Lo, the splendor of well adorned evergreens, the bountiful largesse beneath the tree and the yule log aflame warming the hearts and souls of all around.
‘Tis the season (to be jolly (fa la la la la la la la la)).
In the spirit of the season, I’ll be giving you all some knowledge on Christmas’s past. This, in lieu of actual presies, because I’m Jewish and ergo, too cheap to buy you all anything.
So to start, this is awkward, but all those cherished things I mentioned above are pagan based. To boot, Jesus likely wasn’t born in December.
Arguably, Christmas itself, in toto, is more or less an amalgam of pagan rituals with a thin veneer of Christianity painted on.
That lovely tree has its origins in the observance of the Winter Solstice. As History puts it, ‘many ancient people believed that the sun was a god and that winter came every year because the sun god had become sick and weak. They celebrated the solstice because it meant that at last the sun god would begin to get well…to mark the occasion, [early Romans] decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs.’
As far as when it became a true Christmas ‘thing’, that was in 16th century Germany (now Riga, Latvia) according to the National Christmas Tree Association.
Also, just to reiterate because it certainly bears repeating, there’s an organization called the National Christmas Tree Association.
Moving on.
What of all those lovely gifts under that pagan tree?
Well, they’re pagan gifts, though they’re sometimes post-rationalized as being symbolic of the gifts given to Jesus by the Magi.
The concept of gift-giving was most likely yoinked from Saturnalia, a Roman festival honoring the god Saturn and celebrated for a week at the end of December.
As the BBC puts it;
By the time of Christian conversion it was running into and incorporating a number of festivals. These included the Opalia – the festival day for Saturn’s consort Ops – on the 19 December and the Sigillaria– the day of present-giving – on the 23 December. The 25 December was dies natalis solis invicti – the birthday of the ‘invincible’ Roman sun-god Sol.
Canceling Saturnalia was unthinkable, so Christian Rome converted it to a Christian holy day instead.
Saturnalia involved some heavy revelry as well; feasting, drinking and the like. Twas a good one.
What of the yule?
Briefly, Yule used to be its own separate midwinter festival in northern Europe which included a log burn tradition.
Folks in the Scandinavian countries refer to Christmas as ‘Jul‘, in fact.
I know what you’re thinking, ‘all this pagan gallivanting must’ve eventually made the Puritans in England well mad.’
Spot on, chap. Spot on.
The parliament of said Puritans banned the celebration of Christmas in 1647 due its non-Christian origins and utterly un-Christ-like excesses.
‘Ugh, I’m bored, tell me about American Christmas’.
Fine.
As you well know, some of those Puritans high tailed it out of England and formed colonies in America.
Present day Massachusetts to be exact.
Massachusetts Bay Colony to be exacter (not to be confused with the Plymouth Colony).
Given their Puritan views that Christmas wasn’t a religious holiday at all, it wasn’t celebrated.
In fact, you were fined if you were caught celebrating Christmas in the MBC (that’s street jive for ‘Mass Bay Colony’).
There were actually Christmas suppression laws in effect until 1681.
In other words, the ‘War on Christmas’ is actually our oldest Christmas tradition (one fought by Christians).
Christmas wasn’t a federal holiday until 1870 when Ulysses Grant, beard and all, made it so.
Who really gives a flying reindeer?
Christmas, and the holiday season in general, is a great excuse to get together with family and friends to eat, drink and be merry.
So go forth.
Eat.
Drink.
Partake in merriment.
That said, if any of your friends complain about the ‘War on Christmas’ feel free to call them un-American hypocrites.
More at The New York Times, BBC, History, HuffPost, The Week, Yahoo and Mass Travel
P.S. Jingle Bells was written as a Thanksgiving song