Happy Holidays! Why would someone say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas? Could it just be that saying Happy Holidays is actually more appropriate than just saying Merry Christmas? Now don’t start yelling at me that I am taking “Christ out of Christmas” because I am not doing any such thing. The Holiday Season starts with Thanksgiving and for most of us ends New Years Day. The over month-long festival incorporates many holidays for where Christmas is just a part of it. It may be a big part of it for you but that doesn’t mean it is a big part for everyone. Don’t tell me “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” because this time of year has been celebrated for thousands of years around the entire world.

What started this Holiday Season? I hate to be the one that tells you this but it wasn’t the birth of a child but it was the birth of a new year. The people that celebrated may not have measured time by years but maybe the seasons. This time of year, in the Northern Hemisphere, marks what is called the Winter Solstice. That is the time of year where the Northern Hemisphere is farthest away from the sun. The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year and every day until the Summer Solstice get a little bit longer. This celebration, the start of a new cycle for the sun, goes back centuries before that birth of Jesus. The Romans had a festival called Saturnalia that was in honor of the deity Saturn, the god of time. It was held from December 17^th to September 23^rd. Emperor Aurelian declared the 25^th of December the birthday of the “Unconquerable Sun” The first Hanukkah was celebrated some 150 years before the birth of Jesus. Jesus is recounted in the book of John of participating in the Feast of Dedication which is Hanukkah if I understand that right. This really is a season that has always been for everyone.

Some of our Holiday traditions came from other cultures and religions. This season is often called the Yule Tide Season. This was a celebration that lasted would you believe 12 days and, was celebrated by the Norse people in Northern Europe. The Yule Tree was decorated right around the Winter Solstice and the Yule log would be lit so everyone could feast and be merry by the fire all night. A Yule Ham was part of the celebration since the boar was sacred. In Finland the sun goddess Beive would ride on a sleigh made of reindeer bones and pulled by white reindeer. Sounds close to Santa Claus. The Christmas Tree has its roots in many cultures and religions. Early Romans would hang metal ornaments on trees outside their homes during Saturnalia. The ornaments had an association with a god or, family’s patron saint. Evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands were significant in Egyptian, Chinese, and Hebrew customs. They represented eternal life. Of course, Mistletoe was for fertility.

Gift giving is something as old as the human race itself. It may be now embedded into the Christian culture but it has been around much longer than that. Gift giving has always been a form of affection of our loved one. Gift giving was even practice by the Romans during Saturnalia which would be given in hopes of a bountiful harvest. The origins of Santa go back before Christianity came to Northern Europe. Odin, King of the Norse gods, was a bearded old man and as legend would have it would leave gifts for children. He would ride an eight-legged horse called Sleipnir. Children would leave their booties filled with straw and carrots for Sleipnir to feed on and the reward would be gifts left in their booties. Christmas now has a version of Saint Nicholas call Santa Claus. The image that we see today was developed by Coca-Cola in the 1930s having really nothing to do with the birth of Jesus. St. Nicholas was actually the patron saint of children, prostitutes, and the poor and he lived during the 4^th century. The same century the church decided to start celebrating Christmas as a religious holiday, Today the image of Santa is more about commercialism than anything else.

Was Jesus really born of December 25^th? I think that history shows they have no idea when Jesus was born. The Bible doesn’t say and Jesus wanted to be remembered by his death. So why did the Church, over 300 years after the crucifixion, decide they needed to start celebrating the birth of Jesus? The explanation I like to believe is that there was already a great party going on so they assimilated it into Christianity. This helped the spread of Christianity to all of Europe. Instead of celebrating the Winter Solstice we were now celebrating the birth of Jesus. You can say that the Church stole the time of year but to me I like the word assimilated better. They took many of the pagan rituals that were practiced and gave them meaning within the church. This really helped the spread of the Christian religion throughout Europe because people could maintain their old customs within the new religion. The first Christmas’ were kind of a decadent festival with a lot of drinking and merrymaking. To get away from all the decadence that was Christmas the Puritans in England did away with Christmas in 1645. It wasn’t reestablished again in England until King Charles II when he ascended to the throne in 1660. It was those same Puritans that came to America for religious freedoms. We know them as the Pilgrims. The Puritans did not celebrate Christmas and always looked down upon the Holiday. The religious freedom they wanted when they came to America was the freedom not to celebrate holidays like Christmas, to worship as they wanted and not be told how to worship by the government.  Christmas In America didn’t become a National Holiday here until 1870. There are still some Christian organizations such as the Jehovah Witnesses, the Seventh-Day Adventist, and the Quackers that don’t celebrate Christmas.

Do I celebrate Christmas? I would answer yes, not because I believe it was the day that Jesus was born but because of all the other things that the day stands for. I put up lights every year and I decorate the house for the festive season. You can say that I am hypocritical all you want but I will point out that this time of year has been celebrated long before the introduction of Christianity to the world. Many of the symbols that have been incorporated into the season have come from many different religions and beliefs and have been embraced by Christianity which in a way to ensure that the old traditions have survived through the ages. The season has always been about rebirth. The season has aways been about a chance to start over again just like the seasons start over again.

I always hear people say that we are trying to do away with Christmas. My favorite is “put Christ back into Christmas”. Believe it or not I have no problem with you putting Christ into your Christmas. Having read much of the gospel I kind of wish some of you would. Holding up a book that you have never read and then telling me that he is the reason for the season while planning detention camps for immigrants is what I find hypocritical. Holding up that book that you have never read and planning on putting the homeless into camps is another thing I find hypocritical. Voting for the people that would do those things that are the opposite of the teachings of Jesus is what I find hypocritical.  Before you put Christ back into your Christmas people, read the books about Jesus, the Gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Remember that everything you do unto the stranger you do unto him. His words not mine.

I will end this by saying everyone please have a safe and merry Holiday Season and I don’t mind if you wish me a Merry Christmas. Let’s all hope for Peace on Earth and Good Will to Everyone.