This is it. Christmas is finally here. Cut the evergreen, light the Yule log and greet those carolers at the door. Don't forget to leave milk and cookies for old Saint Nick. But before you do all that, gain a deeper understanding of how Christmas came to be.
Rome celebrated the winter solstice long before Jesus was a twinkle in God's eye. The practice was called Saturnalia. It was the celebration of Saturn, not the Sun, on that day. Why? Because Saturn was a god of Agriculture. In other words, Saturn was given worship to seek his blessing in the coming year and make the crops fruitful. The Gregorian calendar had not yet existed so December 25th had not yet been label as the birth date of Christ, but according to the Gregorian calendar, Saturnalia began on December 17th and lasted for seven days.
During this celebration slaves were equal to their masters. Human spirits were high. There was peace and good will toward men (woman and children). They even exchanged gifts with one another. Christianity could not abolish Pagan practices so they could only adopt Pagan beliefs and place Christ at the center of the festivities. I have a lot of Christian readers who come to my site and I'm sure many are tired of hearing about Christianity taking from Paganism, so I'll explain this to them. There is no pure religion which is untouched by the beliefs which preceded it.
Most people these days either ignore or are
ignorant of the fact that Christmas is strongly tied to
Paganism, but the Puritans new all too well and for that they
banned Christmas entirely from being celebrated. Believe
it or not, Christmas was once outlawed in the United States.
You have the Irish immigrants to thank for bringing the celebration
of Christmas to the people. Social views on religion are
always changing. In a hundred years from now, Christmas
may have an entirely new meaning. You just never know,
especially with the declining power the Church holds on its
flock. Next month I want to challenge Santa Claus and
reveal who lies behind the mask.