The Ghosts of Christmases Past yearly lament rises up from Christian circles,
"Whatever happened to the old-fashioned Christmas?
A
s the last of the Thanksgiving dinner
leftovers are sent out to the trash, and the background
music at stores and malls switches to sounds of the
season. The advertisements hit us with full force, and
even our news programs remind us of how many
shopping days there are until Christmas. And the
It's all become so crass and worldly." So out come
the bumper stickers and T-shirts with slogans like:
Let's put Christ Back in Christmas
Jesus is the Reason for the Season
Most Christians are convinced that Christmas has
been corrupted in recent times by all the "worldly"
people in our American society. They yearn for what
1
they feel must have been the "good old days"-
perhaps in the time of the "Waltons," or at least
farther back, in the days of "Little House on the
Prairie." The holiday would have been "holy."
Families would gather around the hearth to hear Dad
read the Christmas story. "Worldly" amusements and
revelry would have no place in that simpler time. It
would just be hymn-sings around the popcorn-
bedecked fir tree.
So let's check this nostalgic picture against the
historical record. Let's trace just when Jesus was the
"Reason for the Season." Surely if we go back 100
years we'll find a holier Christmas:
"The old English disport [entertainment] of mumming
at Christmas is of great antiquity... [one author of the
1800's] says, under the heading 'Mummers': These
were amusements derived from the Saturnalia
[ancient Roman celebration in honor of the god
Saturn, held in December], and so called from the
Danish mumme or Dutch momme- disguise in a mask.
Christmas was the grand scene of mumming, and
some mummers were disguised as bears, others like
unicorns, bringing presents. Those who could not
procure masks rubbed their faces with soot or painted
them. In the Christmas mummings the chief aim was
to surprise by the oddity of the masks, and singularity
and splendour of the dresses. Everything was out of
nature and propriety." [Ashton p. 126]
You might notice the similarity of "mumming" to the
kind of outlandish activity one may see in parts of the
Mardi Gras parades from New Orleans shown on TV
in modern America. Here is part of a speech by a
character called Old Father Christmas in a typical
English "mumming play" of the 1800's:
"Here comes I, Father Christmas, welcome, or
welcome not,
I hope Old Father Christmas will never be forgot.
Although it is Old Father Christmas, he has but a
short time to stay
I am come to show you pleasure, and pass the time
away.
I have been far, I have been near,
And now, I am come to drink a pot of your Christmas
beer;
And, if it is your best, I hope in heaven your soul will
rest.
If it is a pot of your small,
We cannot show you no Christmas at all."
[Ashton p. 129]
The English here is a little hard to understand. The
last line is an unnecessary double-negative, a modern
day equivalent might be "we ain' t gonna' give you no
Christmas." The main point of this section is that
Father Christmas (the holiday personified) offers
religious blessing based on whether he gets good beer
or not. The whole emphasis was on "getting" and
partying, not on any Bible teaching or story of Jesus.
Is it possible that we may not have gone back far
enough? How about 200 years earlier, in the 1600's?:
[A writer in 1633 said,] "If we compare our
Bacchanalian Christmasses and New Year's Tides
[seasons] with these Saturnalia and Feasts of Janus,
we shall find such near affinity between them both in
regard of time (they both being in the end of
December and on the first of January), and in their
manner of solemnizing [celebration] (both of them
being spent in reveling, epicurism [gluttony],
wantonness, idleness, dancing, drinking, stage plays
and such other Christmas disorders now in use with
Christians, were derived from these Roman
Saturnalia and Bacchanalian [after Bacchus, god of
wine and revelry] Festivals; which should cause all
pious Christians eternally to abominate them."
[Ashton p. 6]
This was back in the time of the "Puritans"- a group
which had much influence in the early years of the
American colonies. Let's read more about Christmas
in their time:
"It was, probably, the exceeding license of Christ-tide
[the Christmas season] that made the sour Puritans
look upon its being kept in remembrance, as vain and
superstitious; at all events, whenever in their power,
they did their best to crush it..." [Ashton p. 21]
"Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of England in
1655, and a Puritan, tried his best to eliminate the
revelries, claiming them to be of pagan origin and
therefore, 'unacceptable to all God-fearing people and
an abomination to the Church of Christ.' The Puritans
took some of these beliefs to the New Americas with
2
them, and for a time the same stringent rules applied
there. However, when Charles II was restored to the
throne of England in 1660, yuletide feasting soon
became customary once again; and it still is." [Bush
p. 22]
"...the popular love of Christmas could not be done
away with by restrictive legislation... its keeping was
in-bred in the people, and they hated this sour
puritanical feeling, and the doing away with their
accustomed festivities." [As one member of the
House of Commons commented at the time,] "These
poor simple creatures are mad after superstitious
festivals, after unholy holidays." [Ashton pp. 27-28]
But perhaps this was just a problem among the
"lower classes." What was royalty doing in that
century?:
"The death of infant Princess Mary in September
1607 did not interfere with James I. keeping
Christmas right royally in that year. There were
masques and theatricals- nay, the king wanted a play
on Christmas night- and card-playing went on for
high sums, the queen losing [the sum of] 300 pounds
on the eve of Twelfth night." [Ashton p. 21]
Was James I an exceptionally evil king? He certainly
had his difficulties, but he seems little worse than
most of the rest of the kings. In fact, the same King
James who commissioned the King James Bible,
which was issued in 1611!
Strangely, Christmas time was often the only time
such gambling was allowed:
"An ordinance for governing the household of the
Duke of Clarence in the reign of Edward IV. forbade
all games at dice, cards, or other hazard for money
'except during the twelve days at Christmas.'" [A
similar law was established during the reign of Henry
VII.] [Ashton p. 162]
Evidently we still haven't gone back far enough to
find our pure Christmas. So let's make a big jump,
back to the 700's:
"There exists a letter from the year 742, in which St.
Boniface, the "Apostle to the Germans," complains to
Pope Zacharias that his labors to convert the heathen
Franks and Alemans- Germanic tribes- were being
handicapped by the escapades of the Christian
Romans back home. The Franks and the Alemans
were on the threshold of becoming Christians, but
their conversion was retarded by their enjoyment of
lurid carnivals. When Boniface tried to turn them
away from such customs, they argued that they had
seen them celebrated under the very shadow of St.
Peter's at Rome [the cathedral that was the central
headquarters of the Pope and the Roman Catholic
Church]. Embarrassed and sorry, Pope Zacharias
replied to Boniface, admitting that the people of the
city of Rome misbehaved very badly at Christmas
time. There was very little he could do about it;
however, the following year he succeeded in
inducing the Holy Synod of Rome to forbid the
Romans, under penalty of law, from setting such bad
examples. Alas for human frailty! The ban had to be
repeated over and over, for centuries." [Count pp. 43-
44]
These kinds of quotations may be puzzling to you, as
they would be to many sincere Twentieth Century
Christians. Just when was Christ in Christmas? The
full answer to that question may surprise you.
In the Beginning...
"Although the Christmas story centers in the Christ
Child of Bethlehem, it begins so long before His
coming that we find its hero arriving on the scene
after more than half of the time of the story has gone
by." [Count p.11]
That statement sounds self-contradictory! How can
there be a "Christmas" with no "Christ"? Let the
author of 4,000 Years of Christmas clarify what he
means by that startling statement:
"Mesopotamia [land of the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers] is the very ancient Mother of Civilization...
Christmas began there, over 4,000 years ago, as
the festival which renewed the world for another
year. The 'twelve days' of Christmas; the bright fires
and probably the Yule log; the giving of presents; the
carnivals with their floats, their merrymakings and
clownings, the mummers who sing and play from
house to house [common Christmas customs in
England and other parts of Europe]; the church
processions with their lights and song- all these and
3
more began there centuries before Christ was born.
And they celebrated the arrival of a New Year.
To the Mesopotamians, New Year's was a time of
crisis. Once in a very distant time, their chief god
Marduk (or Enlil, who is more ancient still than
Marduk) had routed the monsters of chaos and had
built out of a 'world without form and void' an
orderly world, and had created man. But the order
remained an uneasy one: it ran down, so to speak,
during the year; toward its close, after the crops had
been harvested, the empty brown of the fields told
that life was dying. Then Marduk again had to do
battle with the monsters of chaos, so that death might
not become complete. Thus he renewed the world
every year. It was a grim battle, fought in the regions
below, and every time Marduk almost lost his
struggle.
It was the duty of man, in his puny way, to help as
well as he could. And much of the festival of the
New Year constituted his lowly support of his god.
His leader and commander was the king, who held
his power and his title by the grace of the god.
As the Mesopotamians saw it, in the struggle of the
New Year man faced a three-fold problem: to purify
himself of the evils which his sins of the past year
had brought upon him; to renew the strength which
the year had drained away; and, if possible, to find a
substitute who could take the consequences of the
sins which he had committed.
The first and the last problems were solved by the
notion of a 'scapegoat,' which is familiar to us from
its form given in the Bible...
The New Year's festival lasted twelve days, as our
Christmas season is supposed to do; in it the king
repaired to Marduk's temple, to the court of the gods.
The chief priest stripped from him his insignia of
rank; thus dispossessed of his power, he knelt before
Marduk's image and swore that he had done nothing
against the god's will. The chief priest, now speaking
for Marduk, said comforting words; and in the name
of the god he reinvested the king, in token that the
kingdom was restored to him by the grace of the
god...
In theory, the king must die at the end of the year; he
should then accompany Marduk into the underworld
and battle at his side, while a new king took his place
on earth. But here enters the idea of a substitute or
'mock' king, which saved the life of the real king. A
criminal, real or fancied, was dressed in royal garb;
he was given all the homage and indulgence which is
the king's right, while the people about him held
celebration. But soon his mock reign was over; he
was stripped of his kingly trappings and slain in the
place of the real king...
There were other deeds which Europe still repeats
during these holidays, although the ancient meanings
have been lost: the building of bonfires in which a
special wooden image of Marduk's opponent is
burned; and the custom of exchanging visits and
gifts.
This was ZAGMUK festival. Another, which both
Persians and Babylonians celebrated, was called the
Sacaea. At this time, the masters and slaves
exchanged places; the slaves commanded, the
masters obeyed. One slave was chosen to be head of
the household, and everyone paid homage to him...
As the old year died, the rules of ordinary living were
relaxed, Then as the new year arrived, the order of
the world was recaptured. At this time of crisis, when
fates hung in the balance, the curtain of the future
was drawn slightly aside and, if you performed the
proper magic, you could peer into it and make
resolutions to fit coming events...
Marduk and his court of gods have long disappeared.
But to this day in the Balkans and in Central Europe,
on the twelve days of Christmas, troupes of
masqueraders go about, headed by a 'fool' or a 'wild
man'... The girls still recite magic verses and perform
magical acts to learn who their true loves will be.
There are still the bonfires, and a special log which a
young man fells and brings home; and over this log
[the Yule log] a ritual is performed (with praise, now,
to the Christian God); and on Christmas Eve it is
burned in the fireplace."
[In earlier centuries, the connections were even more
obvious: take this description of Christmas in the
mid-fifteenth century in northern Europe:] Holly, ivy
and evergreens were up, candles and torches were lit,
and mummers clowned in the streets. There were
singers, Christmas presents, fortune-telling and much
feasting and drinking. The people chose, not a mock
4
king, but a 'Lord of Misrule,' an 'Abbot of Unreason,'
a 'King of Bean,' a 'Pope' who presided over the
'Feast of the Fools' or the 'Feast of the Asses.' They
made him a bald-headed, red-nosed clown, and set
him on a donkey. He had a retinue; like hoboes on a
spree, these ancestors of ours squawked an 'anthem,'
danced about the donkey, and hied themselves to the
church where they performed a slapstick mass. The
choir was vested in tattered robes turned inside out;
they wore orange peels for spectacle rims; they held
their music sheets upside down and jangled a
gibberish response to the 'bishop' who read the
service. They rang the bells, they hop-skip-jumped
through the church." [Count p. 18-23, 44]
"In Greece there was an old God, Kronos, about
whom we know little, even though it is not hard to
recognize that his festival was the old Sacaea gone
westward. The figures in the drama changed, the
incidents also; but the plot remained. In ancient
Babylonia, it was Marduk who conquered the
monsters that lived before our world was created; in
Greece, it was Zeus who fought and overcame
Kronos and his Titans.
However, the story didn't just jump from
Mesopotamia to Europe. There was a connection
through pagan Greece and Rome:
The Romans believed in an ancient god of seed-time,
Saturn, who had ruled their country ages before their
own day, before he was overthrown by Jupiter.
Whenever the Romans thought that one of their gods
resembled a Greek god, they concluded that the two
were the same; then they took over the forms of
worship which the Greeks already had observed. So
Kronos came to Rome; the Sacaea entered into the
Saturnalia.
The first day of the Saturnalia shifted during the
lifetime of Rome; at all events, it began around the
middle of December... and continued until January
first. In its midst was December 25, the day, as the
Romans calculated, when the sun was at its lowest
ebb, ready to increase again and impart its strength to
the growing things of the earth. Hard upon this day
came the Calendae of January- January 1. The word
itself has become the name which the Slavic and
Baltic peoples use for the days of Christmas
festivities: Koleda, Kolyada, Koledos, etc.
The Roman Saturnalia and the holidays which
followed were boisterous indeed... they masqueraded
through the streets, ate big dinners, visited their
friends, wished them good luck at this time of tender
fortune, and gave each other good-luck gifts called
Strenae.
The halls of the Romans were decked with boughs of
laurel and of green trees, with lighted candles and
with lamps- for the hovering spirits of darkness were
afraid of light. Masters and slaves ate together on the
occasions, and sometimes changed places, the
masters waiting on the slaves. The slaves chose one
of their number as leader of the household festival
and as lord of the revel...
To the pagans, the Saturnalia were fun. To the
Christians, the Saturnalia were an abomination in
homage to a disreputable god who had no existence
anyway. The Christians, moreover, were dedicated to
the slow, uphill task of converting these roisterous
pagan Romans. There were many immigrants into the
ranks of the Christians by this time, but the Church
Fathers discovered to their alarm that they were also
facing an invasion of pagan customs. The habit of
Saturnalia was too strong to be left behind. At first
the Church forbade it, but in vain. When a river
meets a boulder which will not be moved, the river
flows around it. If the Saturnalia would not be
forbidden, let it be tamed. The Church Fathers now
sought to point the festival toward the Christian Sun
of Righteousness." [Count pp. 24-27]
Given the previous quotations about Christmas in the
eighth and fourteenth centuries, it doesn't appear the
"Church Fathers" were too successful!
Before continuing our search for Jesus in the Season,
here are descriptions of the origins of a few more
specific "Christmas" customs and words:
"Yule" and "Yule Log"
"The Anglo-Saxons and early English knew not the
words either of Christmas or Christ-tide. To them it
was the season of Yule.
The author of an article titled 'Paganism in Modern
Christianity' in 1882 wrote, 'The ancient name (Yule)
for Christmas is still used throughout Scandinavia.
The Swedes, Danes and Norwegians wish each other
5
a 'glad Yule' as we say 'Merry Christmas'... the
twelfth name of Odin, the Father of the Gods, or
Allfather [was] Ialg or Ialkr (pronounced yolk or
yulg.) The Christmas tree, introduced into Russia by
the Scandinavians, is called elka (pronounced yolka),
and in the times just preceding, and just after, the
conquest of Britain by the English, this high feast of
Odin was held in mid-winter, under the name of Ialka
tid, or Yule-tide. It was celebrated at this season,
because the Vikings, being then unable to go to sea,
could assemble in their great halls and temples to
drink to the gods they served so well.'" [Ashton pp. 6-
7]
"Bringing in the Yule log... was a great function on
Christmas eve- and much superstitious reverence was
paid to it, in order to insure good luck for the coming
year. [One writer of the 1800's, describing the Yule
log custom noted,] 'In some houses, when the faggot
begins to burn up, a young child is placed on it, and
his future pluck [bravery] foretold by his nerve or
timidity. May not this be a remnant of dedication of
children to the Deity by passing them through the
sacred fire?'" [Ashton pp. 76-77]
Boar's Head
"The [pagan Germanic] god who cared for the fertile
herd was Frey, after whom Friday is named; his
animal symbol was the boar. Even after the pagan
gods had passed away, the boar sacrifice was too
enjoyable to be forgotten. It survives in the feast of
Merrie Old England in which the boar is treated as if
it were some royal personage- first the trumpets
blow, the door swings open, in marches a platter
bearing a steaming boar's head, an apple in its mouth;
behind it troops a procession of lusty puddings.
Cheers and laughter from the spectators poised to
attack it- valiant trenchermen [feasters] whose
ancestors worshipped Frey but of whom they
themselves probably never have heard. This too is
Christmas." [Count pp. 49-50]
Evergreens
Box, bay, ivy, holly, yew, larch, juniper, pine, spruce,
fir- all are shields against the witches and the
demons. The spines of the holly-leaves become
thickets to catch and hold the hags; juniper-smoke is
a demon-chasing incense. In the Tyrol [Austria], for
instance, even city people smoke misfortune out of
their houses, while the farmer carries smouldering
sprigs in a brazier, along with a bowl of holy water,
into every room and crevice, into the stalls of the
cattle, onto the threshing floor. Every animal is
censed and besprinkled; so, too, the beds of the girls
and the doors to their chambers. As the houseman
makes his rounds, he keeps saying, 'In with the good
luck, out with the bad.'
Finally, all the people of the household gather in a
circle, and each receives from the master a 'smoke
blessing'... Weapons against the weird and ghostly
vermin were not only greenery, evergreen incense
and lights, but noise; shouts, horns, bells, even
banging guns, especially on New Year's Day. During
the twelve days of Christmas... you must avoid heavy
work as much as possible, lest you be tripped up by
one of these invisible evil-doers... As in Rome and
Babylon, the Twelve Days are full of augury
[fortune-telling] for the twelve months of the coming
year- to each of the twelve days its month of the same
order... you may also learn of your own fortune for
the year if you go by through the proper magic acts.
The green boughs can bring you luck, too, if someone
switches you with them. Thus it is a good time-
among Slavs as well as Germanics- for the children
to collect gifts from the neighbors by going around
and switching them with green boughs and reciting
good-luck ditties." [Count pp. 64-66]
Wassailing
A very old custom was that of 'wassailing' the fruit
trees on Christmas eve... This custom of drinking to
the trees and pouring forth libations [drink offerings]
to them differs according to the locale... In some
parts of [England] it used to be customary for the
farmer with his family and friends, after partaking
together of hot cakes and [fermented] cider, to
proceed to the orchard, one of the party bearing hot
cake and cider as an offering to the principal tree.
The cake was formally deposited on the fork of the
tree, and the cider thrown over it... The wassailing...
is considered a matter of grave importance, and its
omission is held to bring ill luck, if not the loss of all
the next crop. Those who engage in the ceremony are
called 'howlers.'" [Ashton pp. 86-87]
The quotations above barely scratch the surface of
the wealth of "Christmas" lore that is available in
books on the topic. In fact, newspapers usually
6
cheerfully print articles at Christmas time
documenting the totally pagan origins of most
Christmas customs and concepts. Even the idea of a
special "being" bringing gifts to little children at
Christmas time is not limited to the American "Santa
Claus." In Denmark it is a "sprite" named Nisse. In
Italy it is an "elderly [male] fairy" named Beffania. In
Spain it is the Wise Men. In Mexico it is the Sun
God, the feathered serpent named Huitzilopochtli.
And children in Switzerland are assured by their
parents that the Baby Jesus himself (evidently He
never grows up) sneaks in at night and leaves gifts.
[Bush, pp. 37-46]
So just where is Jesus in all of this [besides passing
out gifts in Switzerland]?
Mother and Child
When you celebrated "Lincoln's Birthday" or
"George Washington's Birthday" back in grade
school, what was emphasized about those men?
Didn't you color pictures of George crossing the icey
Potomac, cut out silhouettes of these famous men as
adults, memorize the Gettysburg address? Doesn't it
seem a little odd, then, when people claim to be
celebrating the birthday of Christ, they focus only on
Him as an infant? Most people who celebrate
birthdays of your own children, do not spend the day
just talking about their birth- they have a party with
games they enjoy now and with gifts appropriate to
their age now. If you celebrate your boss's birthday,
you certainly don't just drag out his baby pictures-
you have a dinner and honor him for his
accomplishments as an adult. Why is Jesus "frozen in
time" as a baby for Christmas?
"The earliest Christians were not interested in Jesus'
birthday, but by the fourth century they had become
very much interested. How this came about is the
story of a soil growing. Christmas is a seed which
sprouted in that soil.
It sprouted when the Christians at last turned their
eyes upon Jesus the infant and Mary His mother.
There never would have been a Christmas as we
know it without the Madonna and Child." [Count p.
30]
"Over the years that followed Jesus' death, the
Christians tended to lose sight of Him as the refuge
of those who labor and are heavy-laden. What
mattered the most to them was that, at any moment,
He would reappear to be the stern but righteous judge
of all mankind. The world was to begin anew with a
day of wrathful judgment.
To people who thought this way, the date of Jesus'
physical birth could not matter. To celebrate it would
have seemed at best pointless, and at worst an evil
thing... in 245 A.D. the great Church Father, Origen,
declared it to be a sin even to think of keeping the
birthday of Christ, 'as though he were a king
Pharaoh.'" [Count p. 31]
But by the fourth century...
"The thoughts of people had been changing. This is
the same century in which we find Christians
regarding Mary the mother of Jesus in a new light.
She had long been revered, along with the other
saints and apostles; but only along with them. But
now, in this same fourth century, we see her
emerging as the Queen of Heaven. The Divine Christ
had been born both human and divine. Mary had
done a thing which certainly no other woman had
done. This in itself set her off from all other
humanity; but there is something deeper than this
bald fact. For Mary represented something which the
human heart ached for, and the ache was not being
solaced.
The Gospels told of a Son of Man Who walked in the
sun and the dust of the roads of Palestine. He healed
the hurts of men, the hurts of body and soul. He
called to Himself those who labored and were heavy-
laden, and promised them refreshment which no
earthly power could give. But His followers could not
keep in mind at once this Jesus and the stern Judge
who sat on a throne in heaven and Who would some
day return in glory to deal an even-handed justice to
all mankind. It was a renewal of the world in this
latter way, and not a renewal of the heart in the
former way, which won.
So the heart's ache remained. It became the burden of
Mary.
[Describing a mural in a medieval cathedral in
France, one author wrote...] "There is heaven! and
Mary looks down from it, into her church, where she
sees us on our knees, and knows each of us by name.
7
There she actually is- not a symbol or in fancy- but in
person, descending on her errands of mercy and
listening to each one of us, as her miracles prove...
She is there as a Queen, not merely as an
intercessor... The same centuries and the same people
who made of the birthday of a divine-human Infant a
beautiful and tremendous church festival, brought
into being new festivals in worship of Mary the
Virgin Mother." [Count, pp. 34-36]
"Trimming" the Tree
We do find a description in the Bible that might be a
Christmas tree.
"...they cut a tree out of the forest, and a
craftsman shapes it with his chisel. they adorn it
with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer
and nails so it will not totter" (Jeremiah 10:3-4)
There is debate as to whether this verse is talking
about a decorated tree, or a carved idol. But in either
case, what does God think about it? We simply read
the verses before it...
"This is what the LORD says: "Do not learn the
ways of the nations or be terrified by them. For
the customs of the peoples are worthless:..." (v. 2-
3)
After all this, perhaps you are thinking, "Well, maybe
others didn't have Christ as the focal point of
Christmas. But I can! I'll trim out the tree and the
pagan symbols (don't even buy them or set them up),
and just keep the TRUE Christmas as it was intended.
Let's consider that concept. Can we take all the
TRUE parts of Christmas, and leave out all the
paganism?
The first demand would be to find those true parts.
How about the date of His birth?
"When was Jesus born? No one knows. December 25
is no more the historical date of His birth than any
other. The Christians chose it to be His birthday only
several centuries after He lived and died." [Count, p.
30]
"Titus Flavius Clemens, known as Clemens of
Alexandria, lived exactly at this time [third century
A.D.], and was a contemporary of Origen. He speaks
plainly on the subject, and shows the uncertainty,
even at that early epoch of Christianity, of fixing the
date: 'There are those who, with an over-busy
curiosity, attempt to fix not only the year, but the date
of our Saviour's birth, who they say, was born in the
28th year of Augustus, on the 25th of the month
Pachon [May 20]... Some say He was born on the
24th or the 25th of the month Pharmuthi [April 19 or
20].'" [Ashton pp. 1-2]
But how about some of the straightforward Bible
details? Unfortunately, even those have become
garbled. The angels didn't announce to the shepherds
"Peace on earth, good will to men," as the King
James translation puts it. As an adult, Jesus said,
"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace
to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a
sword." [Matthew 10: 34]
What, then, did the angels say? The more accurate
modern translations clarify it:
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace
to men on whom His favor rests."
It is those who please God who will have the true
peace.
And then there are the Three Kings or the Three Wise
Men who show up next to the shepherds in all the
nativity scenes. There is nothing in the scripture that
says there were three of them.(The mention of threee
different gifts in Matthew 2:11 is the only supporting
evidence, but it does not say that one person gave
each a gift or that everyone that came gave a gift).
There is nothing that says they were kings- they are
called simply "Magi." There is no real agreement by
Biblical scholars on exactly what is meant by that
term. It is clear from the scripture that they did not
arrive on the birth night with the shepherds. They
visit the Christ Child in a house [Matthew 2:11].
Immediately after their visit, Joseph takes Jesus and
Mary and flees to Egypt. Yet, according to Luke
2:22, Jesus is presented at the temple in Jerusalem 40
days or more after his birth. So the Magi visited at
least 40 days after the birth, and perhaps up to two
years later.
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What is there left of the story that is emphasized so
much at Christmas? Don't we at least exchange gifts
in memory of the gifts the Magi gave Jesus? No- not
even that makes sense. They didn't exchange gifts
with one another- they gave them to Jesus! And they
gave the gifts not as birthday presents, but because
they were visiting a king, and it is customary to offer
fine gifts when visiting a king.
One last note: Even the word Christmas is not
understood by most Christians- especially
Protestants. It is a shortened form of "Christ-mass":
that is, the Catholic ceremony of the Mass held in
honor of Christ. And what is the mass? It is not just a
"memorial communion," as most Protestants consider
the partaking of the bread and cup. The Catholics
consider that, in the mass, the priest has the authority
to change the bread and wine so that they actually
become the flesh and blood of Christ, and the priest
then offers this flesh and blood again and again. The
ceremony is actually called a "sacrifice."
Does the Bible Tell Us How We Should Worship?
Perhaps, even after all of this information about the
origins of Christmas, you are still wondering if there
is some way to keep a "Holy Christmas" in your
heart. After all, you don't think of pagan gods when
you participate. And the lights are so pretty. And the
spirit of giving seems so right. Surely, God looks on
the heart. Can't He be pleased with Christmas if our
intentions are pure? Wouldn't Christ be happy if we
want to have a special day to honor His birth? Since
Scripture does not contain a date, wouldn't it be
acceptable to use a date that is commonly recognized
by others as His birthdate?
This brings us to the ultimate question after all, the
only question that really makes any difference: What
is God's will in this matter? Does God care what
customs we use to honor Him? Let's look at the
scriptures and see.
"The LORD your God will cut off before you the
nations you are about to invade and dispossess.
But when you have driven them out and settled in
their land, and after they have been destroyed
before you, be careful not to be ensnared by
inquiring about their gods, saying, 'How do these
nations serve their gods? We will do the same.'
You must not worship the LORD your God in
their way, because in worshiping their gods, they
do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates.
They even burn their sons and daughters in the
fire as sacrifices to their gods. See that you do all I
command you; do not add to it or take away from
it. " Deuteronomy 12:29-32
Note that the issue in this passage is not the worship
of other gods. The warning is to not adopt customs
used to worship other gods, in order to worship the
true God. At first you might think that this just
applies to the abominable customs such as child
sacrifice. Wouldn't it be all right to use the harmless
customs, since they don't make you think of pagan
gods? The problem with that approach is that you
have forgotten that God's memory goes back a lot
further than yours! While you are looking at a pretty
custom that makes you nostalgic for your childhood,
God may look down at the same custom and
remember the horrible rites that accompanied it in
ancient Babylon or Rome.
There is a profound principle involved in religious
symbolism and symbolic acts- which is what
"customs" actually are:
Your desire should be that the symbol or act evoke in
you the same understanding and emotions that it
evokes in yourCreator!
But does God REALLY care that much about detail?:
"They [earthly Israelite priests] serve at a sanctuary
that is a copy and a shadow of what is in heaven.
This is why Moses was warned when he was about
to build the tabernacle: `See to it that you make
everything according to the pattern shown you on
the mountain.'" (Hebrews 8:5)
"Make an altar of acacia wood for burning
incense... Aaron must burn fragrant incense on
the altar every morning when he tends the lamps.
He must burn incense again when he lights the
lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly
before the LORD for the generations to come. Do
not offer on this altar ANY OTHER INCENSE or
any burnt offering or grain offering." (Exodus
30:1, 7-9)
"Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu took their
censers, put fire in them, and added incense; and
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they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD,
contrary to His command. So fire came out from
the presence of the LORD and consumed them,
and they died before the LORD." (Leviticus 10:1-
2)
We would like to think that this kind of immediate
retribution for what we might even view as a minor
infraction of God's orders, is only an "Old
Testament" response of God. But consider the story
of Ananias and Sapphira in the New Testament:
"All the believers were one in heart and mind. No
one claimed that any of his possessions was his
own, but they shared everything they had... There
were no needy persons among them. For from
time to time those who owned lands or houses sold
them, brought the money from the sales and put it
at the apostle's feet, and it was distributed to
anyone as he had need... Now a man named
Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira also sold
a piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge
he kept back part of the money for himself, but
brought the rest and put it at the apostle's feet."
(Acts 4:32,34-35; 5:1-2)
The problem was not that Ananias kept some of the
money, but, as the story unfolds, that he lied, and
tried to pretend that he was generously giving the full
proceeds of the sale, evidently to receive the praise of
men.
"[Peter said to Ananias] What made you think of
doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but
to God. When Ananias heard this, he fell down
and died... " (Acts 5:4-5)
And three hours later, Sapphira came to see Peter,
lied about the same incident, and received the same
rebuke. She also fell down dead immediately.
"Great fear seized the whole church and all who
heard about these events." (Acts 5:11)
Thus we see that, even in the "time of grace" under
the New Covenant, serious consequences can
sometimes result from what, on the surface, seem
minor matters.
There are two other examples in the Old Testament
that illustrate God's reaction to "mixed worship":
" So all the people took off their earrings and
brought them to Aaron. He took what they
handed him and make it into an idol cast in the
shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they
said, 'This is your god, O Israel, who brought you
up out of Egypt.' When Aaron saw this, he built
an altar in front of the calf and announced,
'Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.'
So the next day the people rose early and
sacrificed burnt offerings and presented
fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to
eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry."
(Exodus 32:3-6)
"A pagan symbol evoked pagan religious practices...
Immoral orgies frequently accompanied pagan
worship in ancient times." (NIV Study Bible note on
verse 6)
Note that Aaron did not say the festival would be to a
"calf god." He said it would be to the true God. He
was just introducing familiar customs and religious
symbolism from Egypt to calm the people down
when they started complaining that Moses had
disappeared.
Later in Israel's history, after the kingdom of Israel
under David and Solomon was shattered into the two
rival houses, Israel and Judah, the Israelite king
Jereboam worried how to calm his restless people
also:
"Jereboam thought to himself, 'the kingdom will
now likely revert to the house of David. If these
people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the
LORD in Jerusalem, they will again give their
allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah.
They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.'
After seeking advice, the king made two golden
calves. He said to the people, 'It is too much for
you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O
Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.' One he
set up in Bethel, and the other in Daniel And this
thing became a sin; the people went even as far as
Dan to worship the one there."
NIV Study Bible note on verse 28:
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 "Pagan gods of the Arameans and Canaanites were
often represented as standing on calves or bulls as a
symbol of their strength and fertility... Jereboam
attempted to combine the pagan calf symbol with the
worship of the LORD, though he attempted no
physical representation of the LORD- no 'god' stood
on the backs of his bulls."
" Jereboam built shrines on high places and
appointed priests from all sorts of people, even
though they were not Levites. He instituted a
festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month,
like the festival in Judah [the Feast of
Tabernacles, appointed by the LORD to begin on
the fifteenth day of the seventh month], and
offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in
Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And
at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places
he had made. On the fifteenth day of the eighth
month, a month of his own choosing, he offered
sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he
instituted the festival for the Israelites and went
up to the altar to make offerings." (1 Kings 12:26-
33)
Was the One True Eternal God of Israel happy with
this "substitution"?
"[The LORD] will give Israel up because of the sins
Jereboam has committed and has caused Israel to
commit." (1 Kings 14:16)
So Jereboam invented his own traditions, on his own
chosen calendar dates. Is this problem irrelevant in
New Testament times?:
" [Jesus] replied, "Isaiah was right when he
prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written
[Isaiah 29:13]: 'These people honor me with their
lips, but their hearts are far from me. They
worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules
taught by men.' You have let go of the commands
of God and are holding on to the traditions of
men."" (Mark 7:6-8)
Not everything labelled a "tradition" is necessarily
bad. We can have family traditions such as family
reunions at the park every summer. It is when we
start using "traditions" in worship of God that they
can be a problem.
God knew that traditions can get a hold on our
emotions that is even stronger than the hold that truth
can have on our minds. But if we are to be
worshippers of the one God, we must worship in
Spirit and in Truth, not in Traditions of men. We
must grow up:
"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I
thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When
I became a man, I put childish ways behind me."
(1Corinthians 13:11)
It is time for God's people to begin reasoning as
adults. You have been given information on the
observance of Christmas. You must decide:
IS Jesus REALLY the "Reason for the Season"?
CAN we REALLY "put Christ back in Christmas"?

Bibliography

• A Right Merrie Christmas, Ashton, John © 1968; Benjamin Blom; New York/London
• 4000 Years of Christmas, Count, Earl W. [Professor of Anthropology, Hamilton College] © 1948; Henry Schuman
Pub.; New York
• The Origins of Christmas, Bush, Roger © 1982; Frederick Muller Ltd.; London

Bibliographic note:

The three books listed, quoted in the above article, are all written from the perspective of men who enthusiastically endorse
Christmas observance. They have not presented the pagan origins of Christmas, or the history of its observance, in order to
evaluate "whether" it should be kept. As far as I can tell, they have all just honestly recorded the results of their research.

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(All Biblical quotations herein are from the New International Version of the Bible (NIV) unless otherwise noted. All Bible
"notes" quoted herein are from THE NIV STUDY BIBLE published by Zondervan.)

BY PAM DEWEY AND NORM EDWARDS

2007

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