Christmas

"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.'"-- Luke 2:8-11.

What exactly is Christmas? We all agree that it is the celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, but how did it become a day of gift giving and secular celebration? Quite simply, it's a tradition of the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia. Saturnalia, the feast of the Roman god of the harvest, was held late every year after the harvest. It was a way to thank Saturn for the past growing season and the tradition included exchanging gifts, feasts, and slaves becoming master for a day (this is still carried on in places, except employees take their bosses' places).

There is some postulation that the Christians needed to equate their holy days with Roman festivals so that Christianity would have a degre of familiarity to the Romans. Since Saturnalia was the biggest holiday of the year, it seemed logical to equate it with Christendom's biggest event (the birth of Jesus of Nazareth).

So... when you hear someone complain that Christmas is too much about gift giving and not about celebrating the birth of Jesus, you can now remind them that if they really want to celebrate Jesus' birth, they should hold a ritual of worship on his true birthday... September 7.

Merry Christmas!