Contrary Christmas, A Conspiracy Of Pagans/Love
Frank A. Hilario
December 27, 2006
If Christmas is pagan, now then, my country the Philippines has the longest modern uncivilized celebration in the world, lasting from 16 December (1st Misa de Gallo, dawn mass) to 6 January (Feast of the 3 Kings), a total of 22 days. I blame the 16th-century Spanish friars for bringing Christmas to the islands; but I forgive them, for the Catholic faith is a difficult act to follow – or lead.
My research informs me that all those pagan rituals embedded in Contrary Christmas can be blamed in fact on the following people:
(1)Catholics
(2)Romans
(3)Mesopotamians
(4)Turks
(5)Protestants
(6)Pilgrims
(7)Americans.
(1)Contrary Christmas: Blame the Catholics
Christmas is pagan from head to foot. For instance, the date 25 December is buried in ancient festivals. The birth of the sun-God Attis in Phrygia was celebrated on that date, and so was the birth of the Persian sun-God Mithras (Alan Williams, 2000, christmas-time.com/). We blame the Roman Catholic Church first of all because it was her Nicene Council of 325 AD that decreed the incorporation of certain pagan practices, among which is celebrating on the 25th of December the birth of Jesus. Jesus, of course, is he who became Christ, who came to save man (embracing woman) from sin.
(2)Contrary Christmas: Blame the Romans
Blame it on the barbaric Romans, who gave us Saturnalia (SS, 2002, science-spirit.org/). Saturnalia rhymes with bacchanalia, debauchery. Yearly, Saturnalia began on 17 December and lasted 1 week, ending 24 December. The ancient Romans were honoring Saturn, their god of agriculture (MoAS, 2001, arts.atenveldt.com/). For one month, society was turned upside down, that is, slaves became masters and masters became slaves. Business and schools were closed and everything else was open for merrymaking. ´Saturnalia was a hedonistic time´ – the Romans were given to pleasure, sensual, intemperate, denying themselves nothing. Heathens.
(3)Contrary Christmas: Blame the Mesopotamians
Many of Christmas traditions date back to early Rome and Mesopotamia, where the festivals honored visible power (that of Caesar) and invisible forces (those of the gods) that controlled men´s lives (Joseph W Williams, 2001, usask.ca/). These rituals included the 12 days of Christmas, giving of gifts, parades with floats, caroling house to house, feasts and religious processions (FM, 2006, funmunch.com/). Ancient Europeans believed in many gods; in December, as the Winter Solstice visited upon them with its long nights and short days, the people feared the sun would not return, so they devised rituals and feasts to implore the sun-God to return the sun.
(4)Contrary Christmas: Blame the Turks
Nicholas, the monk who later became St Nicholas, was born in Parara, Turkey in 270 AD, and he helped convene the Nicene Council in 325 AD (JO, 2006, simpletoremember.com/). Being rich, he traveled and helped people, gave them gifts of money and other things (AM, 2005, santas.net/). After his death, a cult grew around him, and the members of the cult began giving gifts to each other year after year. The cult spread to Germany, then to Europe, then to other parts of the world. In the 13th century, St Nicholas became the third most beloved religious figure, after Jesus and Mary; moving to the United States, he became Santa Claus.
(5)Contrary Christmas: Blame Martin Luther
Martin Luther, father of the Protestant Movement, was he who introduced in the 16th century the custom of singing Christmas carols at home, as well as hymns in Church. Carol-singing is pagan; it can be traced back to the Middle Ages (CTiS, 2006, swissworld.org/). From there, church concerts, visiting choirs, outdoor singing concerts and Salvation Army choirs became popular. Modern times borrowing from the ancient, Protestantism arising from Catholicism.
(6)Contrary Christmas: Blame the Pilgrims
The Dutch settlers brought St Nicholas to the United States (Victor M Parachin, 1995, members.aol.com/). With the settlers came the Dutch custom of giving presents to children on St Nicholas Day, which was 6 December (Ken Collins, 2006, kencollins.com/). What the Dutch called Sinter Klaas the Americans came to call Santa Claus and love it. Santa resembles the German god of thunder, Thor: elderly, long white beard, rides through the air with a chariot drawn by two white goats, dressed in red, friendly and cheerful, comes down the chimney into the fire (Richard P Bucher, Dec 1999, orlutheran.com/). If Santa Claus has become a Christmas Contrary, it was the Dutch settlers to the United States who made it all possible.
(7)Contrary Christmas: Blame the Americans
Blame it on the Americans above all, especially the Alabamans. They were the ones who set the precedent: Alabama was the first state to make Christmas a holiday in the United States (WJ Bethancourt III, 1997, locksley.com/). People in Alabama are not afraid of setting precedents, or believing the opposite of what American liberals believe in. In the latest news, a poll of adults throughout Alabama found that 88% favored nativity scenes being displayed on public property, not necessarily including symbols of other religions such as Judaism and Buddhism (Sebastian Kitchen, 24 Dec 2006, al.com/). The Nativity scene is okay; the Americans are not okay. The Americans have made 25 December the Day of Santa Claus, who is probably now more associated with Christmas than Jesus Christ.
IN DEFENSE OF CHRISTMAS, 2000 years after Christ: The essence of Christmas goes back to munificent times. Philosophically, celebrating Christmas has its relevance to modern life all over the Christian world. The essential story of Christmas is that of wonderful spirituality.
Now then, let us highlight the elements of the celebration of Complementary Christmas that can be credited to both Catholics and Protestants:
(1)Christmas Day
(2)Christmas tree
(3)Santa Claus
(4)Gift-Giving
(5)Christmas Card
(6)Lanterns
(7)Nativity Scenes.
(1)Complementary Christmas Day
No, the Nicene Council did not declare 25 December as the birthday of Jesus; instead, it decreed that from then on, 325 AD, Catholics shall commemorate the birth of Jesus on 25 December (Robert Shea, 2005, serve.com/). That is not the same as declaring that Jesus was born on that day. The date was chosen because ´it coincided with some rival religions´ celebrations´ and therefore, if the believers observed the Church´s Christmas Day on 25 December, those other celebrations will die out (Bethancourt III, 1997, locksley.com/). Our God is greater than your God!
(2)Complementary Christmas Tree
The Christmas tree has become one of the most beloved and well-known symbols of Christmas (JBR, 2006, jinglebellranch.com/). In one version of its origin, it actually started as an oak in Germany (Maria Hubert von Staufer, 2000, christmasarchives.com/). When a monk (St Boniface) went there to spread the gospel, he found the pagans giving reverence to the oak. He had the bright idea of teaching the eternal truth of the Holy Trinity using the triangular shape of the evergreen tree: God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Soon the people transferred their respects from the oak to the eternal tree. A metaphor made in heaven.
In objecting to Christmas trees, a Lutheran minister has cried, ´Better that they should look to the true tree of life, Christ!´ (Kelly Wittmann, 2006, christianaggression.org/). Precisely! Mr Minister. And they can do that by looking at a Christmas tree, any Christmas tree, because, according to American writer Charles N Barnard, ´All Christmas trees are perfect!´
(3)Complementary Santa Claus
Santa Claus personifies Winter; he is the bringer of gifts at Christmas. It was the Dutch who brought the tradition of St Nicholas (Sinter Klaas) to New York from where it spread to the rest of the United States (LSI, 2006, lone-star.net/). The story is like this: John Pintard, influential patriot, founded the New York Historical Society in 1804 and promoted St Nicholas as patron saint of both the City and his Society (SNC, 2006, stnicholascenter.org/). In 1809, Washington Irving, a member of the society, published his satirical fiction Knickerbocker´s History Of New York, where there were many references to a jolly St Nicholas. The poem ´The Night Before Christmas´ published in 1823 made jolly St Nicholas better known. What made Santa Claus immortal was the artwork of Haddon Sunbloom who, beginning in 1931, drew the Santa Claus we all know: roly-poly, red-suited American with a flowing beard, the one with flying reindeer and goes down chimneys to give toys to children when they´re all asleep and to remind them to be good. Kids will always be kids.
(4)Complementary Gift-Giving
In pagan times, the Roman emperors compelled their ´most despised citizens´ to give them gifts during the Saturnalia, that is, in December during the Winter Solstice (Lawrence Kelemen, 2006, simpletoremember.com/). Over time, this custom changed to include the giving of gifts among the people. ´The Catholic Church gave this custom a Christian flavor by re-rooting it in the … gift-giving of St Nicholas.´ The exchange of gifts was different in ancient Rome: candles, little clay dolls, urns, jewelry, coins, gold (Ben Best, 2006, benbest.com/). Not all gifts glitter, but all giving counts.
(5)Complementary Christmas Cards
In 1843, the founder of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London Sir Henry Cole started the custom of sending Christmas greetings through a card. The words on that first Christmas card were: ´A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year To You!´ In 1875, Louis Prang, a German immigrant, opened a lithographic shop to print the first US Christmas cards (Christmas Gallery, 2006, emotionscards.com/). The cards had flowers and birds, not exactly related to Christmas but, it´s the thought that counts.
(6)Complementary Christmas Lanterns
In the Philippines, Christmas is a big deal as it is the only Asian country whose religion is Christianity. We Filipinos celebrate this season with twinkling lights, decorative lanterns (parols) and/or nativity scenes (Belens) and 9 dawn masses (Misa de Gallos) from 16 December, with a midnight mass on Christmas Eve. Today, there is a great variety of Christmas lanterns created by Filipino artists you can say they have put the spirit of Christmas in their art. Christmas is so popular in the islands there is now a yearly Christmas-lantern festival & contest in the City of San Fernando in Pampanga Province, Central Luzon. The lantern-making industry in the City has made San Fernando the ´Lantern Capital of the Philippines.´ This year, in the 4th lantern festival in San Francisco, California; more than 2,500 lanterns displayed ´the Filipinos´ sense of optimism´ (Tonette Orejas, 12 Dec 2006, newsinfo.inquirer.net/). Let the Filipino lanterns light up the world.
(7)Complementary Nativity Scenes
The original nativity sets were live, with people and with animals. The first nativity scene may have been created by St Francis of Assisi in the 12th century; the practice spread to Germany in the 17th century (2005, history1700s.com/). Most scenes include the baby Jesus, Joseph, Mary, the shepherds, the star, donkeys, cows and a manger. In St Francis´ case, he found a niche in the rock near the town square, prepared a manger, placed the statues of St Joseph and the Blessed Mary and a little baby doll; he then added hay, ox and ass to the place. The people were summoned and they ran together, the forest resounding with their voices. St Francis chanted the Holy Gospel, then he preached to the people. A miracle happened that night, and miracles long after. Francis was the first great Christmas Complementarian.
COMPLEMENTARY CHRISTMAS, A CONSPIRACY OF LOVE
Yes and yet, it is almost impossible for most people to see that in fact, Christmas is a conspiracy of love, because there are more active Christmas Contrarians than Complementarians, or because of commercialism, or because the contrary mass media gleefully prefer to pay attention to contrariness.
A vehement Christmas Contrarian is Charles Halff (2006, sovereigngrace.net/) who does not celebrate Christmas for many reasons, including claiming that:
(1)Christmas is a pagan holiday.
(2)Christmas is of this world.
(3)The Bible forbids celebrating Christmas.
(4)Christmas is not a Bible doctrine.
(5)Christ was not born on 25 December.
(6)Christmas is a Catholic holiday.
(7)Exchanging gifts is unrelated to Christmas.
As a Christmas encourager, first I urge all the Charles Halffs in the world to read Hamilton Wright Mabie, American essayist, who declares: ´Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.´ I shall now show you that Christmas is that conspiracy of love.
Christmas is a celebration of life. Christmas has practices that are pagan in origin, but the essence of Christmas is not pagan – Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus who came to rescue man from himself. Pagan though their origins may be, the customs and traditions of Christmas are there to encourage the celebration, not discourage it. Pagan means practiced by the uncivilized. In that case, hunting is pagan; so is each one of these: sailing, planting, harvesting, telling time by the sun, counting days, making tools, making love. If you take away pagan practices from modern life, what do you have? No art, only science; no life, only people. The past is prologue; you take away the pagan and you take away progress.
Christmas is of this world. Christ is not of this world; Christmas is. Of this world defines our humanity; not of this world defines our divinity. Of this world is truth in human terms. Christmas is of this world, as it should be, as it cannot be otherwise. Fishing is of this world, as is carpentry, husbandry, being a housewife, lawyering, ruling, cooking, eating, writing, lecturing, word processing, doing PowerPoint, preaching, blogging.
The Bible does not forbid celebrating Christmas. ´I don´t celebrate Christmas because God´s Word forbids the observance of any holy days in this dispensation of grace,´ writes Charles. He cites Galatians 4: 10-11 as his proof that God does what Charles says God does: ´Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.´ But nowhere in the letter to the Galatians does Paul mention ´holy days.´ Instead, by days, months, seasons and years, Galatians refers to the ´pagan, idolatrous festivals and observances that the Galatians observed before their conversion´ (CGG, 2006, bibletools.org/). God forbids pagan practices; God does not forbid the use of pagan practices to modify and edify modern practices.
Christmas is more than a Bible doctrine. No, you can´t find the word ´Christmas´ in the Bible. You can find in the Bible neither such distinguished American traditions as ´Independence Day´ nor ´the right of a woman to her body´ in any English version. The gospel of Christmas can be seen in full only if we look into three sources of data all at the same: The Bible mentions the birth of Jesus the Christ; Holy Tradition shows us the need to commemorate that birth; and the Church, with its age-old wisdom, teaches us that Christmas is correct in both theory and practice. If you look only in the Bible, you will never find the essence of Christmas. Remember: Sola scriptura (the Bible alone) itself is not Bible doctrine.
Christmas is not 25 December. 25 December is only a date. Christmas is not to say that Christ was born on that date but that we like to celebrate that birth on 25 December anyway. Christmas is for celebrating the coming of Christ, the coming of redemption. About the hubbub on the exact date of birth of Jesus, it is a tale told by an idealist, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Christmas is a Catholic holiday. Yes, and it´s good for everyone; just don´t over-commercialize it, don´t over-sentimentalize it. America loves Roman Catholic and don´t know it! Proof: The Protestant Bible which has so many American versions is Catholic in origin; it became ´Protestant´ only after a monk named Martin Luther decided to split from the Church and translated the Bible himself. We Catholics invite Protestants and everybody else to the Catholic mass for Christ every year; we would like you to share in the full blessings. Merry Christmas to all!
Christmas is about exchanging gifts. With a little more inspiration, the most zealous Christmas Contrarian will see through the glass clearly that the Bible alone tells us: The visits paid by the Shepherds, the animals and the Magi to the Baby Jesus were exchanges of gifts. Ù The magi visited the baby and when they offered their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to Jesus, at the same time they accepted the gift of love and sacrifice from Christ. Ù The animals paid their respects to their Creator, and they received the Love of the Child. Ù The shepherds accepted God´s gift of His Son and gave of their humble selves, acknowledging the divineness of it all, expressing their heartfelt thanks, even if they never even said a word. In giving of yourself, you receive.
So: Blame the Catholics for bringing all those pagan customs, rituals, traditions & other particulars into Christmas. Thank the Catholics for plotting Christmas as a pagan conspiracy of love.
Copyright 27 December 2006 by Frank A Hilario
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