Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
Over at GetReligion we analyze how well the mainstream media write about religion news. (Answer: Not very well!) Over the course of my six years there, I've noticed a trend around Easter or other high holy days where media outlets release shocking news meant to undermine Christianity. The Christmas tradition is a bit different. That's where media types tell folks that Christmas is actually a Pagan holiday.
For instance, everyone knows that Dec. 25 was an arbitrary date stolen from Pagans celebrating Saturnalia, right?
Wrong!
You can read William Tighe's fuller treatment of the topic here, but I'll summarize for you.
Early Christians chose what is now Dec. 25 (calendars have changed a bit, obviously) as the likely date of Christ's birth based on a widely held belief of that era that great prophets were conceived and died on the same date. They called this "integral age." Early Christians calculated that Jesus died on what would work out to March 25 -- the date for Passover of the year of his death.
You add 9 months and what do you get?
My favorite part of this story? In all likelihood, Aurelian probably set his sun festival for the same date in an attempt to co-opt what was already becoming a minor Christian feast day. The actual Pagans of that era had their sun festivals in August.
No, my actual favorite part of the story is probably that these myths about how the date was chosen were started by Christians. One was a Protestant trying to undermine the liturgical calendar. The other was a Benedictine monk trying to show how you could co-opt the culture without it causing harm. If only they knew ...
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Comments:
Aug '10
Re: Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
You know what? As a Christian, I don't even care if Christ was born on or near Dec 25 or if we just borrowed the date from the Pagans.
The important thing is that we celebrate Christ's birth, and given the powerful effect the seasons have on us, what could be more poetic than celebrating it right after the very darkest moment of the year, just as our hemisphere turns toward the light?
Edited on December 23, 2011 at 4:47pmOct '11
Re: Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
See Joseph Ratzinger's The Spirit of the Liturgy for a beatiful explanation of the signifcance of this date. Sorry I don't have the exact reference immediately to hand.
You are right that this sort of coverage is as tiresome as it is predictable.
Jun '10
Re: Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
Saturnalia??? After spending half the night trying to get a scooter together when one of the wheel bolts was half an inch too short, I was way too tired for Saturnalia (whatever that really is).
Christmas is, at best, a time to remember Christ and recommit oneself to trying to be like Him and to follow Him; at worst, it's a time for families to get back together. And I don't think Christ really cares much if it's the wrong day: He cares we love Him as He loves us.
Edited on December 23, 2011 at 5:23pmSep '10
Re: Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
As soon as I saw this thread I just knew I had to hike up my skirt and come bounding over
St Augustine
Apr '11
Re: Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
The Roman church had a convenient way of absorbing local pagan traditions into its practices as it went about spreading the Christian faith amongst its expanding empire. So, in Northern Europe we have the tradition of dragging a tree into the house and decorating it with lights. So what! As long as there are Christians we will be remebering the birth of our Lord and Saviour during this season. If non-believers and pagans want to celebrate as well terrific, the anti-Christian ninnies can do what they do (in regularly embarrassing fashion), but for me and mine it is a thankful time that we remember Christ Jesus.
Jun '10
Re: Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
Funny, I thought all sacred holiday traditions were instituted for my benefit when I was about five years old. Apparently, historians disagree.
Mar '11
Re: Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
I must admit that I thought Christmas was adapted from the Pagan festival around the winter solstice - clues include the Christmas tree and Druidic symbols such as holy, ivy and mistletoe. Not to mention eating and drinking too much ;-)
I'm not a practicing Christian, but I wish everyone a Happy Christmas!
Aug '10
Re: Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
Here's my Christmas wager. Nothing compared to Pascal's wager, I grant you, but the logic is somewhat similar:
Either Jesus was born around Dec 25 or He wasn't.
Suppose He wasn't. Historically speaking, the birthdates of those born into lowly circumstances just weren't that important during Jesus' time. (Until recently, ordinary folks often didn't even know their own birthdays.) And that Jesus was born into lowly circumstances is part of the story. So, in a culture where exact birthdates isn't important, it strikes me as sensible, rather than dishonest, to commemorate someone's birth on a day that makes symbolic sense, even if it's not the factual date. And why not choose to commemorate the birth of the Light of the World right after the winter solstice?
Now suppose He was. That just tells us that God is a poet at heart, timing the arrival of the World's Light with the physical reality of returning daylight for the northern hemisphere. But we already knew God was a poet: that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth is proof enough of that.
Either way, it makes sense to relate Christ's birth to the solstice.
Edited on December 23, 2011 at 10:29pmMar '11
Re: Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
Oh come on, everyone knows Christmas was invented by Coke. Of course, Coke is owned by the Catholic Church, so it's pretty much the same thing.
Sep '10
Re: Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
The angel Gabriel prophesied to Zechariah that his wife Elizabeth would have a son, John (the Baptist). Luke tells us that Zechariah was a priest from the 'house' (or division) of Abijah, doing temple duty at the time. In 1 Chron 24:10, we are told that the house of Abijah did their priestly duty during the 8th lot, out of 24 lots spread over the entire year.
The 'house of Jehoiarib' did their temple service (the 1st lot) in the month of Nisan, which is the beginning of the Hebrew calendar year (Neh 2:1; Esther 3:7), around end of March in the Gregorian calendar. The 8th lot would have been 4 months later, around end of June, beginning of July.
Six months after John, the cousin of Jesus, and the one who would prepare the way for him, was conceived, Jesus was miraculously conceived (Gabriel’s prophesy to Mary). That would be around the end of December/beginning of January.
Jesus was born 9 months later, around the end of September/beginning of October - which is the time of the Feast of Tabernacles (in the Jewish calendar, the 15th to the 22nd of the month of Tishrei).
May '11
Re: Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
I remember back in the 70's when the Catholic church finally relented and said we could have trees in our house and not be considered pagan worshippers.
December 25th was chosen as the solstice and to argue otherwise is just plain silly. Whether it was chosen to mimic other religions or not does not change the arbitrariness of that date.
Christmas is about presents and I don't care if anyone wants to push religion onto it as well, as long as the kids get presents. And me too! Three cheers for prosperity!
Mar '11
Re: Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
I happily agree with those commentators who have argued the celebration of Jesus's birth, and the cycle of the church calendar matter more than the date and the specifics of the occasion as found in Matthew and Luke.
I refer those interested to the multi-volume work of Father John P. Meier, or the excellent scholarship of E.P. Sanders, or Father James Dunn's work, or Marcus J. Borg. All of whom seriously consider the historical method without succumbing to all its worst tendencies, and several of whom disagree with Tighe.
If Mr. Tighe wishes to respond we eagerly await it, but he'll have to do better than a casual--but highly readible--article without footnotes. Meanwhile, I shall read the book he recommends to his readers on which he has based some of his assertions.
Jan '11
Re: Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
The culture often tries to accommodate a variety of believers by pointing to the "meaning" of Christmas, which they ascribe to any number of politically correct "virtues." So Christmas is about giving, or generosity, or charity, or whatnot. The solstice story is now being pushed to argue that Christmas is about the end of night or the coming of light.
OK. I don't have any problem with those virtues, and the symbolism is all wonderful.
But Christmas is still about a real person: Jesus. As they used to say, we're spending too much time on the gifts, and not enough on the gift-giver. All of the meditations on the qualities of Christmas are great, but let's not forget (we Christians) that the celebration is about Jesus.
Re: Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
Well, Saturnalia started to get going around the 17th. December 25 was also the birthday of Mithras, a Persian god quite popular with the Roman military. BTW, he was also born of a virgin, in the sense that he emerged from a rock, holding a torch and a knife. Possibly now working as the god of slicing sausage and cheese in the dark.
Aug '10
Re: Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
KC Mulville: The solstice story is now being pushed to argue that Christmas is about the end of night or the coming of light.
OK. I don't have any problem with those virtues, and the symbolism is all wonderful.
But Christmas is still about a real person: Jesus.
Definitely. To me, the solstice serves as a reminder of the True Light of the World, Jesus, not the other way round.
That said, I find that non-Christians are more willing to appreciate celebrating Christ's birthday just after solstice if we let them know the symbolism of the solstice means something to us, too.
Edited on December 23, 2011 at 10:38pmApr '11
Re: Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
This is an unbelievably good talk on the subject. The only real issue I take with it is on his description of Origen's thought on the subject. He notes that it is not clear that Origen would have been against the celebration of Christmas, but he does not note why Origen opposes birthdays, or how Origen felt about celebrating anniversaries. Origen’s opposition stems from the fact that birthdays are biblically celebrated only by Pharoah and Herod; birthdays are celebrations of one’s own awesomeness. Celebration of others’ awesomeness are great; Passover and other Holy days are all very Origen compliant. What kind of jerk thinks that his own entry into the world is a historical event worthy of celebration? While I’m not Origen compliant, as I celebrate my own birthday and plan to celebrate the anniversaries of my own citizenship, Origen’s complaints about birthdays are kind of tentative (Origen was kind of Newt-like, always ready to explore new ideas, and was hence formally condemned by the Church, but was, Newt-like, generally willing to accept that his position of ten minutes ago was a terrible, terrible idea (whether or not it was)).
(continued)
Apr '11
Re: Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
I like to think that Origen would be less offended when I made it clear that Christmas was a bigger deal than my birthday (although, embarrassingly, President’s day is a smaller deal), and Thanksgiving a bigger deal than my coming to America.
Aug '10
Re: Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
That is just an awesomely bizarre phrase, on many level. (It's gonna take a while for the image of Origen as a fragile little amphibian to clear out of my brain.)
I look forward to listening to the video and reading the article when I have time.
Origen was a fascinating guy, and, insofar as I've studied him, I'm fond of the guy. Sad that the anathema against the Origenists did so much to discredit his philosophy to later Christians, when earlier Christians seemed to hold Origen in such high esteem.
Apr '11
Re: Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
The article linked does go into some detail on Saturnalia, with the video I linked to expanding a little more on the claim that Saturnalia's date was chosen to compete with Christmas's, rather than the other way round. I'm entertained by the fact that both are by Eastern Christians, as evangelicals having to turn to us for lessons on Church history is very stereotype confirming. This is all the more pleasurable for the unfairness of the calumny on evangelical scholarship; I feel comfortable playing with horrible stereotypes only when they seem to be false.
Apr '11
Re: Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Origen was a fascinating guy, and, insofar as I've studied him, I'm fond of the guy. Sad that the anathema against the Origenists did so much to discredit his philosophy to later Christians, when earlier Christians seemed to hold Origen in such high esteem. ·
I tend to think of Christianity as being like the early stages of the revolution and Constitution building. The very first Christians were an unpromising lot, but produced a document that is qualitatively simply unique; compare the worst canonical scripture with the best Pseudapigrapha and there is simply no comparison. The choices made at the Councils of Jerusalem (in Acts) and Nicaea (1st), do not seem to have had as strong philosophical, scriptural, or demographic support as the choices disavowed, but had they not been chosen, Christianity would have been a temporary fad.
Origen, like a lot of extreme voices in the shaping of an embryonic America, was needed to bring out important thoughts and concepts. As with those who opposed the move from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution, however, brilliant insights and often insightful thought did not mean he would have been OK to follow.