... Continued ... 12/25/2005
Merry Christmas everyone! As promised, the continued looks at the history and origins of Christmas and the traditions surrounding it.
Since most everyone is familiar with the story of Santa Claus and mildly knowledgeable about the various incarnations of him through history, I'm going to skip over that story all together, and start with one of the most celebrated aspects of Christmas, the Christmas Tree, or as us Christmas-war-mongering, heathen bastards are likely to call it, the "Holiday Tree".
The tradition of bringing evergreens into the home is widely accepted by historians to have begun in ancient Rome, during the winter Solstice (December 21st), the Romans would decorate their homes with branches of evergreens during the festival of Saturnalia, in honor of their god Saturn, god of farming. The Egyptians did the same with palm fronds. Plants that stay green all winter held special meaning as a symbol of defeat over death during the winter months. The Druids of ancient Europe worshipped the evergreen trees and used other evergreens such as holly, laurel and mistletoe to ward of evil spirit and provide safe haven for fairies. The custom of kissing beneath mistletoe started as a fertility ritual.
The Bible itself speaks of pagans who would cut and decorate trees in Jeremiah 10:
"For the customs of the people are vain: for they cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good."
The tradition of Yule-Tide is based in 4000 year old celebration beginning with the Aryans (meaning ancient Germanic Europeans) who worshipped the Sun and believed that the Sun was born each morning and rode across the sky to sink into it's grave each evening, each day literally representing a rebirth of the Sun. As the days gre shorter towards the winter solstice, they feared that the Sun may eventually succumb to the darkness and remain forever in the underworld. When the Sun began regaining it's strength, after December 21st, they celebrated with great feasts, and included the sacrifice of a pig. (Christmas Ham anyone?)
There is the story of Balder, the invincible Sun god who was slain out of jealousy by Loki. Loki knew that the poison within mistletoe was the only thing that could harm Balder, so he found some growing out of an oak tree on eastern slope of Valhalla and fashioned an arrow from it. He returned to where all the other gods were amusing themselves by throwing sticks and stones, and I imagine a few lightning bolts and whatnot, at Balder knowing that nothing could harm him, and Loki gave the mistletoe arrow to the blind god Hoder and pointed him in the direction to throw it, instantly killing Balder. The other gods were horrified as Balder sank into the underworld, and they would have tried to rescue him by slaying the god of darkness, however this was during a season of peace and goodwill never to be desecrated by violence, and instead showered gifts on Balders grave, who in turn returned gifts from the realm of darkness. The other gods were so saddened by the death of Balder that they asked for his life to be restored which it eventually was, and as a show of appreciation Balders mother Frigga hung mistletoe and promised to kiss anyone who passed beneath it.
Amongst the Druids and the Germanic, the Norse, the Romans, and even Egyptians we find countless rituals and feasts whos traditions we still hold today around Christmas time. How can we explain all of this? Well thre truth is actually quite simple. During the 3rd century while Christianity was still a young and growing religion, the early priests found that it was easier to convert the Pagans, as long as they could keep their feasts, celebrations and long held tradition. They honestly didn't care which god or gods they were worshipping so long as they could eat drink and be merry!
Even the date of December 25th, was co-opted. Nobody really knows for sure when Jesus was born, but many scholars place the date somewhere around June 20th. December 25th was settled on by Pope Julius around 350 AD for the simple reason that it was a date already celebrated as the birth or feasts of a multitude of other gods, the Germanic god Jul, the Roman god Saturn and the Babylonian Son of Isis.
But the most compelling pagan comparison has to be that of Mithra. An ancient Persian cult which dates back to more than 2800 years before Christ and became a secret cult of the Roman guards during the time of Christ.
From Mithra and Christ
"According to Persian mythology, Mithras was born of a virgin given the title 'Mother of God'. The god remained celibate throughout his life, and valued self-control, renunciation and resistance to sensuality among his worshippers. Mithras represented a system of ethics in which brotherhood was encouraged in order to unify against the forces of evil. The worshippers of Mithras held strong beliefs in a celestial heaven and an infernal hell. They believed that the benevolent powers of the god would sympathize with their suffering and grant them the final justice of immortality and eternal salvation in the world to come. They looked forward to a final day of Judgment in which the dead would resurrect, and to a final conflict that would destroy the existing order of all things to bring about the triumph of light over darkness.
Purification through a ritualistic baptism was required of the faithful, who also took part in a ceremony in which they drank wine and ate bread to symbolize the body and blood of the god. Sundays were held sacred, and the birth of the god was celebrated annually on December the 25th. After the earthly mission of this god had been accomplished, he took part in a Last Supper with his companions before ascending to heaven, to forever protect the faithful from above."
And from WikiPedia:
"Both Christianity and Mithraism prided themselves in brotherhood and organized their members as church congregations. Both religions purified themselves through baptism, and each participated in the same type of sacrament, bread and wine. Mithra and Jesus were both said to have been born in a cave on December 25th, and each savior was visited by shepherds with gifts. Both Mithraism and Christianity considered Sunday their holy day, despite early Christianity observing the Jewish Sabbath for centuries. Many have noted that the title of Pope is found in Mithraic doctrine and seemingly prohibited in Christian doctrine. The words Peter (rock) and mass (sacrament) have original significance in Mithraism.
Both religions considered abstinence, celibacy, and self-control to be among their highest virtues. Both had similar beliefs about the world, destiny, heaven and hell. Their conceptions of the battles between good and evil were almost identical, with Christianity adopting millennial epochs that were integral to Mithraism from Zoroastrianism. “They both admitted to the existence of a heaven inhabited by beautiful ones…and a hell peopled by demons situate in the bowels of earth.” (Cumont, 191) Both religions each believed in the immortality of the soul, and each placed a flood at the beginning of history, and both believed in revelation as key to their doctrine. They both believed in a last judgment and a resurrection of the dead after the final conflagration of the universe. Christ and Mithra were both referred to directly as the "Logos" (Larson 184)."
As the first web site points out however, it would be a vast simplification to present Mithraism as the exclusive forerunner to Christianity. Virgin births, resurrections, end times, are nothing new in religion. It's all been done before, there is nothing new under the "Sun", so to speak.
So when you're decorating your Christmas tree, or exchanging your Christmas gifts, or enjoying that Christmas ham at Christmas dinner, gathering with your family to eat drink and be merry, contemplating peace on Earth, and goodwill towards men, or meeting below the mistletoe, think about the traditions you're keeping in an entirely different perspective, not as a wholly and uniquely Christian celebration, nor even as a Pagan ritual, but as a tradition of humankind that has survied nearly 5,000 years of transformation and rebirth, perhaps as just a celebration of mankind and the ageless celebration of life.
And as such, perhaps a "Happy Holidays" is far more appropriate than a "Merry Christmas" after all.