Christmas is originally a Christian holiday to celebrate Jesus's birth. Now it mainly about Santa and presents. What could be done to recenter the holiday back on Christ?
Actually it was original the pagan celebration of the winter solstice in order to take control of the pagan religions it was decided to cover up their holiday with a Christian one celebrating the birth of their messiah. So, although it is a Christian holiday it wasn't a Christian holiday originally making putting the "Christ" back in kind of pointless.
Christmas is originally a Christian holiday to celebrate Jesus's birth. Now it mainly about Santa and presents. What could be done to recenter the holiday back on Christ?
religion fail, twas' pagan
Actually it was original the pagan celebration of the winter solstice in order to take control of the pagan religions it was decided to cover up their holiday with a Christian one celebrating the birth of their messiah. So, although it is a Christian holiday it wasn't a Christian holiday originally making putting the "Christ" back in kind of pointless.
Christmas is originally a Christian holiday to celebrate Jesus's birth.
HISTORY FAIL! The origins of Christmas, as stated above lie within the pagan rituals of prechristianized Rome. Furthermore the original holiday was most likely set closer or at the Winter solstice. The original celebration was for the Winter solstice to start of with. However, under the Emperors after Constantine (yes AFTER! Constantine was NOT a Christians until his death bed, he simply introduced the idea)Christianity was spread to gain political standing with the common people and Senate in hopes of not being assassinated (oh the failures). In order to do this the Christian Emperors, especially in the Eastern half, demonized paganism and glorified Christianity. This was further brought about by several other religious influences from outside the Empire, and minor pushes within.
Now it mainly about Santa and presents.
Oddly enough the folktale is a rather modern addition. But even before today the holdiay was about celebrating community and family and life. It was also custom in some places to exchange gifts.
What could be done to recenter the holiday back on Christ?
Let's not considering Christians usurped the holiday for their own means to begin with.
Christmas is not, as has been stated, a "Christian holiday". It began it's earliest traditions with the Mesopotamians who held a 12 day celebration in honor of Marduk, their chief deity.
The tradition of tree decoration began with the pre-Christian Romans who decorated their homes in celebration of Saturnalia, a winter solstice festival celebrating their deity Saturn. They also began the tradition of exchanging gifts, believing that generosity would bring them good luck and the favor of Saturn. The Roman pagans also gave us the tradition of going from house to house singing songs, as well as the 'gingerbread men' cookies that are so popular.
If you wish to learn more about the real origins of our most popular world holiday I suggest that you take a look at a few of my favorite sites on the subject.
I would agree, and I go even further to say that, as I illustrated (and is further illustrated in the links I provided) the traditions of Christmas never were influenced by Christianity in the first place. In fact, the same can be said about every single holiday which Christians claim as a "Christian holiday".
First a bit of background on the holiday. It was the celebration of the Winter solstice. For people back when the celebration started this would have been a huge feast before deep winter hit. Meaning it would be the last they would have of fresh supplies until the end of winter. Usually alcoholic beverages such as wine and beer would be ready to drink after fermenting. Given the conditions of surviving winter this would have been a great boost in morality for families and could have even marked the last time with friends and family given how many likely didn't make it through the harsh winter months. There is evidence that we have had some sort of celebration like this dating back as far as the stone age. So it's possible some of the feelings we have may be ingrained on a deeper level, then the commercialization suggests. What is Christmas?
As pointed out in the video above Jesus wasn't associated with the holiday until the 4th century. I wasn't until I think the 19th century, the holiday as it is today was accepted by the church as an official holiday. Of course this was because so many people celebrated it anyway. Truthfully other then the name Christianity added very little.
So given the over commercialization and the fact many non Christians celebrate it as more of a secular holiday today, I wish you all a merry Giftmas.
-cough- It's more like putting Saturn back in Saturnalia but I'll let it slide. Also according to the position of stars, it's theorized that Jesus was actually born sometime in the late spring.
I see your point however, that Christmas has become more about giving and receiving gifts than the old fashioned values. I have a feeling those values are going to get a rise in popularity this upcoming Christmas, considering the number of people without a job.
As we have discussed in another thread about Christmas, is that the religious meaning...well...does not REALLY have a place for this holiday (as explained above), unless you're a traditional Pagan. Most of America is not.
So, we have this holiday and I think the most we should get out of it, is that altruistic feeling we try to strive for, I suppose. As corny as it sounds, I really do enjoy giving gifts to people. The food is good, the movies on TV are also corny, but good. Those sorts of things are the importance of this time of year, in my most humbled opinion.
I think we shouldn't put more stuff into Christmas, but strive to slim it down a bit. Maybe I'm the only one, but sometimes, over all the music, santas, sweets, shopping and the baby Jesuses next to robotic Rudolfs with laser noses, I get the feeling that it might be healthy for everyone to CALM DOWN!
On an unrelated note: The searches for Whiskey and Vodka peak every year around Christmas.
Now if you will excuse me, I have to nurse that Christmas shopping headache with some strong medicine.
Nahh, bro, I chillax too - but that's probably just my laid-back nature (If I didn't have that then I'd have dropped dead of a heart attack years ago).
mage grey wolf is right- we shouldnt stress out. also there still is chrsit in christmas. People often read the story of christ and go to church on chrstmas eve.
