Isn't it interesting that 300 years ago most Christians didn't celebrate Christmas?

Question

due to all the Pagan influence?

Now the Christians complain about Christmas being taken away from them?

Some churches still reject Christmas.

Is it again more of a seasonal custom instead of a religious celebration?

http://blog.beliefnet.com/news/2007/12/some-churches-reject-christmas.php

Try checking the link I provided. And Martin Luther denounced Christmas. that is well known. The Puritans and Pilgrims didn't celebrate.

I work retail in the seasonal area selling the "Christmas" trees and merchandise and every day I hear people complaining about how Chirstmas is being taken away from them.

Grannie Annie - talk about jumping to conclusions...first of all I have probably done more research in to origins of Christian holidays than most Christians including those that posted here. I am not even trying to villify Christianity. And I just pointed out a small segment of time. My "critical mind" could see the irony of how the celebration has changed over time and nothing is as it started. But the abstinence of Christmas by Christians has been practiced by one sect or another since it started. Maybe you should do some research yourself instead of shooting of a knee-jerk response.

Answer 1

It is definitely a seasonal custom. Pagans celebrated the Solstice, and followers of Jesus used the holiday to attract new believers and make it the transition easier. I think you should be able to celebrate who or whatever you want to celebrate, at any time of year. This time of year, many people have chosen to focus on their own religion, and use the opportunity of the exsting celebration to do so. Nothing wrong with that, as long as people understand what they're celebrating, and where it came from. And that Jesus was not born in December. Anything can be a religious celebration if you choose to make it so, including Independence Day (celebrating the religious freedom allowed in the US), Thanksgiving (Thank whatever God, Goddess, or Individual who deserves your thanks), or even Valentine's Day (valentine was a saint, after all). Each of us should learn to celebrate our beliefs, our lives, and our opportunities, regardless of what time of year we do it.

Answer 2

Well, kind of sort of. Most Christians did have religious services on Christmas Day (even though it is widely recognised and always has been that Jesus was not born in mid-winter but rather in early spring when shepherds in the Levant would be out with their flocks, and that the celebration around the time of the winter solstice has pagan roots (worshipping sun/moon gods/goddesses).

What they objected to was the use of pagan symbols of Yule...the tree, the lights, the decorations, the holly, the mistletoe, carolling, the exchange of gifts, the feasting - all pagan).

Santa Claus is a morphed Christian/pagan figure - the Christian St Nicklaus wearing a red (pagan colour) suit, giving gifts in the pagan fashion.

Interesting also for the Americans that the first Christmas tree was put up in a church only in the mid 1800s - the Puritans were firmly against using pagan symbols to represent Christian holidays. The tree tradition came from the Norse and Goths (German/Scandinavian pagans), I think. The others came from Central Asia/the Middle East.

Answer 3

It was the Puritans (more so than other Christians) who didn't celebrate Christmas. You are correct that Christmas celebrations have a lot of pagan influence:

The date (Jesus was actually born in the spring)
The tree (pagans used to worship trees; the yule log tradition)
etc.

But the Puritans also did away with a lot of other Christian traditions, ones that seemed valid enough to other Christians for centuries, like: artwork in churches, saints, etc.

I think that whether Christmas is a seasonal custom or religious celebration depends on how the individual celebrates it. My feeling is that even when one focuses on the secular aspects of Christmas it still promotes family togetherness and sharing, both very good things for the soul.

Answer 4

Accepting whatever you read without the use of your critical faculties, eh?

Plain fact of the matter is that Christmas was the BIGGEST celebration in Western Christendom from the 6th century on. It was Easter that took time to become numero uno. And the brouhaha that stirred up resulted in the Schism between western and eastern Christendom in the 12th century.

The Christmas tree is an older part of Christmas than your 300 years. And the festivities that are practiced in Scandinavia are a thousand years old and going strong.

The first Christmas was celebrated in Japan in the late 16th century as Jesuit missionaries taught their converts the customs they had brought with them from Spain.

Said customs began in the 8th century and in Spain they are still a major part of the holiday.

In Mexico the holiday has been celebrated with their unique style for more than 400 hundred years.

By the way, even Santa Claus, as the very real and historical St. Nicholas, had his Christmas association well established by the middle of the 5th century.

It wasn't until the 17th century that some parts of Europe started to separate him and his gift-giving from the religious aspects of the holiday of Jesus' birth. Those are the Protestant parts of Europe and for the most part they still adhere to gift-giving on his feastday, Dec. 6, and save Dec. 25th for purely religious observations, though that is slowly changing.

And so it should. It's a birthday party for the King of Kings. It should be joyous. It's not a funeral. That's Good Friday. Save the solemnity for that day.

I suggest you do a little more research before you again take up this particular cudgel in your effort to calumniate and vilify the Christian faith.

Answer 5

It is the old yule or jol holiday. Basically it's the new year. Each of the 12 days of yule represented a month out of the year. In old Norse tradition it was forbiden to carry arms at this time. Also, any problems or conflicts had to be settled because you couldn't carry it over into the next year. It was very religious to pagan Europe and still is to modern day followers of Asatru and Norse pagan. of which there are some 3million+ world wide.

Answer 6

Get your point... but it's C H R I S T 's M A S that a I celebrate. Sure, we have a Christmas tree and Santa Claus brings presents to my kids. We celebrate two ways.

What upsets me is that no group is supposed to be excluded but apparently, if it's a Christian-based/influenced group, then it's okay.

Answer 7

Well if the christians don't want it lets go the Pagan way. Break out the mead and let the feasting begin!

Answer 8

I have not complained at all.
No one that I know of has complained, either.

Where are your statistics?
It is NOT a seasonal custom to me.
It is a religious celebration.

I have NO family. The religious part of it is all there is to me.

Good day to you.

Do you have links to all the churches that reject Christmas? I have not heard of any that do.

Answer 9

Seasonnal custom..Christ was not born on December 25th....now did Santa come the same day...UK had a guy name Kris and he used to dropp off small gifts to kids in his village, that's how the idea got here.....not Santa at the poll...seasonal sales people started this over a hundred years ago...

Answer 10

How sad for them. I love Christmas. I give gifts because we were given the greatest gift.