autumn-issue-8-december-2015

∙and∙media∙culture
22
The History Of
CHRISTMAS
By: Kevin Brownfield
6-4 BC
Birth of Jesus
527 and 565 AD Christmas
recognized as an official
Roman holiday
6 - 4
BC
33 - 33
AD
527 - 565
AD
1466 1620
30-33 AD
Death of Jesus
1466, Pope Paul II forced Jews to run
naked through the city streets for the
amusement of the Roman people
Christmas, the day of giving, the birthday of Jesus
Christ, and only day Dad and his mother-in-law could
look past their differences by dipping into glasses
of the “adult” eggnog. Christmas has long been one
of my favorite holidays. As a child in the 1990s, my
entire extended family would get together at my greatgrandparent’s
house to exchange presents and eat a
giant dinner before the kids would fall asleep in front
of the fireplace while the adults watched Jeopardy and
talked about whatever adults talked about. At church,
we would all listen to the story of how Jesus was born
in a manger. I could recite the story by heart by my
third Christmas, and it never lost its magic.
With Christmas just around the corner, my love for the
holiday led me to start researching its origin. I started
my research with simple questions, but the answers
I found were far more complex than I expected. The
fact is, the earliest evidence of Christmas comes from
Rome in 336 AD1, nearly 300 years after the death of
Jesus; whose death, according to historical evidence,
is placed somewhere during the rule of Pontius Pilate
between 26 AD and 37 AD. However, it wasn’t until
between 527 and 565 AD that Christmas would be
recognized as an official Roman holiday. But we’ve
all heard of the Roman persecution of Jews and
Christians, so why would they have made it a holiday?
And why on December 25th?
Many of the biggest celebrations throughout the
ancient world took place around the time of the winter
solstice. These celebrations were in honor of new
beginnings and the end of the worst parts of winter.
The tradition of December 25th started with the Pagans
of Rome and a festival called Saturnalia. Saturnalia
was in celebration to the God and its namesake, Saturn
(the Greek equivalent of Cronus), and was celebrated
from December 17 to the 25th. During this time, Roman
law allowed for Rome to turn into something along the
lines of “The Purge,” with nobody being punished for
crimes during the festivities. The festival also seems
to be the origin of caroling, according to the historian
Lucian, who wrote in his dialogue Saturnalia:
“...Drinking and being drunk, noise and games and
dice, appointing of kings and feasting of slaves, singing
naked, clapping of tremulous hands, an occasional
ducking of corked faces in icy water,--such are the
functions over which I preside...”
These were all interesting things to learn, to say the
least, but why do we celebrate Christmas on the 25th
and why do we hold all these Pagan traditions? In the
4th century, to spread Christianity, the early Christian
leaders allowed for Christians to celebrate Saturnalia,
with December 25th being reserved for the celebration
of Jesus’ birth in attempts to make the festival more
Christian.
While ancient feasting, singing, and exchanging gifts
mirror today's practices, there were activities during
the early celebrations of Christmas that were less
“Christian” than others. In fact, some of these practices