Trees, tinsel and gifts. That is what we have all become used to in celebrating Christmas, which is the day honouring the birth of Jesus.
But who started the celebration – and is it really linked to Christ’s birth?
As far as historians have been able to establish, the first official mention of the festival as a Christian festival, was in AD336. Celebrating Jesus’ birth is not mentioned in the Bible, nor is the exact date of his birth mentioned anywhere.
Westerners see snow, sleighs and reindeer in this story. But in reality, the Bible mentions shepherds and their sheep in the veld, which indicates that it was not winter, but spring.
Thus the choice of the date was actually made by church officials back then, who chose the date of an existing pagan festival, that of Saturnalia, which honours the Roman god Saturn and Persian god Mithra.
It is believed that church leaders did this to convince Rome’s pagan subjects to accept Christianity as the official religion. From Rome, the tradition grew and spread all over the world – and remains today. But over time there has been resistance to this date and even the traditions that sprouted from it… including the giving of gifts.
However, celebrating Christmas is certain to remain – and giving gifts to loved ones, as well as putting up trees and special lights, will continue to remind us of the birth of Jesus.
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