Reply #15: Sorry, we stole it over 1500 years ago, it is our... [View All]

Some sort of Celebration of light has been characteristic of Solstice celebration for Millennia. That the Catholic and Orthodox Churches put a Christian spin to it starting about the time of Constantine was one more step in the evolution of this time of lack of light.

One of the great contradictions in history is a Celebration of Light during the time when we have the least light. The reason for this is many people suffer from depression during this time period, it is believed do to the lack of sunlight that people are exposed to during this time period (Thus the "Christmas blues"). This depression was known in ancient times and became the basis for trying to pick people up by having a party with lights. Thus the "Christmas Blues" is NOT a symptom of the Celebration of Christmas, but why we have Christmas. The Celebration is to pick people up, and given how depressed some people get this time of year that is a good thing.

The real switch in Solstice celebration by the Christians was the emphasis on HOW the holiday was celebration. Solstices became Christmas as part of the replacement of the Ancient Tribes of Rome with the Modern Concept of Community. As Europe became more Christian blood ties became less important than being a member of the community (Which was Christian). Christianity emphasis community (Thus the existence of a Church to hold ALL members of the parish which means all members of the Community a opposed to the select priests who entered the ancient Temples). This Christian Sense of Community replaced the ancient Roman and Germanic system which empathizes Tribal basis (Even in late Roman days your position in Roman Society was still determined by what ancient Roman Tribe you belonged to). The Roman tribes were still strong as the Roman Republic involved into the Roman Empire. The near collapse to Rome in the Third Century seems to have dealt a death blow to the concept of Tribe as a basis of social Structure within the Empire, but remnants of this tribal survived till the fall of the Empire in the West. That is how important the blood ties (and adoption ties) were important in the Roman and Ancient World.

With the adoption of Christianity being a member of the community as set up in the form of your local parish became more important then your blood ties. The Church emphasized this by forbidding cousin marrying (one of the hallmarks of a tribal society is cousin marrying so that the tribal wealth stays in the tribe). Now the Church was NOT completely successful in this (Cousin marrying within certain families contained from Roman days till today) but as a rule this ban made the switch to community from tribe complete.

My point here is if you want to celebrate Ancient pagan holidays this time of year, go ahead, but remember they were always celebration of one's tribe, even in Rome it was the celebration of being a member of one of the 12 tribes of Rome. Christianity made the switch to the celebration being one with the community as a whole, an emphasis downplayed in the last 200 years as more and more of Christmas became the Celebration of the Nuclear family (The emphasis on Presents, and Santa Claus for Example and less emphasis of doing things as a group even if that only means setting up a soup kitchen for the poor).

The real war on Christmas the last 150-200 years has been the Switch from a Celebration with ALL members of Society to one of celebration with one's nuclear family (and other blood or by marriage relatives and friends as opposed to the community as a whole). The Switch was encouraged by Commercial businesses for what one does as a Community is rarely profitable (The English community Football games is an example of this, not a game of professionals but local boys playing together in front of their families and the rest of the Community). Singing Carols, collecting for the poor, feeding the poor are thing the community can do, but rarely is profitable. On the other hand buying gifts for one's own children and other members of one's own family can be profitable. Thus for the last 150-200 years Christmas has became less a Community activity and more a "Family" Activity (With the Family defined as the Nuclear Family not the extended family and NOT the Community as a whole). Thus the war on Christmas as it was celebrated from Constantine till Napoleon is still there but it is a much smaller celebration than the modern celebration of Christmas within the Nuclear Family.

P.S. I know of the Puritan s's hatred of Christmas. While the Puritans pointed out the Pagan Roots of Christmas, the real reason Puritans hated Christmas was its then emphasis on the community and helping the poor. While Charity was part of the Puritan dogma, the Puritans did not like anything that interferer with Business and the Celebration of Christmas prior to the Reformation (and Napoleon in Catholic Europe) had been a two week community celebration where people gathered together and did things as a community (including going to Church and having community parities and meals, visiting each other and making sure people could survive the upcoming winter). This two weeks celebration was why the Puritans hated Christmas not the pagan Roots of Christmas.

Today, while we do shop for weeks (and the business community encourages such activities) Christmas is a one day Holiday. Most students get the week off, but most workers do not. This restricts what people can do as a community for while some people are off, most are not, Thus since about 1800 and the Industrial revolution Christmas has ceased being a Celebration of the Community into one of Celebration of the Nuclear Family. Some aspects of Christian Christmas still remains in the concept of giving to the poor and meals to the poor, but most Community activities are gone (With Parties at groups and Schools being some of the remains). The Pagan Celebration of Lights remain and with Electricity has expanded, but its origin is lost as is the community celebrations which were the heart of Christian Christmas.