Two Christmases

There are two Christmases. One is the Christian Christmas and the other is the secular Christmas. This winter festival still carries the Christmas name, and, for nostalgic reasons, still holds to many traditions. This is the tricky part for Christians. It looks a lot like Christmas, it sounds a lot like Christmas, it has the Christmas name, and has a core spirit that is good and righteous.

Throw in the mass media hype and marketing, and we can see how a good Christian might find himself forgetting the Christian meaning and Spirit of Christmas. The secular Christmas is joyful and well intentioned, and does embrace many Christian values. It does not want to be “superficial” and is constantly searching for the “true meaning of Christmas.”

So what’s the problem? I am not saying that we should not participate. Go ahead … but don’t confuse the two Christmases.

The winter solstice was celebrated long before Christ’s birth. For instance, Roman pagans celebrated the holiday of Saturnalia, a week – long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17 and 25. During this period, Roman courts were closed; therefore, no justice could be administered. Gladiators fought to the death and in some areas the festival began when Roman authorities chose “an enemy of the Roman people” to represent the “Lord of Misrule.” The victim would be forced to indulge in food and other physical pleasures throughout the week. At the festival’s conclusion, December 25, Roman authorities believed they were destroying the forces of darkness by murdering this person. In addition to human sacrifice, there was widespread misbehaviour: intoxication, going from house to house while singing naked, sexual license, and consuming human – shaped biscuits (gingerbread men?).

In the fourth century, after Constantine declared Christianity the state religion, it is believed that in an attempt to convert the pagans, the Romans replaced the Saturnalia winter festival with Christmas, and designated December 25th Christmas Day. Stephen Nissenbaum, professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, writes, “In return for ensuring massive observance of the anniversary of the Saviour’s birth by assigning it to this resonant date, the Church for its part tacitly agreed to allow the holiday to be celebrated more or less the way it had always been.” The earliest Christmas holidays were celebrated with drinking, sexual indulgence and singing naked in the streets. Many of the things we think to be purely Christmas traditions actually have pagan origins—evergreen trees were symbols of hope and life in the midst of winter and gift – giving is from Saturnalia. Puritans in Europe in the 17th century tried to purge Christmas of these pagan rituals and even tried to cancel Christmas. (Bah Humbug!)
So this problem has been going on for almost 2,000 years. Christians of the day had trouble not getting caught up in the old traditions of the Saturn festival and they carried some of those traditions over, just as we have trouble not getting caught up in the hustle and bustle of the modern secular Christmas experience.

At this time of year we often watch Christmas specials and movies—most of which have a plot surrounding the discovery of the “true meaning of Christmas.” These programs rarely approach Christmas from a religious perspective and assign instead some moral or ethical truth. Ultimately, I believe that the moral assumptions at the heart of the modern winter festival are rooted in the Way, the Truth, and the Life, so this “true meaning” often speaks to the notions of love, compassion, forgiveness and generosity, peace on earth and good will. These are all beautiful, powerful and sincere values, and it’s great to centre a festival on them. By doing so, we reinforce their importance, and likely carry an emboldened sense of these values into the new year. This is wonderful and worth celebrating. However, from a Christian point of view, the real meaning of Christmas goes infinitely deeper and should bring us even more hope, joy and reason to celebrate.

Christians must never forget that the true meaning of Christmas is found in the birth of a child in the middle of nowhere, to simple parents on their way to be counted, and that this child reveals to us God’s righteousness, God’s hope, God’s plan and God’s promise—not for a day, a week, or a season, but for eternity and for all.