It may come as a surprise to discover that Christmas did not exist for the first three centuries of the Christian era. The great feast of Easter, and its surrounding events, were celebrated from the very earliest Christian days, but Christmas only became popular as Christianity became established and settled in Europe. Today it is the most widely observed Christian festival in the calendar. In fact, for many people, it is the only Christian festival of which they are properly aware, although many of the trappings, which we take for granted, date back no further than Victorian times.
At the heart of Christmas lies a mystery - the wonderful reality of God Himself taking human form and being born on earth. We may question how He did it, we must surely meditate upon why He did it, but the stark reality is that He did do it. Such is the reality of the Incarnation - God in human form. This makes Christmas a 'holy night'. The thought of God taking human form is the most awe-inspiring event imaginable.
Of course, we don't know the actual date of Christ's birth, but December 25th has been used to mark the event since early in the 4th century. For the Romans, this date was the winter solstice, and in AD274, the Emperor Aurelian decreed that it should be the festival of the birth of the sun. This pagan festival was adopted as the Christian festival of the birth of the Son of God sometime following the conversion of the Emperor Constantine in AD312.
So the pagan festival was 'converted' to a Christian festival, possibly as an attempt to eradicate sun worship, and establish Christianity as the dominant religion, but the comparison between worship of the sun - the source of light and warmth, and worship of God - the source of our spiritual light and life, are self-evident.
Perhaps it is inevitable that given the pagan origins of Christmas, it has always been difficult to sustain the spiritual message of the day, and it has never really shaken off its pagan origins. There have been attempts to curb the excesses of revelry. In the 17th century, Oliver Cromwell sought to abolish the festival, and feasting was declared illegal. Although even during his time, secret celebrations continued. In the increasingly secular culture of Britain and many other parts of the world, Christmas appears to be reverting to its secular origins, compounded by over-zealous ‘political correctness’ which has resulted in names such as ‘winterval’.
It was somewhat ironic to live in Bangkok and experience a city festooned with all the hype of Christmas – fairly lights, jolly Santas, Christmas trees, canned Christmas music, but a total lack of understanding as to what Christmas really is. It is a little sad, that in so many places in the world, the festive trappings of Christmas are so widely promoted, but with little understanding of what is being celebrated.
How important that Christmas should be a time for worship: the wonder of the Incarnation - God come to live amongst us.
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