The All Points Defense of Christmas
Brothers and Sisters, kinsmen in Christ; I have seen all of your holiday strife:
Grab your eggnog and holiday cheer; I’m clearing your conscience for Christmas this year!
Have you been told that Christmas is pagan? Let’s knock this one out deader than Reagan.
Settle down, buckle in, get ready to copy; here’s a list of the facts for your Halls of Holly:
Doesn’t the December 25th date come from pagan holidays?
December 25th is well established by historical data. Our earliest references to the date of Christ’s birth unanimously agree to the date of December 25th.
Our earliest reference to the birth date of the Lord is Hippolytus’ Commentary on Daniel, written around the early 3rd century:
For the first advent of our Lord in the flesh, when he was born in Bethlehem, eight days before the kalends of January [December 25th], the 4th day of the week [Wednesday], while Augustus was in his forty-second year, [2 or 3BC] but from Adam five thousand and five hundred years. He suffered in the thirty third year, 8 days before the kalends of April [March 25th], the Day of Preparation, the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar [29 or 30 AD], while Rufus and Roubellion and Gaius Caesar, for the 4th time, and Gaius Cestius Saturninus were Consuls.
This date is corroborated by church historian Sulpicius Severus in his Sacred Histories, 2.27:
Then Herod, a foreigner, the son of Antipater of Askelon, asked and received the sovereignty of Judaea from the senate and people of Rome. […] Under this Herod, in the thirty-third year of his reign, Christ was born on the twenty-fifth of December in the consulship of Sabinus and Rufinus.
The Chronograph of 354 also lists the Lord’s date of birth as December 25th, and separately from Sol Invictus and Saturnalia, the supposed forerunners of Christmas. So, not only does the date come from early Christian historians, but it was known at the time those festivals were celebrated, and considered separate from them. It was not seen as similar by early pagans and Christians, who did not confuse the celebrations.
Isn’t it just a Christianized version of Saturnalia/Sol Invictus?
No. Macrobius’ The Saturnalia is our most complete primary source on the festivities of Saturnalia. He records that it was a multi day event of drunkenness, feasting, and exchanging quips from the traditions of the philosophers, where slaves were served by their masters. Mix in some good old fashioned Roman games and sacrifices to pagan gods, and you’ve got yourself a Saturnalia! (The Saturnalia, pg. 29-62, pg. 70-73)
It was also believed that “the entrance to the underworld is open” during Saturnalia, and warfare and business were postponed, because they were “ill-omened […] ‘black’ days.” (Ibid, pg. 108)
Macrobius relates that Saturnalia existed before the Romans, so it’s not even a uniquely Roman holiday. (Ibid, pg. 62)
Sol Invictus (properly, Dies Natalis Solis Invicti) was celebrated much the same as Saturnalia. Interestingly, it’s likely that Sol Invictus was created as a response to Christmas, due to the explosion of Christianity in the Roman empire. The cult only became an official religion in 274 AD. The Chronography of 354 supports this by listing Saturnalia, Sol Invcitus, and the date of the Lord’s birth as separate events, meaning that they weren’t confused by the people celebrating them.
Now, while I know Christmas traditions vary, I’ve yet to meet the Christian who offers sacrifices to Saturn on Christmas Day, or one who worships the sun.
But Christmas trees are pagan, right?
No! This tradition comes entirely from German Christianity in origin.
The tradition started when St. Boniface chopped down the Thor tree of the local pagans, interrupting a child sacrifice. He used a nearby evergreen to preach the Gospel to the locals. After this, it became a Christian commemoration blended with the local Yule traditions of the “Yule log”, an extra long log meant to keep the hearth burning during Yule. Yule referred to the season lasting from December through January. (Bede, De Ratione Temporum)
From its beginnings in Germany, we enter Martin Luther. He made the Christmas tree a regular part of Lutheran Christmas celebrations; combining the German Christmas with the liturgical feast day of St. Nicholas to establish much of the Christmas tradition we celebrate today. According to legend, he was the first to decorate a Christmas tree with “lights,” decorating his Christmas tree with candles.
This tradition made it to the German nobility, who would export the tradition to England via the marriages of King George III to Charlotte, a German Protestant, and the German Prince Albert’s marriage to Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria’s love for Christmas, and Charles Dicken’s Christian quill, would seal the deal for a century to come.
What about wreaths and mistletoe?
Though wreaths and mistletoe were both historically used by pagans, so were plates and bowls. As so many of our modern Christmas traditions do, these practices come from Victorian England, not the far reaches of pagan antiquity.
Kissing under mistletoe was first mentioned in 1784, in Samuel Arnold’s play Two to One, (Pg. 33) and was part of the popular English practice of “kissing booths.” Much of the greenery associated with Christmas is used for explicitly Christian symbology, such as the sharp thorns and red berries of holly representing the thorny crown and red blood of Christ.
Isn’t Santa Claus just a modern add on?
Spoilers: Santa Claus is real!
Santa Claus is just a slang name for the real St. Nicholas, whose feast day was celebrated on December 6th. The real St. Nicholas, aside from being reported to have cold clocked Arius at Nicea for denying the Trinity, was renowned for his charity. As the story goes, he once helped a family unable to pay dowries for their daughters by throwing money bags down their chimney.
“Santa Claus” came to prominence with the publication of A Visit from St. Nicholas in 1823; better known as ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. His modern image is predominantly the result of a Coca-Cola ad campaign in the 1930’s. Instead of throwing money bags down chimneys, he comes down himself with a bag of toys; a reference to St. Nicholas’ life.
While much of the modern mythos of Santa Claus is heavily commercialized, it’s worth remembering the real Christian man behind the stories. His example of exceptional charity is fitting remembrance during the season we celebrate God’s charity towards us in giving His Son.
Weren’t the Puritans and English Reformers against Christmas?
Well, yes; but their contention wasn’t that Christmas was pagan, but that it was Catholic.
As Charles Spurgeon writes:
Doubtless those who are Catholics have a right to hallow [Christmas], but I do not see how consistent Protestants can account it in the least sacred! However, I wish there were ten or a dozen Christmas days in the year – for there is work enough in the world – and a little more rest would not hurt labouring people. Christmas is really a gift to us, particularly as it enables us to assemble round the family hearth and meet our friends once more. Still, although we do not fall exactly in the track of other people, I see no harm in thinking of the incarnation and birth of the Lord Jesus.
Though it’s worthy of consideration to be separated from the fruits of Rome, I feel it not improper to disagree with the Prince of Preachers on this occasion. Surely Christmas has been so thoroughly freed of its Papal moorings that Christians of all stripes can enjoy a celebration of the Incarnation of Our Lord, Jesus Christ; and we’ll wink at the name, while Catholics wink at Martin Luther being responsible for Christmas trees.
Maybe a common holiday between all who claim Christ isn’t the worst thing to have.
What about Frosty/Rudolph/Elf/A Christmas Story?
Hey, modern American traditions are just that. If you want to watch A Christmas Story, or Will Farrel, that’s on you; and the Bible provides plenty of guidance on proper decorum. As Colossions 2:16-17 says:
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Colossians 2:16-17
But it’s not in the Bible!
While that’s true, neither is the Feast of Dedication, which the Lord is present at in John 10:22-23:
It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah, the Festival of Dedication. He was in the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon’s Colonnade. John 10:22-23
So, using the Lord’s example, it’s not a sin to celebrate holidays that aren’t in the Bible. Celebrating the Lord’s Incarnation, on what is well supported historically to be His date of Birth, is hardly sinful.
Even if it wasn’t the right day, is any day a bad day to spend in charity, loving your family, and celebrating Jesus Christ?
And Christmas does good work! For many people around the world, their introduction to the Gospel is through the Christian celebration of Christmas. Ayako Miura, a famous Japanese Christian novelist, relates her testimony of learning about Christianity through Christmas in her hospital ward. I recently witnessed a Muslim state that he hates Christmas because it encourages “shirk”; IE the worship of Jesus Christ. This holiday is infused with the Spirit of Christ! As no less than avowed atheist and staunch textual critic Bart Erhman pleads:
Give me the God of Christmas, the God of love, the God of an innocent child in a manger, who comes to bring salvation and wholeness to the world, the way it was always meant to be.
Citations
https://archive.org/details/saturnalia0000macr/page/n579/mode/2up https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/chronography_of_354_00_eintro.htm http://dec25th.info/Textual%20Tradition%20of%20Hippolytus%20Commentary%20on%20Daniel.html https://www.britannica.com/story/how-did-the-tradition-of-christmas-trees-start https://www.thegns.org/blog/yule https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Invictus https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/st-boniface-and-the-christmas-tree https://www.whychristmas.com/customs/mistletoe https://reformedruminations.com/2011/12/24/charles-spurgeon-on-christmas/ https://crossexamined.org/bart-ehrman-god-christmas/