

How is it, 'some may inquire, that Christmas Day is celebrated on the 25th day of December when there is doubt not only as to the exact year in which Christ was born, but also in regard to the actual day of the year? How did this observance come to be transferred to this particular date? A series of heathen festivals which were interwoven with the whole civic and social life of the Romans was celebrated at this season of the year. The Saturnalia, the great Roman feast in honoura “golden ago” that never had been, took place from the 17th to the 21st December each year. During this festival the distinctions of rank disappeared or were reversed, slaves were even granted .. a temporary freedom, and sat down to banquets in their master’s clothes, while the latter waited on them at the table. On the 22nd day of December came the Sigillaria, the festival of infants, a day when images were presented to the children. Next came a festival of momentous significance, that of the Dies Natalis Invicti Solis (the birthday of the unconquered sun) on the 2oth December, the time when tho_ days began to lengthen after the winter solstice. So this day originally honoured Mithras the Persian sun god. Owing to the high standard of mortality manifested by Mithraism _ this religion _ became a "keen competitor with Christianity. Through this rivalry many pagan customs were accepted by the Christian religion, and it is more than likely that some influence was also exerted in the selection of the date of Christ’s nativity. A transition would very naturally present itself when Christ as the spiritual Sun was compared with the material sun. But the comparison was even more intimately discerned when Jesus was looked upon as the Lord unconquerod by death, in which sphere he even banished the darkness surrounding it. Hence it became very probable that Christmas was transferred to the 2oth day of December in recognition of a superior Lord, and for the purpose of drawing away the Christian people from all participation in heathen festivals, and gradually leading the pagans temselves from their heathen customs to the Christian celebration. THE SILENCE OF EARLY CENJURIES.

The silence of history for nearly two centuries has caused many to question whether the date of Christinas could have been handed down to us so exactly. It was not included among ' | earliest festivals of the church, for Ironeams and Tertullian omit, from their list of feasts. References were made to it in a collection of , works celebrated in church history as the Collectio Pseudo-Isidoriana, or haise Decretals. This collection attributed the festival to Telesphqrus, a bishop of Rome who flourished in the reign or Antoninus Pius (138 to 161 A.D.). But this composition, which is a product of tho nineteenth century, has been the subject of much controversy, giving rise to, considerable literature. No reuanoe, therefore, can be placed . upon its assertions. That Christmas was not treated with any seriousness during the first two centuries is substantiated by the attitude of Clement of Alexandria, a celebrated, father of the Christian Church at the close of the second century, who made it clear that there were individuals disposed to calculate not , only the year out also the day of the Nativity, and he censured such inquiries as idle and unprofitable. For some centuries the consecration of a feast to the birthday of Christ did not enter very seriously upon th,e thoughts of Christian peoples. ORIGIN IN THE WESTERN CHURCH. From Egypt, at the close of the second century, comes the very first evidence of Christmas as a feast, but this was celebrated on tho 20th day of May. In the period 427-433 a.d. this month was replaced by December. It was in the Roman Church about the middle p| the fourth century, fp the dpys of