December 7, 1997
Originally published December 21, 1991

Merry Xmas

Since I did this for my own use in my class, it's not heavily footnoted. I'm not sure where all the material comes from but could probably find it again if pressed. There's nothing secret here -- these are simply facts that most Christians refuse to acknowledge.

The History of Christmas Celebrations

There is no record of the early church celebrating Jesus' birth. The first mention of the observance of the holiday we know as "Christmas" was on December 25, A.D. 325. The Bible is silent regarding the date of Jesus' birth; this date was established by the Roman Catholic Church. But if the Bible doesn't specify a date, why did they choose December 25? Was Jesus, in fact, born on this date? And should we celebrate it if he was?

If all you had for guidance was the Bible -- with no history or tradition to look back on -- when would you schedule regular and special meetings of your local church? You'd probably figure out that it was a good idea for the church to meet on the first day of the week (as was practiced in the book of Acts), and perhaps you'd have a special celebration at Easter. There would be no reason why you would even invent a special day for celebrating Christ's birth -- there's no command to do it, nor is there any example of the early church doing it, nor is there any suggestion that it would be a good idea to do.

If you were, in fact, unaffected by tradition and had only the Bible, you'd be just as likely to create a holiday commemorating Jesus baptism or transfiguration as you would his birth. Think how strange it would be if your pastor announced you'd be celebrating Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead next week. You'd probably think, "Why?" And "Why next week?" And "Why even celebrate this event and not others?" I contend the only reason you don't think the same way about celebrating Christ's birth on December 25 (of all days!) is because the Roman Catholic Church has been doing it for over 1600 years.

So why celebrate Christ's birth, and why celebrate on December 25?

The Roots of Christmas in Paganism

It turns out that, even though early Christians didn't have a holiday at that time of year, their pagan neighbors did. The Egyptians celebrated the birth of the son of Isis at this time (about the time of the winter solstice). The Romans celebrated the feast of Saturn, the Babylonians, the feast of Bacchus. In order to conciliate the pagans and to make Christianity more attractive (and thus increase the number of converts), this winter festival was adopted by the Roman Church, giving it the name of Christ.

This tendancy on the part of Christians to meet paganism half-way was very early developed. We find Tertullian in A.D. 230 lamenting the inconsistency of the followers of Christ in this respect -- contrasting it with the strict fidelity of the pagans to their own religions. "By us," he says, "who are strangers to Sabbaths, and new moons, and festivals, once acceptable to God, the Saturnalia, the feasts of January, the Brumalia, and Matronalia are now frequented; gifts are carried to and fro, new year's day presents are made with din, and sports and banquets are celebrated with uproar; oh, how much more faithful are the heathen to their religion, who take special care to adopt no solemnity from the Christians." (Emphasis added.)

Many cultures used trees as part of the celebration of their Winter holiday. In Egypt, it was the palm tree. Interestingly enough, if you look you'll often find palm trees as a part of Christian nativity scenes. In Rome, it was a fir -- very similar to those decorating our houses this time of year. The tree is significant in these celebrations because it represents the birth of a god. The god is cut down by his enemies and is miraculously reborn in an unconquerable form. The Roman celebration was known as natalis invicti solis -- "birthday of the unconquered Sun."

The tradition of the yule log (not currently practiced to any great extent in the US) can be directly traced to rituals practiced by the pagans of the first centuries. The very word yule betrays its pagan origin: Yule is Chaldean for infant. Long before our Anglo-Saxon ancestors had contact with Christians, they called December 25th "Yule day".

The traditional meal of a Christmas goose has its beginings in Egypt. The Egyptian god Osiris was often honored with a goose as a sacrifice, and a goose was eaten in honor of Osiris during a winter festival held in December.

So What is "The True Meaning of Christmas"?

Christmas clearly originated as a Christianization of a pagan holiday by the Roman Catholic Church fairly late in early church history. The Bible gives no command, example, nor encouragement to celebrate any event in the Lord's life other than his resurrection, which is celebrated on the first day of the week (especially during the Lord's Supper).

The "Merry Xmas" title of this article is a way of gently "taking Christ out of Christmas." At the same time, it's a well-known fact that the "X" in "Xmas" is shorthand for the Greek word we transliterate "Christ" -- so I haven't really taken Christ out of Christmas; I'm just trying to get your attention.

While we teach our kids that Jesus wasn't born on Christmas, we have a nativity scene on our mantle and use Christmas to remember the sacrifice God made when he became a human being. We don't emphasize the Christian aspect of Christmas, but at the same time we tell them that Santa Claus is just a story like Cinderella or Peter Pan.

I generally wear a Santa Claus tie to church the Sunday before Christmas just to "stir the pot" a little. But this year I've got a really nice "Grinch" tie ready for church. Some people there actually find that symbolism more appropriate to the wearer. <g>