[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=” av-desktop-hide=” av-medium-hide=” av-small-hide=” av-mini-hide=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=”]
[/av_textblock]
[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’PEOPLE POWWOW ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY HERBERT VEGO
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=’18’ font_color=” color=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
MOST Christians celebrate Dec. 25 as Christmas, the supposed birthday of Jesus Christ. It has become so acceptable to almost all Christian sects that legitimate opposition to its authenticity is no longer taken seriously. But do you know that there was a time when the Protestant Christians denounced it for being a “duplicate” of a pagan celebration?
In fact, Bible scholars now unanimously agree that Jesus could not have been born on a winter day, Dec. 25, in 4 B.C. For on the day of his birth, the shepherds in Bethlehem were out in the fields grazing sheep – an impossible scene in snowy winter. Born in a manger, the naked child could have frozen to death.
Even the year is erroneous. How could he have been born in 4 B.C. or four years before his own birth?
The error emanated from calendar maker Dionysius Exiguus, who reckoned in the 6th century that Christ was born 754 years after the founding of Rome. He was four years off in dating the year of Christ’s birth.
The celebration of the first Dec. 25 Christmas or “mass of Christ” – according to Roman Catholic Church history – occurred in Rome in 320 A.D. The date had always been celebrated by pagans as the Saturnalia or birthday of Saturn, the god of agriculture. Saturn was also known as the “Unconquered Sun.”
The “coincidence” was probably aimed at converting the believers of Saturn into Christianity without discarding their cherished 12 days of feast, merry-making and gift-giving. The church fathers at that time had no choice but tolerate the inebriation and free sex that new converts had been accustomed to.
The Christmas “lie” has since then been perpetuated as if it were historical truth. But history reveals a different story.
With the Protestant Reformation in Europe in the 16th century, the followers of Martin Luther (a German) and John Calvin (a Swiss) questioned the propriety of celebrating Christmas because of its inaccurate date and its pagan origin. For instance, the custom of using pine or other evergreen trees for Christmas tree was also a take-off from the Saturnalian symbol of fertility.
A Puritan named William Prynne made a determined effort to abolish Christmas. The government of Scotland forbade it in 1593. It was also decreed illegal by Commonwealth England in the years 1649 to 1660. The Puritan tirade lasted over a century in Scotland and England.
Jesus could not have been born on Dec. 25, winter time in his birthplace in Bethlehem, because “there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night” (Luke 2:8).
That could not have occurred in the month of December. Otherwise, the shepherds would have kept their flocks corralled to protect them from the cold, rainy season. It was an ancient custom among Jews of those days to send out their sheep to the fields and deserts in the early spring, and bring them home at commencement of the first rain.
Santa Claus — a living Christmas symbol personified by a bearded, fat, red-robed gift giver – is a “reincarnation” of Saint Nicholas, a generous 4th-century patriarch of Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey). His evolution from a religious leader to a jolly fat fellow was probably a natural result of the Catholic Church’s desire to deflect Christmas’ Saturnalian origin and to appease the Protestants.
To this day, we recognize the white-bearded Santa Claus in the “white lie” that he hurtles through space on a cart pulled by reindeers to drop goodies into hanged socks and stockings of children. (hvego31@g.mail.com)/PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
