A
brief history of Christmas
Christmas is special. Christmas is magic.
It is a time of warmth and peace. A season when we can revel unashamedly
in nostalgia and tradition.
The cynics amongst us have described
Christmas as a period of preparations, invitations, anticipations,
relations, frustrations, prostration and recuperation!
But to most of us it is, above all else,
a time of celebration. It always has been, and let's hope it always
will be.
In the Christian world Christmas is celebrated
in remembrance of the birth of Christ.
In 440AD at a meeting held on December
25, the leaders of the Christian Church fixed that day as the
date to observe the birth of Christ.
It is literally the 'Mass of Christ'.
Yet, strangely, the rituals associated with this religious festival
are of pagan origin and were celebrated long before Christ was
born.
Since time immemorial it has been in
Man's nature to worship something, and because all life seems
so dependent on that burning ball of fire in the sky, so vital
to the success of harvests, early man went down on his knees and
prayed to the sun.
In the winter, the strength of the sun
being less, it became necessary to slaughter animals for food,
and these became the first religious sacrifices.
In December, the annual rebirth of the
sun turned into an important festival, and many traditions and
rituals became established.
In Rome on 25 December the Dies Natalis
Invicti Solis was celebrated - the Birthday of the Unconquered
Sun - sacred to Mithras, the god of light, and to Attis, the Phrygian
sun god.
The festival was known as the Saturnalia
and was a period of celebrations from 17 December right through
to the New Year (Kalends) when the Latins rejoiced that the days
were getting longer and the power of the sun stronger.
It was a time of real merrymaking, when
bonfires were lit, homes were decorated with special greenery,
people gave each other presents, and there were lots of fun and
games.
We're not talking about blowing up balloons
and playing computer games, but an early form of charades in which
slaves dressed up as their masters, and lords pretended to be
servants, and it is said that people danced through the streets
wearing very little except some blackened faces and a smile!
These pre-Christian celebrations didn't
just take place in ancient Rome, for at the same time in Europe
the winter solstice, when the sun is farthest from the equator
and at the point when it appears to be returning, became known
as the Festival of Yule.
In Britain, France (Gaul), Germany, Denmark,
Sweden and especially Norway, the Yule or 'Juul' celebrations
became the highlight of the year.
Yule logs and candles were lit to the
gods Odin and Thor, houses were decorated with evergreens, Yule
food and drink were prepared, and mistletoe was ceremoniously
cut.
Although over two thousand years old,
the Yule traditions are still continued today.
In Britain, the Druids celebrated the
Festival of Nolagh and it is thought by some that Stonehenge was
built as a temple to the sun, constructed in such a way that it
cast shadows wherever the sun happened to be.
In fact, practically every country in
the world, from China to India, from South America to the Middle
East, held celebrations at this time of year.
In Greece it was the birthday of Hercules,
Ceres and Bacchus (an excuse to indulge in the grape) while the
Egyptians claimed it as the feast day of Horus. But it was not
until the fourth century that Pope Julius I decided that 25 December
should be celebrated as the birthday of Jesus Christ, and Christmas
as we know it began.
We now celebrate Christmas every year,
but with a little bit of pagan tradition: a Norse Yule log; Druid
candles; a drop of wine from Saturnalia; and a feast from the
winter solstice.
The evergreens and mistletoe still decorate
our homes, and each year we continue to give presents to those
we love. That's the magic of Christmas.
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