Christmas is one of the most important celebrations around the world. It is an important milestone for us, the end of a year, a time of gifts, celebrations, family reunions and – for practicing Christians – an emotional religious holiday. However, each culture has different traditions and also brings different origins to the christmas story.
Although Christmas is today a special time to bring the whole family together, the truth is that its origin actually responds to other historical factors that involve the powerful Roman empireto pagan rites and have little to do with the historical event they commemorate: the birth of the baby Jesus.
We all know that December 25 marks the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, but the truth is that the exact date of this historical event is unknown. The analysis of certain fragments of the gospels, as well as other documents of that time, have allowed historians to make different hypotheses about the birth of Jesus Christ. Some speak of April or May, while others conclude that it was in September or October.
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Although we normally associate the origin of Christmas with the christian myths and to Catholicism, since it represents the birth of the baby Jesus, in reality, this is a mistake, at least as we have accepted Christmas today.
Precisely because of this doubt between pagan Christmas and Christian Christmas, there was a case in 1990, in which the Solon (Ohio) school board decided to eliminate all the representations of christmas in any school environment, since it was a practice against the secular State of the city, that is, it did not respect the separation between Church and State.
Likewise, the board lost the case because the families objected to their children not being able to celebrate Christmas at school, defending that the practice of Christmas was a secular act and was part of all the cultures of the world. Despite the fact that the board lost the case, they did manage to eliminate the prayers and the reading of the bible, associated with the celebration of Christmas.
The origin of Christmas is not Christian at all. As you read at the beginning of this article, the origin of Christmas is pagan. The first time we can hear about Christmas celebrated on December 25 (as we know it today) came almost two centuries after the birth of Christ Therefore, both before and after the birth of the baby Jesus, there was a celebration at the end of the year, around the saturn figure that the Romans established.
The Romans celebrated the Roman Saturnalia, which was nothing more than a festival that represented the winter solstice (between December 20 and 23) where they honored the god Saturn. During this party, the Romans were rowdy and therefore, the few Christians that existed at that time, were opposed to these uncontrolled celebrations.
In this way it is said that Christmas arose to replace the celebration of Saturn, sun king, in English “sun”, so it was taken as the birth of the son of God, which in English is “are”. Later, when the Christian religion was imposed throughout the Roman Empire, King Justinian declared Christmas as a civic holiday, although this composure did not last long, because in the Middle Ages Christmas parties became days to drink and party from morning to night.
In fact, if we look at ancient customs, it may seem very strange to celebrate the birth of someone since in the first centuries of Christian Churchused to celebrate the death of people who were important and not their births.
We also have to look at the following quotation to realize that, in reality, this holiday is not accepted in the Bible.
For in vain do they honor me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:9). Christmas is not a commandment of God — it is a tradition of men. Christ continued: “You well invalidate the commandment of God to keep your tradition. (Mark 7:9)
More elements of Christmas, mistletoe:
Saturnalia was celebrated when the sun was lower in the sky And so the days grew longer. That symbolized growth. During this time, Saturn, god of the Sun and fire, was honored. It was also related to agriculture, since it needed the sun to be able to sow and for the crops to grow. The winter festival called this sun god to return and the crops would continue to grow.
The Planet Saturn It also takes the name of this God, since its rings and the red color marked this association.
In the rest of the civilizations and cultures, there was also this god of fire and sun. In Egypt they called him Vulcan, the Greeks called him Cronus, the Babylonians Tammuz (or Nimrod when he resurrects in his son) and Moloch or Baal for the Canaanite. For them, all these gods were Nimrod, considered the father of the Babylonian gods.
Saturn was also considered a devourer of children because, being the father of the gods, he must have an impeccable character. carrying the name of Chronostells the mythology that he devoured his children as they were born, since he knew from his mother Gea, that his destiny would be to be overthrown by one of his own children.
Other rites linking Saturn with the child sacrifice It comes to us from Moloch or Moloch Ball which, as we mentioned at the beginning, is related to the Roman Saturn or the Greek Cronos. Moloch Baal was a god of Canaan considered the god of purifying fire.
In his honour, a newborn baby, to the firstborn. This sacrifice was made in the open air and his ashes were carefully kept in vessels for later burial in the valley of tofet.
Nimrod, in addition to being one of the original gods in history, was also a biblical figure. In Genesis it is explained that Nimrod tried to replace god. According to him, if God tried to drown the world again, he would build a very high tower that no one could reach.
Nimrod is constituted as the first rebel of mankind that he was worshiped by false religions, under many different names.
In the Old Testament we can observe many God’s condemnation of Israel for following false religions and abide by customs they shouldn’t.
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If we answer this question etymologically, the word Christmas shares the same origin in all Romance languages. christmas proceeds from Late Latin nativitas and its meaning is birth. A term that is used both to commemorate the day of the birth of Jesus Christ and to designate the period from Christmas Eve to Three Kings.
On the other hand «nativitas» derives from the verb «nascor» whose origin is Indo-European and means to be born. In French the Christmas is Noelword that appears in the 12th century as Noelen.
For the germanic languages have a different origin since this period is called Weihnachtenwhere Weih derives from Wiha word whose meaning is sacred and Nachten which means night, joining the two words we would be translating Christmas as the Holy Night.
For the Anglo-Saxon languages, Christmas would be the word used to designate Christmas. It comes from the old expression cristes master or what is the same, Mass of Christ. Over time, the expression was modified until it evolved to Christ’s Mass and finally Christmas.
Although in the modern age we refer to Santa Claus by St nicolasIn an earlier age, Santa was the name of the god Nimrod in Asia Minor. If we think about it a bit, we will see that the center of Christmas, in all its stages, has always been carried out by children. During Roman times, gifts were given to children and the poor; and the druids sacrificed children to the god they worshiped on these dates. In this same way, Nimrod or the past Santa, devoured the children and, today, gives them gifts.
Similarly, we must also analyze the figure of Saint Nicholas, which comes from a character called “joyful Nick” or “old Nick”. If we focus on his name, Nick comes from Nikos which means “builder and destroyer”, while “Laos” means people. The Nicolaitans (followers of Saint Nicholas) are then defined as “the people who follow the destroyer”, which is still, again, Nimrod.
The origin of this Christmas custom goes back to the Romans when, in Saturnalia, also they exchanged gifts with each other. And as you already assumed, no, this is not a tradition related to Christianity either. Obviously, during these dates, we do not make offerings to God, but we make them to ourselves in the form of gifts, completely forgetting the figure of Christ. In fact, according to the Bible, the birthday should not be celebrated either, because they are being, in the same way, selfish with God who gave birth to the human being.
As the bible indicates, when the three wise men They offer gifts to the baby Jesus, it is what Christmas should really be: a date to make offerings to Christ.
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, some wise men came from the east to Jerusalem, saying: Where is the king of the Jews, who has been born?… And when they entered the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and prostrating themselves, they adored him; opening his treasures, they offered him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2:1-11)
In this way, we realize that customs and Christmas celebrationshave nothing to do with a Christian origin and, therefore, he is not a Christian celebrity, as is the case with his real origin.
According to the Gospel of Saint Matthew, the Three Wise Men, whose number is still not clear, as there are those who say there were three, and others say there were four, and even the number shoots up to 7 or 12 kings. Whatever they were in number, these kings came to Bethlehem guided by a star. That figure that is never missing from our Bethlehem portal and which we know as the Star of the East. Although during their trip, the kings consulted King Herod, it was the star that helped them reach the child God. Once before the Messiah, they offered him his tribute.
The offering of the wise men consisted of Prayed, frankincense and myrrh. But why did they give him this? Everything has its explanation or, rather, its symbology. It is true that perhaps the little one would have been better off with some clothes, toys or a good coat for his crib, but each offering has a special meaning that refers to the special condition of the little one.
The gold alluded to his status as King. Since this was a present that used to be offered to monarchs. While incense is an element widely used in cults, there is nothing else to see in masses, or in certain liturgical rituals and even magic. The incense reflected the divine nature of the child Jesus.
On the other hand, myrrh is not such a pleasant good, since it is…