Should Christians Celebrate Christmas?

Christmas is probably the biggest and most important holiday for many people. Some stores start promoting it as early as November! Everyone is getting “into the spirit” every where you go. Christians proclaim “keep Christ in Christmas” as they battle against commercialism. It’s a time to gather with family and friends, give gifts, decorate your homes and offices, and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, as many say. It’s hard not to get caught up in it since it’s “the happiest time of the year”. But what is Christmas actually, and should Christians participate in it?

To answer this question, we need to look to ancient Roman history.

In Ancient Rome, the festival of Saturnalia was held from December 17 to December 23 to honour the Roman god Saturn. The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn, feasting, gift-giving, partying, and a general carnival atmosphere. Work everywhere stopped and people were in a celebratory and joyful mood and social order was turned upside-down. Parties were loud and hedonistic. It was a time when any type of behaviour was acceptable. The ancient Greek historian Lucian described the festival’s observance: In addition to human sacrifice, he mentions widespread intoxication, singing naked in the streets, sexual indulgence, rape and consuming human-shaped biscuits. Romans decorated their homes with evergreen boughs and placed offerings underneath trees. Trees were decorated with ‘oscilla’, figurines and ornaments shaped like human heads, which were relics of human sacrifice, reminiscent of a time when actual human heads were hung as an offering to Saturn.

By the 4th century CE, Christianity adopted the Saturnalia festival hoping to gain new followers among the pagans. Christian leaders were successful in converting many people from paganism to Christianity by promising them they could continue to celebrate Saturnalia as Christians. There was nothing Christian about Saturnalia, however, so Pope Julius I chose the last day of Saturnalia, December 25th, and named it the day that Jesus was born. This was also the day that was celebrated by Roman Soldiers as the birthday of the sun god, Sol Invictus.

The actual day that Jesus was born is unknown but likely some time during the spring or fall, with fall being the most likely. Joseph and Mary had to stay in the stables in Bethlehem and lay the baby Jesus in a manger because there was no room at the inn (Luke 2:4-7). This is likely due to all the Jews from around the world coming to Jerusalem and lodging in surrounding towns for the fall feast. The Bible also mentions shepherds watching their flocks at night (Luke 2:8) which would not occur in December but rather in the spring or fall.

Origins of Christmas Traditions

Christmas Tree

Just as early Christians attempted to recruit pagans into the faith by Christianizing Saturnalia, they did so with other pagan practices as well such as adopting the worship and decoration of evergreen trees. Romans decorated their homes with evergreen branches during Saturnalia, European pagans commonly worshiped evergreen trees and this custom survived their conversion to Christianity. Tree decoration and worship is also mentioned in the Bible as idolatry.

Jeremiah 10:2-5 warns God’s people not to “learn the way of the Gentiles”. God describes the customs of the Gentiles: “For one cuts a tree from the forest… they decorate it with silver and gold, they fasten it with nails and hammers.” This was spoken to describe God’s hatred of idolatry and the idol being nothing more than a dead object that could not speak and had to be carried by someone.

Christmas trees gained mass appeal when a photo was printed in 1848 of Queen Victoria and German Prince Albert next to a decorated Christmas tree with toys, gifts, candles, and ribbons in their home.

Christmas Presents

Gift giving was practiced during Saturnalia but as Christianity spread, gift giving became associated with the story of the Biblical magi giving gifts to the infant Jesus. Eventually when the story of Saint Nicholas, a fourth century Christian bishop and gift-giver, became widespread it became part of Christmas celebrations in Christian countries.

Santa Claus

Nicholas was born in Turkey in 270 CE and later became Bishop of Myra. He died in 345 CE and named a Catholic saint in the 19th century. He became famous for generosity to the poor and was worshipped. Those who worshipped him remembered him on the day of his death, December 6, by replicating his generosity by gift-giving.

The cult of Nicholas spread north and was adopted by Germanic and Celtic pagans. The legend of Nicholas became merged with their god Woden, who had a long white beard and rode a flying horse through the sky.

The Catholic Church, once again, in an effort to gain pagan followers, adopted the Nicholas cult and associated Nicholas’ gift-giving with December 25 (Christmas) instead of December 6.

In the 19th century various novels and stories were written that featured saint Nicholas and modified his legend to portray him as giving gifts to children, descending chimneys, riding a sled pulled by eight reindeer, and using a variant of his Dutch name, Santa Claus.

A Bavarian illustrator added to the modern picture by creating thousands of cartoon images for Harper’s Weekly magazine between 1862 and 1886. Santa Claus had previously been pictured as a stern looking bishop but now had a friendlier appearance with his home at the North Pole in a workshop filled with elves, and with a list of good and bad children.

In 1931, the Coca Cola corporation further altered Santa’s image to the one we are accustomed to today. He was given a chubby, cheerful face and a coca-cola red suit with white fur trim. The modern Santa Claus was born: a mix of Catholic saint, pagan god, and commercial icon.

What does this all mean for Christians?

Looking at the origins of Christmas shows us that pagan idol worship and customs were merged with Christianity and given a Christian appearance. People claim it “for Christ”. Sadly, this practice of merging is not new for God’s people. 2 Kings 17:33 says of the people of Israel, “They feared the LORD, yet served their own gods–according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away”. The next verse described these people as not fearing the LORD according to the laws and commandments of the LORD. This shows us that if the people are copying pagan practices, that in God’s eyes, it is not fearing the Lord but it’s evil.

Deuteronomy 12:29-31 also warns the people of Israel from worshipping God in the ways of the nations: “You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods…”

The Bible clearly shows us that God hates idolatry and Christians should not be fooled by the “Christmas Spirit”, the decorations, and joyful mood. Beneath it all is paganism and materialism. It has nothing to do with Christ and His name should not be attached to it.

Some Christians attempt to bring the focus of Christmas away from commercialism and “back to Christ”. This is foolish because Christmas has nothing to do with Christ, is not scriptural, and is something created by man (with Satan’s help).

Let’s leave these practices and traditions of the world behind, resist the influences around us, and pursue holiness (Heb 12:14)!

“You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons” – 1 Cor 10:21

“Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them” – Eph 5:11

“Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil” – 1 Thess 5:21-22

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturnalia

https://www.historytoday.com/archive/did-romans-invent-christmas

https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-rome/saturnalia

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saturnalia-Roman-festival

https://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/Christmas_TheRealStory.htm

https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/santa-claus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus