Origins of the Christmas Holiday

Ah! Christmas, the biggest holiday of the year!  There is a special feeling in the air; I think it is known as “Christmas Spirit”, that you usually do not feel at any other time of the year.  It creates within us, a sense of kindness and concern for our fellow man.  At no other time are we more generous and giving.  It creates a sense of family and belonging.   It is truly a time that comes but once a year.  Christmas is celebrated in most countries around the world and has both a strong religious and traditional meaning.  I hope all of you have a very blessed season and enjoy reading what I found on the internet about Christmas.

 

From its modest beginnings, Christmas has evolved into the biggest celebration in the world.

Christmas is the fourth most important Christian date after Easter, Pentecost, and Epiphany, a feast held January 6 to commemorate the manifestation of the divinity of Jesus. Roman Catholics and Protestants celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25. Many Orthodox Christians use the Julian calendar, which places Christmas around January 6.

 

            Christmas or Christmas Day is a holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity. Aspects of celebration may include gift-giving, Christmas trees, displays of Nativity sets, church attendance, Santa Claus and family gatherings. In the Western countries, Christmas is the most economically significant holiday of the year and is even celebrated by non-Christians. The popularity of Christmas can be traced in part to its status as a winter festival.

 

            Although no one knows the exact date that Jesus was born, Christians have favored December 25^th since ancient times. Around 330, the Tertullian declared that Jesus died on arch 25^th, AD 29, but was resurrected 3 days later. Although this is not a plausible date for the crucifixion, it does suggest that March 25^th had significance for the church even before it was used as a basis to calculate Christmas.

 

            The idea that December 25^th is Jesus birthday was popularized by Sextus Julius Africanus in Chronographiai  (AD 221), an early reference book for Christians. This identification did not inspire feasting or celebration. In 245, the theologian Origen denounced the idea of celebrating the birthday of Jesus “as if he were king pharaoh” Only sinners, not saints, celebrate their birthdays, Origen contended.

 

            Christmas soon outgrew the Christological controversy that created it and came to dominate the medieval calendar. The forty days before Christmas became the “forty days of St. Martin” now known as Advent.

 

            By High Middle Ages, Christmas had become so prominent that chroniclers routinely note where various magnets “celebrated Christmas.” King Richard II of England hosted a Christmas feast in 1377 where twenty-eight oxen and three hundred sheep wee eaten. The “Yuleboar” was a common feature of medieval Christmas feast. In addition to eating there was also caroling. This was originally a group of dancers who sang. There was a lead singer and a ring dancer that provided the chorus. Various writers of the time condemn caroling as lewd, the dancing may have gotten out of hand now and then. “Misrule”----- drunkenness, promiscuity, Gambling--- was an important aspect of the festival. In England, gifts were exchanged on New Year’s Day, and there was special Christmas ale.

 

By 1820s, sectarian tension had eased and British writers began to worry that Christmas was dying out. They imagined Tudor Christmas as a time of heartfelt celebration, and efforts were made to revive the holiday. The book A Christmas Carol (1843) by Charles Dickens played a major role in reinventing Christmas as a holiday emphasizing family, goodwill and compassion (as opposed to communal celebration and hedonistic excess). The phrase “Christmas tree” is first recorded in 1835. Queen Victoria and her German-born husband Price Albert enthusiastically promoted Christmas trees, as well as the idea of placing gifts under them. The royal family’s tree of 1848 was widely publicized and imitated. Christmas cards were first designed in 1843 and became popular in the 1860s. German immigrants and the homecoming of the Civil War helped promote the holiday. Christmas was declared a federal holiday in 1870.

 

In the midst of World War I, there was a Christmas truce between German and British troops in France (1914). Soldiers on both sides spontaneously began to sing Christmas Carols and stopped fighting. The truce began on Christmas Day and continued for some time afterward. There was even a soccer game between the trench lines in which Germany’s 133^rd Royal Saxon Regiment is said to have beat Britian’s Seaforth Highlanders 3-2.

So, no matter your country of origin or your religious beliefs, I will end by borrowing Tiny Tim’s words of “God Bless Everyone.”

Best Wishes, Gina Pierce/Chairperson “Friends of The Heights”