Comments on: 5 Questions on the Origins of Christmas

By: Lola

Lola — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 17:45:09 +0000

In addition to the converting pagan holidays into Christian ones (I’m looking at you people who refuse to celebrate Halloween–it got the same treatment as every other religious holiday)…
I was told once that one of the reasons that December 25th was chosen was because of it’s proximity to the Winter Solstice based on John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease”. The days getting longer being symbolic of that. This is also why the feast of St John the Baptist is near the time of the Summer Solstice, or pretty much exactly 6 mons before (or after) Christmas.

Anyone have more info on this?

By: Megan

Megan — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:32:22 +0000

Dave N… how is this an attack on Christmas? It’s simply explaining. You can celebrate some other time of the year, if you’d like to be more correct, but the rest of us will take our enlightened selves, celebrate now anyway, and simply chuckle at the line of “God rest ye merry gentlemen” that says “…was born on Christmas Day…”

By: NG

NG — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 13:21:25 +0000

Saint Nicholas was a third century Turkish monk? Really? That would have put him somewhere off in central Asia. More likely he was a Greek-speaking monk in Anatolia, the region that’s now the heartland of the Turkish state. But to say that he was Turkish is something like saying that an Indian native to the Amazon rainforest is Portuguese.

Also, I live in Israel and December is our rainy season – weather here now is something like March-April in New York – so it doesn’t seem particularly odd to me that a local shepherd would tend his flock now. It’s not like there’s any snow to worry about…

By: Heather

Heather — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 13:18:29 +0000

I don’t understand how the origins of Christmas traditions are “an attack on Christmas.” It’s like people search for anything this time of year so they can throw that phrase out there.
Whats the point of traditions if no one remembers what they’re for?

By: Meg

Meg — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:52:02 +0000

@ L-

Geographically, they wouldn’t be tending to their flocks in December. Israel isn’t below the equator.

By: Jen

Jen — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:44:15 +0000

Dave N….unfortunately, in the way a huge percentage of Americans celebrate Christmas, it has more to do with greed and consumerism than it does “peace, love, and forgiveness”.

By: Steaven

Steaven — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:54:00 +0000

â€œthe Christians have been crafty in converting pagan populations to religionâ€

By definition, pagans already had religion.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 13:39:00 +0000

Chelsea — that’s what St. Augustine believed (he didn’t come up with the theory, but supported it). There are several theories about why the date was chosen.

By: Dave N

Dave N — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 09:44:00 +0000

Oh looky, another attack on Christmas.

It doesn’t HAVE to be THE day that Jesus was born, it is a day of celebration and rememberance.

Many royals around the world have their “official” birthdays in the summer when actually they are born at other times.

I know of a cousin who was born on Dec. 25th, so he celebrates his birthday on the same May day as his father instead.

There is nothing wrong with Christmas, or any other celebration that promotes peace, love, forgiveness and the saving of the human race.

Ultimately it doesn’t matter what it was based on then, it’s what it means to millions now that counts.

By: JSP

JSP — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 08:59:00 +0000

Zwarte Piet is depicted in black face because he is the one who goes down the chimney with the presents and gets covered in soot. A lot of people feel that the character has racist overtones, because he is a black helper (“knecht”) to a white man. In the Sinterklaas mythology, Sinterklaas is from Spain. His zwarte pieten are helpers from the northern part of Afrika (the people were called Moors). They would typically have a dark skin color, and that is also a reason for the black face.