It may seem as if commercials have taken over Christmas, but originally it is the celebration of the birth of Jesus more than 2000 years ago. The coming of Jesus has changed the world. We count the years’ BC and AD: Before Christ and Anno Domini: the year of the Lord.

Also in December, in which the darkest day of the year falls, the pagan cultures lit bonfires and candles to keep the darkness at bay. The Romans also incorporated this tradition into their own celebrations.

As Christianity spread across Europe, the Christian clergy were not able to curb the pagan customs and celebrations. Since no one knew Jesus’s date of birth, they adapted the pagan ritual into a celebration of His birthday.

Since the early 20th century, Christmas has also been a secular family holiday, observed by Christians and non-Christians alike, devoid of Christian elements, and marked by an increasingly elaborate exchange of gifts. In this secular Christmas celebration, a mythical figure named Santa Claus plays a pivotal role. Christmas is celebrated on Sunday, December 25, 2022.

Origin and development

And while it’s true we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas (note the word combination of “Christ” and “Mass”), this specific celebration did not begin until the fourth century—before that, Easter was the main celebration for Christians.

In third-century Rome, its citizens celebrated the winter solstice, the mid-December festival Saturnalia for the god of Saturn and the birthday of the sun god, Sol Invictus, on December 25. There are a couple of different beliefs about why that date was adopted by Christians to celebrate Jesus Christ’s birth.

During early Christianity, Easter was the central holiday. Christians believed that Jesus was born on January 6, but Christmas wasn’t even celebrated. That all changed when Pope Julius I chose December 25 as the official date to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Why did Julius make this change? Well, the common belief is he chose the new date to help adopt and absorb the pagan festivals that occurred during the same time. This would then attract the masses to Christmas instead, which it ultimately did.

CHRISTMAS TREES

As part of the solstice celebrations, the pagan cultures decorated their homes with greens in anticipation of the spring to come. Evergreen trees remained green during the coldest and darkest days, so they were thought to hold special powers. The Romans also decorated their temples with fir trees during Saturnalia and decorated them with bits of metal. There are even records of the Greeks decorating trees in honor of their gods. Interestingly, the first trees brought into the pagan homes were hung from the ceiling, upside down.

The tree tradition we are accustomed to today hails from Northern Europe, where Germanic pagan tribes decorated evergreen trees in worship of the god Woden with candles and dried fruit. The tradition was incorporated into the Christian faith in Germany during the 1500’s. They decorated trees in their homes with sweets, lights, and toys.

ALSO WATCH. https://earningus.com/blog/christmas-celebration-why-is-christmas-on-the-25th-december/

A wonderful Christmas gift

You could say: Jesus is the most wonderful gift God has ever given to mankind. Romans 6:23 says it this way: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Let us celebrate this wonderful gift. And don’t forget to accept this gift in your own life: ‘Jesus, thank you that you came to earth to set me free from sin and to restore the relationship with God, the Father.’

When was Christmas canceled in America?

When Puritan settlers arrived in 1620, they believed Christmas to be too extravagant and they did not celebrate the holiday, believing “there was no scriptural basis for commemorating Christmas.” In fact, celebrating Christmas was actually banned in Boston from 1659-1681!

6 Ways to Make Christmas about Jesus

1. Give a gift to Jesus.
2. Like Christ, give to those who can’t repay you.
3. Pause to sense the darkness outside at night, and then thank God for sending the light.
4. Read the Scriptures to your family.
5. Start some traditions that point to Christ.
6. Enjoy this wonderful time of the year, and don’t lose the season for the rush

Christmas In America

Christmas in early America was a mixed bag. Many with Puritan beliefs banned Christmas because of its pagan origins and the raucous nature of the celebrations. Other immigrants arriving from Europe continued with the customs of their homelands. The Dutch brought Sinter Klaas with them to New York in the 1600s. The Germans brought their tree traditions in the 1700s. Each celebrated their own way within their own communities.

It wasn’t until the early 1800’s that the American Christmas began to take shape. Washington Irving wrote a series of stories about a wealthy English landowner who invites his workers to have dinner with him. Irving liked the idea of people of all backgrounds and social statuses coming together for a festive holiday. So, he told a tale that reminisced about old Christmas traditions that had been lost but were restored by this wealthy landowner. Through Irving’s story, the idea began to take hold in the hearts of the American public., in 1881, the artist Thomas Nast was hired to draw a depiction of Santa for a Coke-a-Cola advertisement. He created a rotund Santa with a wife named Mrs. Claus, surrounded by worker elves. After this, the image of Santa as a cheerful, fat, white-bearded man in a red suit became embedded in American culture.

Merry Christmas And Happy Holidays

we wish you the merriest of Christmases and the happiest of holidays!