Christmas
Christmas is the time of year that we observe the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus. How did we come to decide December 25th to use as his Birthday? And how did trees, mistle toe, gift giving, etc ... all come into being?
Romans worshiped Saturn. During the winter solstice, the Romans in their worship of Saturnalia would include fir
trees (evergreen), boughs, mistle toe, gift giving, merry making etc ...... to bring in the longer days
and warmer weather. Everything they used to worship Saturnalia, we use on a day that we observe as the
birth of Jesus.
You COULD call that coincidental. I don't think so.
Deut 12:29-322
"When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to
dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, 30 take heed to
yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from
before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did
these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.' 31 You shall not
worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which
He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and
daughters in the fire to their gods. 32 Whatever I command you, be careful to
observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.
NKJV
There are many traditions we hold to that date back to days long before Jesus.
I believe that starting with knowledge of the history of where these traditions
come from is important to show how we honor our God. How you deal with this
information is up to you.
Today, many people focus on the material aspects of
Christmas rather than on "Christ". But I do still believe that, even though Christmas
has become nothing more than a time of "Merry making" for most people, there is
still a "Spirit" of Goodness that touches the lives of people
everywhere around me. Though I can not explain it, I can not deny it.
I look forward to celebrating the birth of our Savior. I have made changes to
some of the things I do around our home in my effort to honor God.
My prayer is that you will prayerfully seek the truth about some of the
traditions you use.
Then, let the Holy Spirit be your guide.
Below are a few of sites that tell the story of "Christmas".
It's about Worshiping God in Spirit and Truth!
Brumalia
...Brumalia was an ancient Greek solstice festival honoring Dionysus, generally held on December 25. The festival included
drinking and merriment.
Winter solstice is when...
...because of the earth's tilt, your hemisphere is leaning farthest away from
the sun, and therefore:
The daylight is the shortest.
The sun has its lowest arc in the sky.
Saturnalia is one of the best known ancient celebrations of the Winter
Solstice. The name comes from the Roman God Saturn, who ruled over agriculture. He was the main God
honored at this time, after the fall crops had been sown. Saturnalia lasted for several days (typically
7, but various officials changed the length of the festival on a few occasions). Saturnalia was the
greatest festival of the Roman year, and was marked with great feasting, gift-giving, dancing, playing,
and relaxing. Homes were decorated, work was suspended, and there was general merry-making done by
all.
Yule log The Norse men celebrated Yule during the winter solstice
which started on December 21st. To celebrate the return of warmer and longer days, a log was burned.
Each spark from the yule log represented a new new pig or calf in the new year.
Christmas tree The Druids brought trees into their homes during the winter
solstice, to bring in the warmer days.
Mistle toe Used as a symbol of fertility
Macro History A link to the history of Constantine
History Channel/ Christmas
Much info is available here on the history of Christmas, including Saturnalia
Wikipedea; on-line dictionary/ Brumalia
Wikipedea; on-line dictionary/ Dionysus
Pagan websites describing some of the Pagan origins of our Christmas traditions from their perspective.
