NELSPRUIT – The first signs of the approaching Christmas celebrations were noticeable all across the city as early as October this year. Retail stores lit up their shop fronts with beautiful decorations, bright lights and the obligatory price cuts on their fast moving consumer goods. The savings on certain items over the December period does raise a number of questions related to this particular time of year. For instance. A major electronics retailer advertised a 3D television set including all the extras for an impressive – yet worrying – saving of R 2500. It then stands to reason that either the television set is faulty, or for the last 11 months the public has been hopelessly overcharged for the product.

Is Christmas being used to exploit consumers? Taking a look at the enormous amount of money spent annually over this period by the major retailers on marketing and advertising, one would be hard pressed to believe the contrary. Every page you turn features a Christmas special with some cleverly constructed neuro linguistic slogan stating that Christmas just would not be Christmas without giving – albeit that giving implies a specific product.

But perhaps the public should consider the true meaning of Christmas. Is it about overspending on products one would usually not purchase precisely because they are above the household budget? Perhaps the religious significance this holiday carries for millions of Christians around the world should be taken into account.

Little is truly know about the origins of Christmas, yet it is widely accepted as the official birth date of Jesus Christ, the son of God, in the Christian faith. But how did December 25 come to be associated with Jesus’ birthday?

The Christian Bible doesn’t mention a date nor is it clear as to exactly what time of year Christ was said to have been born. Celebrations of Jesus’ birth are not mentioned in the Gospels or Acts. In the biblical tale, the author makes reference to shepherds tending their flocks at night when the news of Jesus’ birth reached them (Luke 2:8). Scholars suggest that this might point to the spring lambing season in the cold month of December, but also mention that sheep might have been corralled. Most theologists urge caution however about extracting such a precise but incidental detail from a narrative whose focus is theological rather than calendrical.

Accross the web and in many published works, there exists countless debates on precisely why or when we should celebrate Christmas. Other religious groups have argued even the validity of the festival considering it was adopted from a pagan ritual such as Saturnalia celebrated between December 17 and December 23, or Deus Sol Invictus – the Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun on December 25. The Christian church at the time disapproved of such celebrations and co-opted the pagans by declaring December 25 as Christ’s date of birth – though there is no evidence Christ was born on that day.

The earliest Christians did not commemorated the birth of Christ, only the baptism and resurrection of Christ and the deaths of the martyrs. In fact, some early Christians, strongly opposed the celebration of Christ’s birth pointing out that only Pharaoh and Herod celebrate their birthdays in the Bible. They argued that birthdays were for pagans, not Christians and to this day Jehovah’s Witnesses follow the same reasoning in rejecting both Christmas and celebration of birthdays.

Then there is the question of Santa Claus. The character is based on a real person namely St. Nikolas of Myra. He was also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker, Bishop Saint Nicholas of Smyrna, and Nikolaos of Bari. He reportedly lived during the fourth century and was born in Turkey. Santa is regarded as the world’s most popular non-Biblical saint, and has been portrayed more often than any other saint except Mary.

The Viking god Odin is one precursor to the modern Santa Claus. According to Norse myth, Odin rode his flying horse, Sleipnir – a precursor to Santa’s reindeer – who had eight legs. In the winter, Odin would hand out gifts and punishments to those children who were either well behaved or naughty. The children would fill their boots or stockings with treats for Sleipnir.

Interestingly too is that Santa is the patron saint of banking, pawnbroking, pirating, butchery, sailing, thievery, orphans, royalty, and New York City.

Regarding the historical facts and historical data it would seem to be a mistake for modern society to declare that our modern Christmas traditions are derived directly from pre-Christian paganism. Howver, one would be equally at fault believing that that Christmas is a modern phenomenon.

Pullitser Prize winning author, Ronald Hutton of the University of Bristol published a work entitled “The battle for Christmas”. According to him, as Christians spread their religion into Europe in the first centuries after Christ, they discovered people living by a variety of local and regional religious creeds. The missionaries grouped all of these people together under the umbrella term “pagan” which is a Latin term meaning “field”. This link made sense as in those early times, paganism was found in the rural regions while Christianity was mainlycentered in urban areas.

The early Christians wanted to convert Pagans to their own religion, but at the same time were rather facinated by their traditions. Hutton argued that although paganism was obviously a practice the Christians thought of as being something bad, it was also something worth remembering – afterall, paganism was practiced by many of their own ancestors.

“Perhaps that’s why pagan traditions remained even as Christianity took hold.”

Whatever the case may be, this time of year is truly a season to be jolly. It is meant as time of relaxation and of remembering the trials and tribulations of the year gone past, so as to leave them there and move on to a new year. During this festive season remember family values. Remember those less fortunate and those that are not able to celebrate with their loved ones. Let us as a society try to put aside our religious and political differences, even just for a day, and enjoy a very merry Christmas.

Fun Christmas Facts

• The Christmas tree is a 17th-century German invention, but clearly derives from the pagan practice of bringing greenery indoors to decorate in midwinter.

• The modern Santa Claus is a direct descendent of England’s Father Christmas, who was not originally a gift-giver. However, Father Christmas and his other European variations are modern incarnations of old pagan ideas about spirits who traveled the sky in midwinter.

• The Germans made the first artificial Christmas trees out of dyed goose feathers.f

• All the gifts in the Twelve Days of Christmas would equal 364 gifts

• The “true love” mentioned in the song “Twelve Days of Christmas” does not refer to a romantic couple, but the Catholic Church’s code for God. The person who receives the gifts represents someone who has accepted that code. For example, the “partridge in a pear tree” represents Christ. The “two turtledoves” represent the Old and New Testaments.

• Most of Santa’s reindeer have male-sounding names, such as Blitzer, Comet, and Cupid. However, male reindeers shed their antlers around Christmas, so the reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh are likely not male, but female or castrati

• In A.D. 350, Pope Julius I, bishop of Rome, proclaimed December 25 the official celebration date for the birthday of Christ.

• According to data analyzed from Facebook posts, two weeks before Christmas is one of the two most popular times for couples to break up. However, Christmas Day is the least favorite day for breakups.

• In Poland, spiders or spider webs are common Christmas trees decorations because according to legend, a spider wove a blanket for Baby Jesus. In fact, Polish people consider spiders to be symbols of goodness and prosperity at Christmas

REFERENCES:

Allen, Linda. 2000. Decking the Halls: The Folklore and Traditions of Christmas Plants. Minocqua, WI: Willow Creek Press.

b “Christmas Trees and More.” University of Illinois Extension. 2010. Accessed: December 6, 2010.

c Collins, Ace. 2003. Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

d Grossman, John. 2008. Christmas Curiosities: Odd, Dark, and Forgotten Christmas. New York, NY: Stewart, Tabori & Chang