"It's the most wonderful time of the year" and the usual suspects are coming out with their complaints, again, that there is a "War on Christmas" in this country which is part of the greater battle against Christianity in general. One of their pet peeves is the habit of many retail businesses asking or telling their clerks to wish shoppers, "Happy Holidays" instead of the more traditionally preferred, "Merry Christmas" (some of these whiners also don't like the idea of retailers advertising that they "se habla espanol," either). With a certain amount of self-righteous indignation they point out to their "opponents" that there wouldn't even be a holiday season for them to turn a profit on if it weren't for the birth of Christ at this time of the year over 2,000 years ago. But is that part necessarily true?
Many scholars now doubt the probability, if not even the possibility, of Jesus being born in late December in any year between 4 BCE to 6 CE and the source of that doubt comes from the same source for the whole nativity story - the Bible. The accounts of the birth of Jesus in the books of Matthew and Luke provide us with both the common myths and some clues to the truth surrounding the mystery of the actual date of Jesus' birth.
First we have the decree from the Roman Emperor calling for a census so that all his subjects should be taxed accordingly. This is the reason for Joseph and his expectant wife, Mary, to be away from their home in Nazareth staying with what can best be assumed as probably relatives somewhere in one of the two Bethlehems in the Roman province of Judea. If the Emperor is more interested in getting the actual taxes from living subjects he most certainly wouldn't have ordered everyone to be travelling to and fro at a time of the year when the bitter cold could kill large numbers of them. Therefore it is more likely, without any actual written record to go by, that he would expect such a decree to be complied with at a more temperate time of the year, ruling out late Autumn and early Winter.
Then we have the story of the angels visiting the shepherds who were tending their flocks by night. No shepherd in his right mind would be tending his flocks at night out in open country in the early winter. The flocks would more likely be stored in stables during the cold nights where their combined body heat would keep them, and the shepherd tending them, warm. And the main reason any shepherd would be watching the flocks during the dark hours would be for the ewes and she-goats giving birth - an activity that normally occurs in the Spring.
We also have the story of Mary and Joseph having to stay in the stables because there was not enough room in the "inn." This part can be better understood when one keeps in mind the structure of Hebrew homes at the time and place that Jesus was supposed to have been born. The upper floor of the average home was where the humans lived and their animals were stored in a lower floor/basement arrangement. This area would be empty during the warmer times of the year making the room available for extra visitors, like Mary and Joseph, to stay in during an oppressive government program such as the census. Mary would also give birth in this section of the home because much of the bodily fluids released during delivery would be considered "unclean" explaining why the baby Jesus would be laid in a "manger" or food trough.
With so much evidence pointing to a vernal time frame for the birth of Jesus, how then did his birth come to be commemorated on the 25th of December? There appears to be an almost natural process in which as one human culture begins to dominate another culture, as much as the dominant forces the lesser society to submit to its norms and mores, the dominant also assimilates some of the traditions and religious practices of the lesser. From the Roman festival of Saturnalia, a fortnight of celebration running from the 25th of December through to the 6th of January, Christianity adopted it and converted it into the "Twelve Days of Christmas."
But the festival of Saturnalia itself was an adopted and converted holiday. The Romans had got the seedling for this festival from the Nordic peoples of Europe who celebrated the festival of Yule. Yule has been traced back in history to over 2,000 years before the birth of Jesus and is the source of the many objects that people traditionally associate with Christmas. Yule is a celebration of the Winter Solstice (December 20-22 depending on the year) which marks the beginning of the days growing longer once again and the threat of eternal darkness, one of Man's deepest fears, is defeated. Even though the worst three months of the year lay before our Northern ancestors they could take some comfort in the extra daylight and the promise of better times for the future.
The Tannenbaum, or evergreen tree, may have first been used as a makeshift door for any shelter that Man was using to brave the elements and then later used as firewood. Along the way ancient Man discovered the tree's medicinal value as an allergen filter and air freshener, particularly handy when a number of humans are crammed together in tight quarters. The large quantity of feasting that went on during this celebration may have grown out of the need to fatten up before retiring to a near-state of hibernation since sleep is an energy-efficient use of idle time for humans due to scarcity of food and other resources during Winter. Gift-giving probably grew out of the sharing that was needed to secure the continuity of the species.
Since the holiday of Christmas is an artificial construct and does not commemorate anything occurring at an actual point in time and space associated with this portion of the solar calender, then people are free to celebrate as they see fit and apply any religious significance, if any at all, as they choose. The only reason anyone would be at war against this holiday would be those who just want to claim some form of victimhood for themselves so that they are free to justify picking a fight with others who they claim to be the perpetrators. It's a silly way to celebrate the birth of a man that many people worship as the "Prince of Peace."
May you and yours celebrate a joyous Yuletide!
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