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Is Christmas God’s Gift to You?Awake!—1986 | December 8
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The Roots of Christmas
A corresponding celebration was observed by polytheistic sun worshipers. According to The Encyclopedia Americana, such people in northern Europe “celebrated their chief festival of Yule at the winter solstice to commemorate the rebirth of the sun . . . The Roman Saturnalia . . . also took place at this time, and some Christmas customs are thought to be rooted in this ancient pagan celebration. It is held by some scholars that the birth of Christ as ‘Light of the World’ was made analogous to the rebirth of the sun in order to make Christianity more meaningful” to converts who had previously honored their own mythical gods by such festivals.
Jesus’ followers, however, held no commemoration of Christ’s birthday at all—not on December 25, not even in October. And this held true until about the middle of the fourth century. Origen, a third-century historian, wrote that “of all the holy people in the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a . . . birthday. It is only sinners (like Pharaoh and Herod) who make great rejoicings over the day on which they were born.” (Genesis 40:20-23; Mark 6:21-28) According to McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, Jews of Bible times “regarded birthday celebrations as parts of idolatrous worship.”
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Is Christmas God’s Gift to You?Awake!—1986 | December 8
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[Box on page 22]
Rooted in Mythology
◻ Birthday observance was common in many polytheistic cultures. Idolatrous rites were performed in honor of the patron gods of each particular birthday, and birthdays of mythical gods like Saturn and Apollo were also celebrated. States Dr. John C. McCollister in his book The Christian Book of Why: “Christians of the first century did not celebrate the festival honoring the birth of Jesus—for the same reason they honored no other birthday anniversary. It was the feeling at that time by all Christians that the celebration of all birthdays (even the Lord’s) was a custom of the pagans.”
◻ Ancient peoples thought that certain evergreen plants like the mistletoe and holly had great magical powers. They decorated their houses with these to ward off evil spirits and witches. This practice developed into the Christmas decorations.
◻ Trees were venerated in most polytheistic cultures. Sacred groves were believed to be inhabited by ancestral spirits, and presents were offered to them in return for favors. This is still done in West Africa.
◻ The European Christmas custom of burning a huge . . . log in the fireplace can be traced back to the Scandinavians who kindled enormous bonfires in honor of their god of thunder, Thor.
◻ Gift giving, rather than being patterned after the gifts offered by the so-called wise men, or astrologers, is really based on the pagan Roman gift giving of the Saturnalia (festival that honored the god Saturn) and of calends (New Year) celebrations.
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