Christmas

by Elizabeth McNamer

“And it came to pass that she brought forth her first born son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger,” reads the gospel of Luke. The birth of Jesus took place in Bethlehem according to the gospels, although scholars debate whether this was just the evangelists’ way of connecting Jesus with King David, who came from that town. The accounts differ: Luke gives us the manger, the angels and the shepherds; Matthew mentions the magi, the star, King Herod, the slaughter of the innocents and the flight into Egypt. The infancy narratives were probably a later addition to the gospels, and their accuracy should not cause us to lose any sleep since they are theological statements rather than factual.

But it comes as a surprise to many to learn that although the early church celebrated Easter right from the beginning, it did not observe Christmas. The first mention we have of its celebration is in the year 336 when Pope Nazianzus warned against excessive indulgence of feasting and dancing and dressing in grotesque costumes of animal skins.

Like many Christian feasts, its celebration grew out of pagan customs. The Roman calendar had over one hundred holidays. At the time of the winter solstice they celebrated the festival of Saturn, the god of agriculture. Trees were brought indoors and decorated with trinkets and toys. This coincided with the festival of Mitra, a Persian Zoroastrian warrior god which began on December 25th and the merry making went on for twelve days. Mitra was a great favorite of the military (the army went into winter quarters on the winter solstice and did not fight). Knowing that it was impossible to have people abandon such celebrating, the Early Church Fathers simply seized upon this festival and Christianized it.

December the twenty-fifth was ordained as the birthday of Christ. But it was not universally observed. We first hear of it in England in 521 when a certain King commemorated his victory over York by ordering his cook to create a special dish. It was December 25th, and the cook, traveling in wintry weather, had very little in the way of ingredients. He stirred what he could find in a pot, called it “plum pudding” and served it to the hungry King, who ordered that it be served each year henceforth on the feast of Christmas.

Sometime in the ninth century King Alfred of England set aside twelve days for the observance of the birth of Christ. It began on December the twenty-fifth and ended January the sixth, “Twelfth Night,” with much revelry.

Several customs grew up around the feast. The gathering in of holly and ivy, symbols of immortality; the lighting of candles, symbols of Christ is the light of the world; the ringing of bells proclaiming good news; the hanging of Christmas stocking honoring Saint Nicholas, a bishop of Myra in Turkey who showed great generosity to children; the making of mince pies with spices brought back from the Crusades to show the richness of the event; the singing of Christmas carols, taken from Luke’s gospel; the displaying of the crèche, originated by Francis of Assisi in the twelfth century. Martin Luther introduced the Christmas evergreen tree in 1520, as a symbol of Christ bringing everlasting life.

In 1640 the puritan Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, pronounced Christmas to be a “heathen practice” and Parliament passed a law forbidding its observance. This proved difficult to enforce and in 1660 Charles the Second restored it.

The Puritans who made their way to America, however, forbade its observance in New England. William Bradford’s conscience would not allow it. The law stated, “Whoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas and the like, either forbearing of labor, feasting or celebrating in any other way upon such account as aforesaid, every such person so offending shall pay for each offence five shillings as a fine to the country.”

It was only in 1856, (a few years before the writing of “Little Women”) that the holiday was legally recognized in New England. Now, of course, it is celebrated with gusto.

The sending of Christmas cards came about only in 1843 in England, and thence spread. The giving of presents, commemorating the gifts given to Jesus by the Magi, is a late comer.

Charles Dickens lent much charm to the great feast with the publication of “A Christmas Carol” in the middle of the 19th century. And so, “A merry Christmas to us all, my dears, and God bless us every one.”