So Christmas was celebrate long before it was claimed it as the Holy Day to celebrate the memory of the birth of Jesus. Like Easter, Christmas celebrations have there roots in pagan religion. So if your asking what Jesus Christ has to do with Santa Claus, I am one Christian whose happy to admit the two entities have nothing to do with each other.
There are a small group of "Christians" who stop saying Merry Christ and now say Happy Birthday to Jesus, nothing gets under my skin more! The fact that Jesus Christ the 'Son of God', was not born on the 25th December seems to escape these people. (Wikipedia)
Christmas day was founded on the celebration of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti which translate in to "the birthday of the unconquered sun. (Wikipedia) Which is "sun" not "Son" or Jesus Christ which is perhaps where some confusion has arisen from. There's certain no bibical conection as Christmas was not celebrated by the New Testament Church.
For biblical accounts the best estimation is sometime in September Jesus came to earth as a baby. The Book of John tells us that in the beginning was the word and the word was God. If Jesus is God then he existed before time. The idea that Jesus has a birthday and thus a date of birth doesn't sit with my theology or biblical knowledge. So I am happy concede the only birthday I celebrate Christmas Day is my Aunt's.
But as a Christian the day I chose to reflect on the Gift God gave us in the form of his Son is the day we know as Christmas. It a great day to reflect and celebrate this gift of a saviour as Christmas regardless of your religious background is about giving and sharing with those we love . . . And the Santa thing well. . shh! I haven't believed in Santa for a very long time so for me Santa and Christmas don't gel but I'm happy for others to have the jolly old man as part of their celebrations.
I was just reading about Christians wanting to put Christ back in to Christmas as if the first Christmas day was the day Jesus was born which as I shared believe is incorrect. Jesus is the reason I celebrate Christmas and he is at the center of my Christmas Season, but this is not true for everyone who celebrates the Christmas Tradition. .
It was in fact Roman pagans were the first to introduce the Satumalia "holiday or festival" which was a week long celebration between the 17th and 25th of December. At the start of the festival an enemy of the Roman people was chosen to represent "Lord of Misrule" resulting in a innocent person being killed on the 25th December to end the Festival. (The origins of Christmas)
It wasn't until the 4th Century CE the Christians imported the Satumalia festival in the hope of taking in the pagan masses with it, to which they agreed to celebrate Christmas as Satumalia. However the problem remained that the two feasts had nothing in common so the Christians declared the 25th December to be Jesus' birthday. However even this ploy had little success as the 'first Christmases' were celebrated by drinking, sexual indulgences and signing naked in the streets (which was a precursor to our modern Christmas Carols) (The origins of Christmas)
After this Christmas continued to carelessly be celebrated by pagans, Jews and even Christians. Very few people have stopped to reflect what they were celebrating down through the centuries and so it still exists today. (The origins of Christmas) So it seems that Christians have been struggling to put Christ into Xmas down through the ages with various degrees of success.
Reading about how the traditions of Christmas started I know understand how non-Christians in countries which have little Christian input draw picture of Santa Claus on a cross. Regardless of where Christmas traditions emerged from or why other people celebrate Christmas for me the 25th December is the day I reflect on the gift of Jesus given to me by God.
Like all the gifts that my relationships are to me, it makes sense that my relationship with Christ is also celebrated along with all the other gifts of friendship and family are celebrated on the day we know as Christmas Day.
Jesus certainly is the reason I celebrate Christmas. Feel free to email me to find more about the Christian Celebrations on the 25th December.
No comments:
Post a Comment