Tuesday, December 26, 2017

The Origins of Christmas--and Giveaway!

A very hearty HO HO HO to all of you!! In the UK the day after Christmas is known as Boxing Day, and traditionally the Christmas season extends through Epiphany on January 6. Which means it’s still the season to make merry. So in the true spirit of Christmas past, I’m going to delve into the history, traditions, and symbols of our Christmas celebration.

I’m offering 2 copies of my award-winning Christmas story, One Holy Night, for our drawing, so be sure to post a comment today before midnight to be entered! I’ll announce the winners tomorrow morning.

Now on to Christmas.

When Was Jesus Born?

There have been a number of theories about when Christ was actually born, but most of the evidence points to either 5 or 4 BC. The Bible records that Jesus was born during Herod’s reign, and Herod died in 4 BC. Consequently, Jesus could not have been born any later than 4 BC.

Engel erscheint den Hirten, anonymous Dutch painter
The scriptures also mention a Roman census at the time of Jesus birth. It is known that Herod the Great was a friend of Mark Antony. He, in turn, was on intimate terms with Caesar Augustus, who ordered this census. The census that most closely corresponds to the one mentioned in Luke is the Imperial Citizens Census decreed in 8 BC. Undoubtedly such an extensive census would have taken several years to complete and probably reached Palestine around 6 to 5 BC.

If Jesus was born in the winter of 6 BC, he would have been close to two years old when Herod ordered all the baby boys in Bethlehem to be killed not long before he died a painful death in the spring of 4 BC. If Jesus was born in 5 BC, then he would still have been a baby when his parents secretly fled with him to Egypt to escape Herod’s murderous designs.



The Adoration of the Magi, Abraham Bloemaert
Who Were the Magi?

These unnamed wise men were likely Zoroastrians from Persia. Since they are known to have studied the stars, it would have been natural for them to investigate an astrological phenomenon like the one recorded as announcing Jesus’ birth. It is also very credible that the journey from Persia to Bethlehem could have taken up to two years.

What Was the Star?

There are two theories that may identify the star the Magi followed to Bethlehem.

First, in December of 7 BC there was a confluence of Jupiter and Saturn. By February of 6 BC Mars was in close proximity to the two planets. Astrologically, this is known as Jupiter and Saturn in Pisces. To the ancients, Jupiter represented the greatest of the gods, while the sign of Pisces (the fish) would indicate that a very important ruler was to be born.


The second possibility is a comet that appeared for about seventy days in the late winter or early spring of 5-4 BC. Another comet then appeared in March of 4 BC. The Greek term for star is aster, which can be interpreted as any astrological phenomenon. That makes either of these comets also a possibility for the star that announced Jesus’ birth, especially since they would have been visible from Persia and would have appeared to be traveling westward.

In his book The First Christmas, Paul L. Maier suggests that the configuration of Jupiter with Saturn in 7-6 BC alerted the Magi that a new ruler would soon be born. Then when the comet of 5 BC appeared with its brilliant light, it is very believable that they would have followed it. Maier also believes that when Herod questioned the Magi about when they first saw the star, they described the astrological sign they had observed two years earlier. This would explain why Herod had all the baby boys in Bethlehem less than two years old killed.

Where Was Jesus Born?

Birth of Jesus by Gerard van Honthorst
Accounts of Jesus’ birth were documented early on. Origen (185-254 AD) wrote that he saw “the grotto with the manger where He [Jesus] was swaddled.” Stone feeding troughs contemporary to Jesus’ time have been excavated in stables in Bethlehem. The grotto that is the traditional birthplace has been saved from destruction several times. The first was because Emperor Hadrian (117-138 AD) tried to destroy the new Christian religion by building a temple to Adonis there. The result of his efforts was that the grotto was preserved, along with a record of its location and significance.

The first full account of a Christmas service at the grotto was written in the fourth century. Aetheria, a nun, described hangings of silk, decorations of gold and jewels, numerous lamps and candelabra, and the chanting of psalms during the sacrament of the Mass.

Why December 25?

The actual date of Christ’s birth has never been credibly established in spite of a number of attempts to do so. Church leaders early on began to speculate on the actual date of Jesus’ birth, with a number of dates being proposed. Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215) favored May 20, while other church leaders argued for April 18, April 19, and May 28. Hippolytus (c.170-c.236) advocated January 2, and others argued for November 17, November 20, and March 25. A Latin treatise written around 243 set the date as March 21, the supposed date on which God created the sun. Polycarp (c.69-c.155) had already followed the same logic in concluding that Christ’s birth and baptism most likely occurred on a Wednesday because God created the sun on the fourth day of the week. But there wasn’t enough evidence available to conclusively prove any of these dates, and there were serious flaws to the calculations behind all of them.

So why was December 25 chosen as the date of Jesus’ birth? For one thing, December 25 was sacred not only to the Romans, but also to the Persians, whose religion was one of Christianity’s main rivals during the first century. Some scholars claim that the celebration of the Christ mass was instituted to compete with the pagan traditions that were creeping into the church.

From the beginning, celebrating Christmas was controversial. Origen (c.185 to c. 254) preached that the celebration of birthdays was for pagan gods, and that Christ would be dishonored if his birth was celebrated in the same way the pagans honored their rulers. The giving of lavish gifts and excesses of eating and drinking that accompanied pagan celebrations contrasted drastically with the nativity’s simplicity and offended church leaders. Even today, many people condemn these traditions as being contrary to the true spirit of Christmas.

Not all of Origen’s contemporaries agreed that Christ’s birthday should not be celebrated, however. In fact, the nativity has been observed in some form since 98 AD, and in 137 the bishop of Rome established it as a solemn feast day. As Christianity spread, individual churches increasingly adapted traditions from some of the pagan winter festivals practiced throughout the Middle East and Europe, such as hanging evergreens and giving presents, for their celebration of Jesus’ birth.

For the first three centuries of the Common Era, the celebration of Christ’s birth didn’t take place in December. When individual churches observed the nativity, they usually did so on January 6 during Epiphany, one of the church’s earliest feasts. Western Christians first celebrated the Christ mass on December 25 in 336, after Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the empire’s favored religion. That was the date of two other related festivals: natalis solis invicti, the Roman “birth of the unconquered sun,” and the birthday of Mithras, the Iranian “Sun of Righteousness” whose worship was popular with Roman soldiers. The winter solstice, another celebration of the sun, fell just a few days earlier. Since pagans already honored deities with some parallels to the true God, church leaders decided to appropriate the date by substituting their own festival. So in 350 AD, Pope Julius I set the observance of the Christ mass on December 25.

Although Eastern churches initially held on to January 6 as the date for Christ’s birth and baptism, most eventually also adopted December 25, while still celebrating his baptism on January 6. The Armenian Church continues to celebrate the nativity on January 6, while the Western church designates Epiphany as the date the Magi located the Christ child. The earliest English reference to December 25 as Christmas first appeared in late Old English in 1038 as Cristes Maesse, the Mass of Christ.

Traditional Christmas Customs

The Christmas Fair, Georg von Rosen
Many of our traditional Christmas customs appeared during the Middle Ages. The tradition of reenacting the nativity scene was introduced by Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), when on Christmas Eve 1223, he and his companions worshiped in a cave near Greccio, Italy, surrounded by the traditional oxen, sheep, and donkeys. Saint Francis’ friars wrote the first festive songs that became the first Christmas carols. By the fourteenth century, carols were firmly established as a treasured part of the religious observance of Christ’s birthday.

Although the pagan origins of the date of Christmas and of many Christmas traditions have caused opposition to the holiday from the beginning, in general the church has viewed efforts to reshape the surrounding secular culture in a positive light. In 320 one theologian wrote, “We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun, but because of him who made it.” And to that, I say, Amen!

Do you have a favorite Christmas tradition, perhaps one you share with your family? If so, please share it with us!

I’m offering 2 copies of One Holy Night in the giveaway. Any comments posted before midnight will be entered and 2 winners will be chosen. Check back tomorrow morning to find out who the lucky winners are!
~~~

J. M. Hochstetler is the daughter of Mennonite farmers and a lifelong student of history. She is also an author, editor, and publisher. Her American Patriot Series is the only comprehensive historical fiction series on the American Revolution. Northkill, Book 1 of the Northkill Amish Series coauthored with Bob Hostetler, won Foreword Magazine’s 2014 INDY Book of the Year Bronze Award for historical fiction. Book 2, The Return, released April 1, 2017. One Holy Night, a contemporary retelling of the Christmas story, was the Christian Small Publishers 2009 Book of the Year.

28 comments:

  1. Interesting. I never quite know what to say to people oppposed to Christmas as Christs' birthday, because I know that it most likely was not Dec. 25. Thanks for all the research finding out these tidbits!

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    1. You're so welcome, Connie! I'm glad you stopped by, and you're entered in the drawing. Good luck!

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  2. Thank you for sharing your very interesting post. The bible says that Christ was born and died for our sins. Thank you, God.

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    1. That's really all we need to know, isn't it, Melanie? I'm so grateful he did for us what we can't! Good luck in the drawing!

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  3. A great history lesson with all the research facts you shared in this post. Thank you for sharing--some of the facts were new to me. Thankful we do know, Jesus Christ was born to be our Savior and our soon coming King despite not knowing the specific day of His birth. marilynridgway78 [at]gmail[dot]com

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    1. I totally agree with you, Marilyn! Thanks for stopping by, and good luck in the drawing!

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  4. Oops forgot to share family favorite tradition. One is being with family while celebrating Jesus' birth and sharing memories.

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    1. That's the best tradition of all, isn't it, Marilyn? There's nothing sweeter. :-)

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  5. Fascinating post. We just got a DVD called The Star of Bethlehem that is a documentary discussing the possibilities for what the Magi saw. I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but my husband says it is quite compelling. Here's the article on which the film is based: https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/the-star-of-bethlehem/

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    1. Thank you so much for the link Linda! I'm very interested in this, and I'm going to watch it asap. Good luck in the drawing!

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  6. Very Interesting. I certainly want to win & read.

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    1. I'm glad you stopped by, Mikala. Good luck in the drawing!

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  7. This book is so needed to make people aware of the religious and historical significance and not a time to get gifts.

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    1. Jesus is the only gift we need, isn't he, Stacy? Thank you for stopping by, and good luck in the drawing!

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  8. Thank you for this post. It was very informative. I knew some of the information you gave, but not nearly all of it. One of my favorite things about Christmas is being with family.
    susanmsj at msn dot com

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    1. Susan, this subject just fascinates me. Last night my husband and I watched a video on youtube by Jonathan Cahn in which he went deeply into all the signs in the Bible pointing to Jesus exact birth date and the significance of each one, and it was amazing! Most of us have no idea of how exactly God fulfilled all the prophecies related to the Messiah. I just love to learn about how He worked in all of it!

      I agree with you about family! Thanks for stopping by, and good luck in the drawing.

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  9. I love all this history you share! Our family tradition is a homemade wooden Calendar combining the story of Jesus' birth from Matthew and Luke. We start on the first day of December and end on Christmas Eve. Each day starts with door 1, and ends with the door for that day. My children can recite it from memory.

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    1. Oh, I love that, Becky! Family traditions like that are so meaningful for children--not to mention the grownups--and we carry those with us throughout our lives. Thanks for stopping by and sharing, and good luck in the drawing!

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  10. Thanks for an interesting blog. The exact date doesn't matter to me. The important thing is that He came. God sent His Son Jesus to bring hope, peace, and light into a dark world of sin.
    A family tradition we no longer observe because we're empty nesters and in our eighties. When our boys were home, it was our tradition to buy and decorate our tree on our middle son's birthday, December 10. Then I developed a severe allergy to live trees and we went to an artificial one when they were in their teens.

    A new tradition developed when they went off to college. I had to have my homemade peanut brittle ready for them every year. That still carries on and I gave out boxes of my peanut brittle to our sons this Christmas. Our youngest son was born on New Year's Eve 49 years ago and until he was seven, he thought the whole world celebrated his birthday.

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    1. Forgot to add that for the past 45 years, our Christmas Pageant at church has been a tradition for us as well. I sang in the choir and participated in the program every year, and our boys also participated as members of the youth choir.

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    2. That's so neat, Martha! I'll bet your boys have developed some Christmas traditions in their own families. It's such fun to see our children carry on traditions we started and/or develop new ones too. Thanks for sharing, and good luck in the drawing!

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    3. Joan, we have many Christmas traditions. One of them is that we bake a cake, light a candle on it and sing Happy birthday to Jesus. We've been doing that since Meg was about four.

      We have some other traditions but I won't write them here. Maybe I'll tell you about them sometime when we're talking if, the subject comes up.

      We are starting a new (new to us) tradition this year. We're going to celebrate Christmas (We put a few gifts aside.) again on January 6th. That's when the Armenians celebrate Christmas. We wanted to celebrate like our new found Armenian cousins.

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    4. Love it, Bev! That's so cool about celebrating Christmas again on Jan. 6--a lovely tradition to begin to connect with your Armenian cousins. Thank you for sharing!!

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  11. That was an interesting read. It’s not so important to pinpoint the day that Christ was born. The important thing is that He was born so that He could live for us and die for us, rise for us and ascend and He will come for us again! It is mor convenient to use December 25. It’s an opportunity for us to tell others the real meaning of Christmas! Blessings!

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    1. You're right, Paula! Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing, and good luck in the drawing!

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  12. One of the contributors to the Guideposts Devotional shared about a shy teenage girl in a play at their church and compared her to how Mary must have felt. I don't think I ever thought about her being so young. (rayorr@bellsouth.net)

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  13. Linda, most scholars do think she was pretty young. Being the mother of the Savior of the world would be a pretty big burden to bear, I would think! Thanks for stopping by and entering the drawing, and good luck!

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  14. And now for our winners....TA DA! Connie R. and Paula each win a copy of One Holy Night!!! Congratulations, ladies! Please message me through Facebook or email me at jmhochstetler at msn dot com with your shipping address, and I'll get those copies in the mail to you asap!

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