Some Old Wisdom from a Unitarian Sermon

by Gregory Mott

Here's some old wisdom, not new, but a timely, recirculated restatement for your reading, sharing, or flaming, pleasure... This is the season when some among us are thinking, "Bah, Humbug!" Haven't you yourself ever complained that Christmas has become an offensive, irrational, overly-commercialized holiday?

Skeptics, scoffers, and yuletide killjoys aren't just a few among us. After all, Christmas has become the high holy day of capitalism. The importance of Christmas to the economy is indisputable. Christmas sales often determine which retail businesses will survive through the new year. If you have been turned off to Christmas, consider this. Christmas is not really a Christian celebration, and never was. Christmas customs are mostly Pagan in origin.

There are two ancient human concerns bound up in this seasonal celebration. One is the primeval fear of never-ending darkness, accentuated by the decreasing sunlight and shortened days of winter. The other is the ancient myth of the divine birth, or rebirth, which symbolizes the growing sunlight and lengthening days that each year follow the winter solstice. Our ancestors celebrated the return of the sun and the promise of new and continuing life.

From the dimmest dawnings of history, the days around the winter solstice, which according to the Roman calendar fell on December 25, were regarded as a time of special significance. Winter festivals were observed by many tribes of people who were lacking in civilization, but had learned to become close observers of the world around them. It isn't difficult to imagine their feelings as summer gave way to harvest, as the leaves began to fall from the trees, as the first snows of winter began to sprinkle the earth. They knew that the winter would eventually yield to spring. At least, it always had in the past. But in the absence of exact knowledge as to why the seasons changed as they did, there was always room for doubt. Maybe it wouldn't happen this time. Perhaps the days would go on getting shorter and shorter, colder and colder, until the world was swallowed up in a perpetual night.

So the approach of the winter solstice was marked with growing apprehension. Elaborate ceremonies took place. As the critical time approached, huge fires were kindled on the hilltops to imitate the light and warmth of the retreating sun, and to lure it back by sympathetic magic. When it became apparent that the magic was working, that the days were lengthening instead of shortening, and that the sun was returning, the feelings of relief and joy were expressed in the greatest celebration of the year. All normal activities came to a halt, to be replaced by singing, dancing, and feasting.

In most parts of Europe, houses were decorated with greenery during this season. Just as the fires were supposed to attract the sun back, the display of evergreens was thought to encourage the rebirth of the hero-god, symbols of the earth's vegetation. In the autumn the god sickened and died or was slain, and went to dwell in the underworld. In the spring he returned, and the earth became green again. He was known by many names: Osiris, Adonis, Dionysus, and Mithra, among others. Early Christian representations of Mary and Jesus, the madonna and child, were simply imitations of the Egyptian god(s) Horus and his mother Isis.

In Rome, the Saturnalia, a feast held in honor of Saturn, the god of the harvest, was celebrated on December 17. The festivities lasted a full week, until the winter solstice on December 25, known as Brumalia. It was a time for visiting friends and feasting, and the Romans exchanged gifts of copper, silver and gold coins, candles and sweets. Among the laws of Saturnalia passed by the Roman Senate were the following: "All business, be it public or private, is forbidden during the feast days, such as tends to sport and solace and delight. Let none follow their vocations, save cooks and bakers." "All men shall be equal, slave and free, rich and poor, one with another." "Anger, resentments, threats, are contrary to law." "No discourse shall be either composed or delivered, except it be witty and lusty, conducing to mirth and jollity."

Clearly the Pagan spirit of the Saturnalia has never died. It remains alive and well beneath the Christian veneer of Christmas.

A few days after the end of Saturnalia, on January 1, the Romans celebrated the festival of Calends, or New Year. Our word "calendar" is derived from this name. Here is a description of the Calends, which could easily apply to the modern holiday season: "Everywhere may be seen carousels and well-laden tables; luxurious abundance is found in the houses of the rich, but also in the houses of the poor better food than usual is put on the table. The impulse to spend seizes everyone. One who the whole year through has taken pleasure in saving and piling up his money becomes suddenly extravagant. People are not only generous toward themselves, but toward their fellows. A stream of presents pours itself out on all sides. It may be justly said that this is the fairest time of the year. The Calends festival banishes all that is connected with toil, and allows people to give themselves to undisturbed enjoyment. From the minds of the young people it removes the dread of the schoolmaster."

Rather than participating in the holiday merrymaking, the early leaders of the Christian church denounced it. St. Augustine wrote: "They both give and receive diabolical presents, some people, moreover, lay tables with plenty of things necessary for eating, thinking that thus the Calends of January will be a guarantee that all through the year their feasting will be in like measure abundant. Our holy fathers of old, considering that the majority of men on those days became slaves to gluttony and riotous living and raved in drunkenness and impious dancing, determined that throughout the church a public fast should be proclaimed. For he who on the Calends shows any civility to foolish men who are wantonly sporting, is undoubtedly a partaker of their sin." It seems that New Year's celebrations haven't changed much in the last two thousand years!!

In the year 273 C.E., the Roman Emperor Aurelian, who had become an ardent worshiper of the Syrian sun god Baal, decreed that the day of the winter solstice, December 25, should be observed as Natalis Solis Invicti, the birthday of the unconquerable sun. This was to the distinct advantage of Mithraism, a religion which for two centuries had been the chief rival to Christianity in the Roman world. Originally a Persian deity, Mithra had become closely associated with the worship of the sun. He was said to have descended to earth, been born of a Virgin, and shown human beings the way to salvation and eternal life. He then ascended into heaven again, where he rode across the sky each day in his solar chariot. He was often described as "the good shepherd" and the "sun (s-u-n) of righteousness." His followers met regularly on the first day of the week, Sun day, to share a sacred meal of bread and wine.

The cult of Mithra was especially popular amongst the Roman legions. It provided Christianity with serious competition, and for a time appeared likely to become the official religion of the empire. But early in the fourth century the Emperor Constantine, who had been a sun worshiper most of his life, converted to Christianity, and proceeded to make it the state religion instead.

Party poopers that they were, the leaders of the church tried repeatedly to suppress celebrations of the winter solstice and the new year. Mostly their efforts were ignored. Constantine refused to pass edicts against the festivals because he feared the non-Christian population of Rome would turn against him if he did. And large numbers of Christians, who were recently baptized Pagans themselves, kept right on celebrating the holidays.

Eventually the church adopted the policy, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." During its first three centuries of existence, Christianity had not bothered to observe the birthday of its founder. [Reminds me, the first few centuries of Buddhists honoured the wishes of the Buddha and did not fashion nor worship idols of him. -G] No one even knew the year in which Jesus had been born, much less the exact day. But in the fourth century, Pope Julius I announced that the "true" date had been determined. It was, you guessed it, December 25.

By deliberately superimposing the celebration of Christ's birthday on the Roman Saturnalia and the Natalis Solis Invicti, the church hoped to replace those festivals with a regimen of worship. Eventually the entire period from December 17 to January 6 was declared a time of fasting. But everyone kept right on celebrating, just as their Pagan ancestors had. The Christ Mass was never successful in suppressing the old festivities. On the contrary, it tended to spread them. As Christianity moved into France, England, and Germany, so did the Roman custom of riotously celebrating the end of the old year and the beginning of a new one.

In 742 C.E., St. Boniface, the missionary who brought Christianity to Germany, complained that the converts there had taken up the "odious" habit of celebrating in the Roman manner with "processions, impious songs, and heathen cries." But it was St. Boniface himself who added another nonbiblical custom to the celebration of Christmas -- the Christmas tree. As the story goes, Boniface was so eager to rid Germany of idolatry that on the eve of one winter solstice he cut down a sacred oak tree in the town of Geismar. This bold act infuriated the locals, who threatened to kill Boniface on the spot. In an attempt to pacify them, and to save his own skin, he pointed to a small fir tree and said, "This little tree, a young child of the forest, shall be your holy tree this night. It is the wood of peace, for your houses are built of the fir. It is a sign of endless life, for its leaves are ever green. See how it points upward to heaven." It seems that St. Boniface was a fast talker.

In northern Europe the winter solstice has been marked since time immemorial by the burning of a large piece of oak known as a yule log. Because oaks were considered sacred, elaborate ceremonies were attached to the bringing in of the log, and on the eve of Dec. 25 it was rekindled with the remainder of the previous year's log. An old poem says:

Kindle the Christmas brand, and then Till sunneset let it burne;
Which quencht, then lay it up agen, Till Christmas next returne.
Part must be kept, wherewith to tend, The Christmas log next yeare;
And where 'tis safely kept, the fiend can do no mischief there.

The origin of the word Yuletide, often used to refer to the holiday season, is uncertain. It may have been derived from the old gothic "gul" or "huil", which meant "wheel". In reference to the winter solstice, it would have signified the great wheel of the year, the annual turning of the seasons.

Christianity, of course, accommodated itself long ago to the joyously Pagan exuberance of the Yuletide celebrations. You may occasionally hear Christians say, "We should put Christ back into Christmas." What they probably mean by this is that they would like to see some of its blatant Paganism suppressed. But this can never be, for Christmas seems to have a life of its own. Its multiple meanings are much too great to be contained by any single creed.

In modern times, the most widely accepted symbol of the holiday has come to be Santa Claus, our beloved, jolly, fat figure in a red suit who rides in a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer and clamors down chimneys to bring presents to good little boys and girls. Actually the name Santa Claus is a corruption of the Dutch Sinterklaas, which in itself is a corruption of an early church bishop "St. Nicholas." It was brought to America by the Dutch who settled in New York. But the modern myth of Santa Claus owes its origin mostly to the poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas," written by Clement Clarke Moore, a professor of divinity at New York Theological Seminary, and first published in 1823. I don't know what kind of theology Dr. Moore taught in his classes, but his ideas about St. Nicholas certainly did not reflect orthodox Christianity. The finishing touches were added to Santa's new image by Thomas Nast, the political cartoonist who originated the Democratic donkey and the Republican elephant. Nast pictured Santa not as a gaunt cleric accustomed to fasting, but a fervent good eater who seems a likely prospect for gout, high blood pressure and diabetes. As presently portrayed, Santa Claus is almost a totally non-Christian figure, a personification of the joyful Pagan spirit that has always been at the heart of the Yuletide celebration.

So what does it mean in our day and age to celebrate Christmas? In these colder days, and longer, darker, nights of winter (at least in the northern hemisphere), why not delight in celebrating in the same way our ancestors celebrated -- with gusto, with reverence, with imagination, with joy, with humility, with hearts full to overflowing with a deep appreciation for all the songs, symbols, and customs with which we have been gifted.

(extracted from a Unitarian Universalist sermon delivered a few years back)

Making mistakes nurtures a growing compassion.
Great compassion makes a peaceful heart,
a peaceful heart makes a peaceful person,
...peaceful people make a peaceful world.

- Gregory Mott
post: 1333 Santa Barbara Blvd., Apt. #348
Cape Coral, Florida 33991-2807, USA
email: gmott@peacenet.org