THE WINTER FESTIVAL

CHRISTMAS—DECEMBER 25th—is the day designated on our calendars as the day of Christ’s birth. But is this really the day on which he was born? Are today’s customs at this season of Christian origin? Or is Christmas another example of mixture between paganism and Christianity?

A look at the word “Christmas” indicates that it is a mixture. Though it includes the name of Christ, it also mentions the “Mass.” When we consider all the elaborate ceremonies, prayers for the dead, transubstantiation rites, and complicated rituals of the Roman Catholic Mass, can any truly link this with the historical Jesus of the gospels? His life and ministry were uncomplicated by such ritualism. As Paul, we fear that some have been corrupted “from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3) because of pagan influence upon such things as the Mass. Looking at It this way, the word “Christ-mass” is self-contradictory.

As to the actual date of Christ’s birth, December 25th is to be doubted. When Jesus was born, “there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night” (Luke. 2:8). Shepherds in Palestine did not abide in the fields during the middle of winter! Adam Clarke has written, “As these shepherds had not yet brought home their flocks, it is a presumptive argument that October had not yet commenced, and that, consequently, our Lord was not born on the 25th of December. when no flocks were out in the fields... .On this very ground the nativity in December should be given up.

While the Bible does not expressly tell us the date of Jesus’ birth, there are indications it was probably in the fall of the year. We know that Jesus was crucified in spring, at the time of the passover (John 18:39). Figuring his ministry as lasting three and a half years, this would place the beginning of his ministry in the fall. At that time, he was about to be thirty years of age (Luke. 3:23), the recognised age for a man to become an official minister under the Old Testament (cf. Numbers 4:3). If he turned thirty in the fall, then his birthday was in the fall, thirty years before.

At the time of Jesus’ birth, Joseph and Mary had gone to Bethlehem to be taxed (Luke. 2:1-5). There are no records to Indicate that the middle of winter was the time of taxing. A more logical time of the year would have been in the fall, at the end of the harvest. If this was the case, it would have been the season for the Feast of Tabernacles at Jerusalem, which could explain why Mary went with Joseph (cf. Luke. 2:41). This would also explain why even at Bethlehem “there was no room in the inn” (Luke. 2:7). According to Josephus, Jerusalem was normally a city of 120,000 inhabitants, but during the feasts, sometimes as many as two million Jews would gather. Such vast crowds not only filled Jerusalem, but the surrounding towns also, including Bethlehem, which is only five miles to the south. If the Journey of Mary and Joseph was indeed to attend the feast, as well as to be taxed, this would place the birth of Jesus in the fall of the year.

It is not essential that we know the exact date on which Christ was born—the main thing being, of course, that he was born! In partaking of the Lord’s supper, the early Christians commemorated the death of Christ (1 Cor. 11:26), but we have no record of any special observance of his birth. The Catholic Encyclopaedia says, “Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church. Irenaeus and Tertullian omit It from their lists of feasts.”2

Later, when churches at various places did begin cele¬brating the birthday of Christ, there was much difference of opinion as to the correct date. It was not until the latter part of the fourth century that the Roman Church began observ¬ing December 25th.3 Yet, by the fifth century, as The Encyclopaedia Americana points out, it was ordering that the birth of Christ be forever observed on this date, even though this was the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol. one of the names of the sun-god!4

Says Frazer, “The largest pagan religious cult which fostered the celebration of December 25 as a holiday through¬out the Roman and Greek worlds was the pagan sun worship Mithraism.. . .This winter festival was called ‘the Nativity’—the ‘Nativity of the sun’. “Was this pagan festival responsible for the December 25 day being chosen by the Roman Church? We will let The Catholic Encyclopaedia an¬swer. “The well-known solar feast of Natalis Invicti [the Nativity of the Unconquered Sun] celebrated on 25 Decem¬ber, has a strong claim on the responsibility for our Decem¬ber date”!6

As pagan solar customs were being “Christianised,” it Is understandable that confusion would result. Some thought Jesus was Sol, the sun-god! “Tertullian had to assert that Sol was not the Christians’ God; Augustine denounced the heretical identification of Christ with Sol. Pope Leo I bitterly reproved solar survivals—Christians, on the very doorstep of the Apostles’ basilica, turning to adore the rising sun.”7

The winter festival was very popular in ancient times. “In pagan Rome and Greece, in the days of the Teutonic barbari¬ans, in the remote times of ancient Egyptian civilisation, in the Infancy of the race East and West and North and South, the period of the winter solstice was ever a period of rejoicing and festivity.”8 Because this season was so popular, it was adopted as the time of the birth of Christ by the Roman Church.

Some of our present-day Christmas customs were influ¬enced by the Roman Saturnalia. “It is common knowledge,” says one writer, “that much of our association with the Christmas season—the holidays, the giving of presents and the general feeling of geniality—Is but the inheritance from the Roman winter festival of the Saturnalia.. .survivals of pa¬ganism.”9

Tertullian mentioned that the practice of exchanging presents was a part of the Saturnalia. There Is nothing wrong in giving presents, of course. The Israelites gave gifts to each other at times of celebration—even celebrations that were observed because of mere custom (Esther 9:22). But to link Christmas gifts with those gifts presented to Jesus by the wise men, cannot be correct. By the time the wise men arrived, Jesus was no longer “lying in a manger” (as when the shepherds came), but was in a house (Matt. 2:9-11). This could have been quite a while after his birthday. Also, of course, they presented their gifts to Jesus, not to each other!

The Christmas tree, as we know it, only dates back a few centuries, though Ideas about sacred trees are very ancient. An old Babylonish fable told of an evergreen tree which sprang out of a dead tree stump. The old stump symbolised the dead Nimrod, the new evergreen tree symbolised that Nimrod had come to life again in Tammuz! Among the Druids the oak was sacred, among the Egyptians It was the palm, and in Rome it was the fir, which was decorated with red berries during the Saturnalia!’0 The Scandinavian god Odin was believed to bestow special gifts at Yuletide to those who approached his sacred fir tree.’1 In at least ten Biblical references, the green tree Is associated with Idolatry and false worship (1 Kings 14:23, etc.). Since all trees are green at least part of the year, the special mention of “green” probably refers to trees that are evergreen.

Taking all of this into consideration, It Is interesting to compare a statement of Jeremiah with today’s custom of decorating a tree at the Christmas season. “The customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe. They deck It with silver and with gold: they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that It move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not” (Jer. 10:3,4).

The people in the days of Jeremiah, as the context shows, were actually making an idol out of the tree, the word ‘workman” being not merely a lumberjack, but one who formed idols (cf. Isaiah 40:19,20: Hosea 8:4-6). The word ‘axe” refers here specifically to a carving tool. In citing this portion of Jeremiah, we do not mean to infer that people who today place Christmas trees in their homes or churches are worshipping these trees. Such customs do, however, provide vivid examples of how mixtures have been made.

It is generally acknowledged that December 25th was not the actual date on which Jesus was born and that many of today’s Christmas customs stem from pre-Christian ori¬gins. Does this mean, then, that Christians must refuse to share meals with family and friends during the season? Should one’s mission in life be an anti-Christmas crusade? Right or wrong, Christmas is a firmly established day in our calendar and, all facts considered, it is evident there are many causes more fruitful than counterproductive attempts to do away with it. Communism, with its atheistic roots, has done away with Christmas in countries where it has come to power. Atheist organisations because of their opposition to any religious expression have filed lawsuits in an attempt to outlaw Christmas activities in public schools (along with Bible reading and prayer). If Christians were to take such actions as boycotting schools, by pulling their children out of school during the Christmas season—lest they partake in programs or plays—they would unwittingly place them¬selves on the same side as the atheists! A fanatical opposi¬tion to Christmas can cause unnecessary hurt among family and friends, and fuel the fires of misunderstanding and division. Because of the unique vulnerability, it seems obvious that a proper balance, an avoidance of extremes, is in order.

In the sixth century, Catholic missionaries were sent through the northern part of Europe to gather pagans Into the Roman fold. They found that June 24th was a very popular day among these people. They sought to “Christian¬ise” this day, but how? By this time, December 25th had been adopted as the birthday of Christ. Since June 24th was approximately six months before December 25th, why not call this the birthday of John the Baptist! John was born, we recall, six months before Jesus (Luke. 1:26.36). Thus June 24th is known on the papal calendar as St. John’s Day!

In Britain, before the entrance of Christianity there June 24th was celebrated by the Druids with blazing fires in honour of Baal. Herodotus, Wilkinson, Layard, and other historians tell of these ceremonial fires in different coun¬tries. When June 24th became St. John’s Day, the sacred fires were adopted also and became “St. John’s fires”! These are mentioned as such in The Catholic Encyclopedia.’2 “I have seen the people running and leaping through the St. John’s fires in Ireland,” says a writer of the past century, “.. .proud of passing through unsigned.. .thinking themselves in a special manner blest by the ceremony.”13 It would seem that such rites would sooner honour Molech than John the Baptist!

June 24th was regarded as being sacred to the ancient fish god Qannes, a name by which Nimrod was known.’4 In an article on Nimrod, Fausset says: “Qannes the fish god, Babylon’s civilise, rose out of the red sea.. .“In the Latin language of the Roman church, John was called JOANNES. Notice how similar this is to QANNES! Such similarities helped promote more easily the mixture of paganism into Christianity.

A day which in pagan times had been regarded as sacred to Isis or Diana, August 15, was simply renamed as the day of the “Assumption of the Virgin Mary” and right up to our present time is still highly honored.’6 Another day adopted from paganism, supposedly to honour Mary, is called “Can¬dlemas” or the “Purification of the Blessed Virgin” and is celebrated on February 2. In Mosaic law, after giving birth to a male child, a mother was considered unclean for forty days (Lev. 12). “And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished,” Joseph and Mary presented the baby Jesus in the temple and offered the pre¬scribed sacrifice (Luke. 2:22-24). Having adopted December 25 as the nativity of Christ, the Feb¬ruary 2 date seemed to fit in well with the time of the purification of Mary. But what did this have to do with the use of candles on this day? In pagan Rome, this festival was observed by the car¬rying of torches and candles in honour of February, for whom our month February is named! The Greeks held the feast in honour of the goddess Ceres, the mother of Proserpina, who with candle-bearing celebrants searched for her in the underworld.’7 Thus we can see how adopting February 2 to honour the purification of Mary was influenced by pagan cus¬toms involving candles, even to calling It “Candlemas” day.

On this day all of the candles to be used during the year in Catholic rituals are blessed. An old drawing shows the pope distributing blessed candles to priests. Says The Catholic Encyclopaedia, “We need not shrink from admitting that candles, like incense and lustral water, were commonly employed in paganworship and in rites paid to the dead.”’8

If the apostle Paul were to be raised up to preach to this generation, we wonder if he would not say to the professing church, as he did to the Galatians long ago, “Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years, I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain” (Gal. 4:9-1 1). The context shows that the Galatians had been converted from the pagan worship of “gods” (verse 8). When some had turned “again” to their former worship (verse 9), the days and times they observed were evidently those which had been set aside to honour pagan gods! Later, strangely enough, some of these very days were merged into the worship of the profess¬ing church and “Christianised”!