msey church of Christ, England - Traces of the Kingdom
CHRISTMAS
In
origin Christmas is pagan, it is not found in the Bible neither did the early pre-Catholic
church celebrate it. The name itself is from
the Old English ‘Mass of Christ’ = Christmas.
Pagan
festivities, merrymaking, the giving of presents coupled with the worship of idols and
pagan gods with human sacrifice is lost in the myths of time. New Year was the time when pagans celebrated the
return of the Sun and worshipped it. It is
these festivals that continue today in the form of Christmas.
The
early church father, Tertullian (died 220?) wrote a treatise ‘De Idololatria’ in
which he chastises Christians for putting wreaths on their doors and other practices of
idolatry practised at the new year. At that
time many Christians were found and persecuted who did not decorate their homes with
lamps, laurels and other decorations, at the New Year.
Laurels were placed on doors to honour various door, home and hinge gods.
The
Romans celebrated the great holiday Saturnalia from 17 to 21 December in remembrance of
the great golden age. During this time slaves
were given limited freedom and served by their masters.
On the 22 came Sigillaria, the feast of dolls when dolls were given to
children amongst other toys. On 25 December
came Brumalia, otherwise known as ‘Dies Natalis Invicti Solis’ The Birthday of
the Unconquered Sun. This was to celebrate
the time of year when the days began to lengthen after the solstice. This date was quite recent being instituted by the
Emperor Aurelian in honour of Mithras, the Persian Sun God of which he was a worshiper
around 270-273.
The
last date of the Roman holiday was Kalendae Januarri, New Year’s Day when everybody
gave gifts to everyone else.
In
Britain the New Year was celebrated in the feast of Yule and in Norway the feast or
festival of the god Thor.
The
Roman church when Christianity was legalised incorporated these feasts into the one feast
‘Christmas’. Instead of ridding the
church of idolatry they incorporated it into the church!
So from around 336 the church at Rome set the date of Christ’s birth at
25 December but this was not followed by other churches, the date finally being accepted
in the fifth century. The Arminian church
still celebrates Christmas on 6 January.
Many
dates were ascribed for the date of Christ’s birth by the early church, 6 January,
March 24 and 28, April 2, 19, May 20 and December 25 this last date being accepted by the
church at Rome.
The
ancients worshipped trees on all continents. Even
today some pagans still worship trees. This
practise was widespread in Europe before and after Christianity began. Pope Gregory 1 wrote a letter to
Augustine of Canterbury (c600) to encourage the continued pagan use of decorating
buildings with evergreens. Augustine had been
concerned with paganism in what is now England, again the answer was to incorporate this
into Catholicism. Many Druid temples were
converted to ‘churches’ sometimes even retaining the pagan priests! Hence started the concept of the church being the
building/temple (the house of a god) as opposed to the church being the people of God.
Ivy
was the badge of the wine god Bacchus and was banished to the outside of the house, Holly
was allowed inside and hence we have the competition between ‘the Holly and the
Ivy’.
Mistletoe
is of Celtic origin and was known as ‘all-heal’ and was believed to have certain miraculous powers. Mistletoe is found on the Oak tree which was
highly venerated by the Oak Priests (Druids) of the many Celtic tribes across Europe and
England. Because of it’s association
with the Druids many denominations have in times past refused it’s use in decorations
in church buildings.
Christmas
hymns started in the eastern church from around 760.
Carols which are festive songs as opposed to devotional hymns started around
1100 but were not in regular use until the 1300s onwards.
In
the 1640s in England, Christmas was dismissed as being pagan and outlawed. During the early nineteenth century it was revived
particularly by Albert the Husband of queen Victoria who re-introduced the fir-tree into
the celebrations.
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