The origin of why December 25 is observed as the birth of Christ goes back thousands of years. It began by mixing the holy with the profane and the spiritual with the pagan. The observance of the holiday that is now celebrated around the world came about because of an attempt by Christians to take over the festivals they disdained. Christmas began as a way to introduce nonbelievers to Jesus. Today, many Atheists, agnostics, and those of other faiths enjoy the season but do not acknowledge the religious connotation. The reason why we celebrate Christmas each year is both interesting and fascinating.
The pagan meets the spiritual
Early Christians did not like the observance of the winter solstice which takes place around December 22. At that time carols were songs that were sung in praise and worship of the pagan celebration. The holy collided with the profane when these believers in Christ decided to sing hymns of praise to the Lord. It was decided to observe the birth of Jesus on December 25 to take the focus off of the solstice celebration. In 1647 Olive Cromwell and the Puritans discontinued the Christmas festival but the religious carols continued to be sung in secret.
The ban was lifted in England in 1660 and Christians tried to control the way people observed the holiday. They found that they could not and the spiritual aspects kept being overshadowed by the pagan ways nonbelievers and even some Christians wanted to celebrate.
People would go to church and return home to celebrate in drunken revelry. The Yule, log, Christmas tree, mistletoe, and other popular traditions all came out of the pagan rituals and are used today by believers in Christ.
Christmas and Santa Claus
Santa Claus came about because a real man named Saint Nicholas decided to obey Christ's words to sell his possessions and give to the poor.
It is believed that he left gifts at the homes of poor children and by his example, people began to exchange Christmas gifts From this kind deed we now have many movies, books, and television shows about Saint Nick, who was also a Bishop in the Christian church.
There are two reasons why we have the curious customs of Christmas.
The first is because Christians wanted to replace the pagan solstice celebration with one that promoted faith in Christ. The second is because Bishop Nicholas wanted to help the poor. His reward was to be imprisoned with other believers, because of his faith in Jesus. The tradition of mixing pagan rituals with spiritual celebrations continues today.
