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The
joyous festival of Christmas (December
25th) is celebrated each year by millions
of people all over the world. This day
is the official commemoration of the birth
in Israel some two thousand years ago
of Jesus Christ, the source of the Christian
faith (the festival is also celebrated
by the Eastern Orthodox churches, but
on January 6th, an earlier version of
this festival). The birth of Jesus, the
Divine Child (defined as year "0") marks
the beginning of the current Western Gregorian
Calendar. Jesus Christ is revered as the
true saviour and Son of God, so, in Christian
civilisation, his birth marks the beginning
of a new world for mankind.
Christmas essentially celebrates the birth
of the Divine Spirit in human form, the
salvation of souls lost in the material
world. Jesus, the Incarnation of Spirit,
is said to have been born in a stable,
in Bethlehem (now part of the Palestinian
Territories), accompanied by angelic proclamations
and miraculous portents not the least
being that his mother, Mary, is believed
to have been a Virgin (thus is the Divine
brought forth from Nature). His birth
is also said to have been marked by the
appearance of a marvellous star, the Star
of Bethlehem, which was followed by three
Wise Men (Magi, or Astrologers) from the
East, who brought gifts to mark his birth.
This happy celebration has also spread
to many non-Christian cultures as well,
for the pleasures of gift-giving and feasting
are universal. No doubt the commercial
pressures of a consumerist society have
seen to that! But does this festival really
mark the anniversary of the miraculous
birth of the baby Jesus, celebrated by
angels, shepherds and wise men from the
East, or is it fundamentally a celebration
of something else?
This happy celebration has also spread
to many non-Christian cultures as well,
for the pleasures of gift-giving and feasting
are universal. No doubt the commercial
pressures of a consumerist society have
seen to that! But does this festival really
mark the anniversary of the miraculous
birth of the baby Jesus, celebrated by
angels, shepherds and wise men from the
East, or is it fundamentally a celebration
of something else?
Why then was December 25 chosen as the
day for Chistmas? Here we have to look
more deeply at the customs, religious
practices and celebrations of the time.
The Solstice and the Saturnalia
At the beginning of the Christian Era,
the Roman Empire was the dominant force
in Europe, the Middle East and the world
of the Mediterranean. Rome followed a
pagan religion of many gods and goddesses,
including Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, Mars,
Saturn, the Moon and the Sun. There are
many myths and legends that tell the stories
of these gods and heroes, really a coded
set of narratives that reveal much about
the ancient cultures and their approach
to life, the universe and everything.
Life in ancient times was far more dependent
upon the seasons and the natural cycles
than we are in the West today, cocooned
as we are in our electronic villages,
turning night into an interminable electric
day. During times when people could actually
see the stars in the night sky, astrology
developed as a mode of making sense of
these natural cycles and certain times
in the year were seen to be especially
significant.
Key times for celebration were the cardinal
points of the seasons, the solstices in
June and December and the equinoxes in
March and October. These temporal points
were utterly central to the the social
mores of the ancients, as they not only
measured the seasons, the sowing and reaping
of crops, but also symbolised stages in
the development of the soul. These calendrical
festivities were seen as times when the
fabric of the cosmos was loosened and
the hand of divine providence could be
moved to take a more active part in the
lives of those who lived on the body of
Mother Earth.
The
solstice at Christmas time marks the entry
of the Sun into the sign of Capricorn,
the sign ruled by Saturn. On this day
the Sun appears to halt over the tropic
of Capricorn and begins his journey North,
marking the return of glorious light to
the darkness of Winter in the Northern
Hemisphere.
In Ancient Rome, the mythical age of Saturn's
reign was a golden age of happiness, without
theft or servitude, and without private
property. Saturn, dethroned by his son
Jupiter, had joined Janus as ruler in
Italy, but when his time as earthly king
was up, he disappeared. It is said that
to this day He lies in a magic sleep on
a secret island near Britain, and at some
future time ... He will return to inaugurate
another Golden Age.
Janus is said to have instituted the Saturnalia
leading up to the solstice as a yearly
tribute to his friend. For mortals, the
festival provided a yearly symbolic return
to the Golden Age. Thus, it was an offence
during this period to punish a criminal
or start a war. The meal normally prepared
only for the masters was prepared and
served first to the slaves by the masters.
All people were equal and, because Saturn
ruled before the current cosmic order,
Misrule with its lord, Saturnalia Princeps
was the order of the day.
Gift-Giving and Feasting
Children and adults exchanged gifts, but
the adult exchange became so great a problem
the rich getting richer and the poor
getting poorer that a law was enacted
making it legal only for richer people
to give them to poorer. This custom is
still in theory celebrated on Boxing Day,
the Feast of St Stephen, when gifts are
boxed and given to the poor, who are also
due to be given food.
The Saturnalia was a festival of feasting
and celebration, which was very popular
in Roman times. The season began with
the Consualia, on December 15, marking
the end of the sowing season, then around
Dec 17 got into full swing with the Festival
of Saturn (agriculture) followed on the
19th with the festival of Opalia (honouring
Mother Earth, Saturn's wife). The general
festivities continued until December 25
(the solstice in the pre-Julian calendar).
This was formalised during the Empire
as a full week of festivity.
The solstice was celebrated throughout
the ancient world in one form or another.
In particular, the Romans honoured the
rebirth of the Invincible Sun with the
festival Dies Natalis Solis Invictus on
December 25th. Quite a few other notable
births were honoured at this time, including
a selection of Solar Heroes: Attis; Mithras;
Osiris; Baal and so on. The winter solstice
was honoured in the pagan mysteries as
the birth of the Divine Child, Sun of
Righteousness, Son of Man, Light of the
World etc. Christmas Eve, the night before
the solstice, was honoured as the Night
of the Mother, matrum noctem.
Formal Celebration
When Christianity was adopted as the official
religion of the Roman Empire in the 4th
century, the need for a formal celebration
of the birth of the redeemer became critical.
Because the people were used to celebrating
the birth of the Sun on Dec 25, this was
adopted by the Church in the West as the
official birthday of Jesus. Eastern churches
did not accept this until much later.
Northern cultures celebrated Yule at this
time, from which many of the trappings
of the modern Christmas celebrations have
developed. Indeed, most of the symbols
and emblems of Christmas have been adopted
wholesale from earlier and often competing
pagan traditions, including the Virgin
Birth, the Christmas Tree, gifts, lights,
decorations, mistletoe, holly, carols
and so on.
Many church leaders have fulminated against
the overtly pagan nature of Christmas
over the years (see Alexander Hislop's
The Two Babylons). Puritans even tried
to ban it, but this ban was shortlived
in England (1644-1660) though slightly
longer in Massachusetts, where it lasted
until 1681. Notwithstanding, Christmas
is a seasonal celebration of the rebirth
of the Sun at the deepest night of the
solstice, so is ingrained into the cultural
soul of our civilisation and consequently
has proven impossible to erase. Whether
or not the contemporary commercialisation
of this spiritually significant time is
a good thing is entirely another matter
and one which thoughtful people must decide
for themselves.
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