Holly, mistletoe, evergreen trees, fat jolly elves delivering presents to children, reindeer, stockings.........what in the world does any of this have to do with the birth of the Christ?
2007-12-19 17:48:20 · 19 answers · asked by philly_dragonfly 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Nothing at all. The world today want to take Jesus out of Christmas. People today want to say Happy Holidays instand of Marry Christmas. Its a form of deception because the devil know there is power in believing. Jesus is the reason for the season.
2007-12-19 17:55:39 · answer #1 · answered by lee lee 2 · 1⤊ 3⤋
What you decide in your heart is what it becomes.
Holly represents the crown of Christ, and also remains green during winter. (Hope for life)
Mistletoe was considered an excuse to enliven the winter *rolls eyes*
fat jolly elves, you kinda lost me there. St Nicholas' Day is Dec 6th. He is referred to as the wonder worker in many cultures, and his relics are preserved and exude a holy oil that is said to have healing properties. In RL, he was supposed to have given his riches away (at the age of 18, not 75) when he decided to become a Christian, so he would sneak into people's houses and put stuff in their shoes or socks, or what ever was hanging by the chimney to dry for the next day. The Laplanders claim that when St Nick came up North, he did have a sleigh pulled by reindeer. The Siberians in the Mongolian sector still use reindeer as domestic animals.
All this seasonal stuff is mish-mashed together because I guess that people want to prolong celebrations and happy warm feelings, because we can never get enough of those, yar!
(My own tradition has no tree, holly, reindeer or mistletoe. We simply celebrate the birth of Christ by holding a vigil on Christmas Eve, then singing carols. The gift-giving usually occurred Dec 6 on St Nicholas day, with lots of oranges and nuts and candy being the main sort of gift.)
American, Germanic and British traditions became meshed when immigrants came over to the "New World" and so many cultures shared their traditions.
2007-12-19 18:08:33 · answer #2 · answered by Somewhat Enlightened, the Parrot of Truth 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The short answer Nothing BUT they all do have there place during winter celebrations.
Tree are an old German Tradition
The day Christmas is celebrated on was once the celebration of the birth of the Roman Sun god
At one time the Puritans banned it all together because they saw the celebrations as unholy
Mistletoe is an old tradition as is the kissing under it
Santa is an American idea that took off - his reindeer too
2007-12-19 18:00:16 · answer #3 · answered by ? 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Nothing - absolutely nothing.
It has everything to do with paganism and heathenism. Holly, mistletoe and the tree - all evergreens, representing the eternity of the earth and rebirth of the spring to come. Holly berries - red for menstrual blood, mistletoe berries - white for male fluid = fertility. Delivering presents to children - a mixture of Odin leading the wild hunt in winter and elves and dwarves that made toys for children to keep them busy during the winter. Reindeer - another Northern European thing - sleds being pulled by reindeer wasn't uncommon. FLYING reindeer were. Odin rode in a chariot chasing a pack of wild hounds on his wild hunt.
Also the Yule log, feasting, toasting, lights, and decorations - all pagan.
2007-12-19 17:54:19 · answer #4 · answered by Aravah 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
The early Christians decided to hold Christmas around the pagan festival now known as Yule (where we get all those fun holly and mistletoe traditions) to popularize their religion with the locals. Calling attention to the birth of Christ after Hanukkah and Yule seemed to be a great way of educating them in Christianity.
2007-12-19 17:54:40 · answer #5 · answered by mithril 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It was beleived during the time of the Roman Empire after Jesus' time on Earth was already passed a very rich Roman noble would always, one night a year, go to every house in the city and toss a bag of gold inside each and every house. And so the legend of Santa Claus, who was in truth the Roman noble (who's name i cannot recall), began.
Holly, mistletoe, etc., are all things that are intended to make Christmas a very happy time, since it is on the day of Christ's birth.
2007-12-19 18:04:03 · answer #6 · answered by lordofdragons4_4 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Eh I don't celebrate the birth of Christ, but I celebrate Christmas with the members of my family who DO celebrate Christ. Why? Because they are my family! I honor them and thier beliefs. To deny thier beliefs, is to deny my heritage. :)
I love the holidays, everything about them. Yeah even the whole Christ's Birthday thing. Its about goodwill toward men (or at least it USED to be) and family and food. There is nothing bad about that in my book.
2007-12-19 17:58:15 · answer #7 · answered by ~Heathen Princess~ 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Santa and the North Pole was actualy created by coca cola!! It became a tradition. For other things such as the Christmas tree. In order to persuade pagans in ancient Rome to convert to christianity they incorpoarted pagan rituals into christian fesitivities...thus the christmas tree!! haha i hope this helps!
2007-12-19 17:52:16 · answer #8 · answered by milty12345 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It's more of a pagan thing, really (though not the elves, not really)... the Christians just thought our traditions were cool so they did all that stuff too.
2007-12-20 11:09:02 · answer #9 · answered by xx. 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
thats the thing. many dont know what to compare christmas to. the day Jesus was born, or the Santa claus theory. Many just mix everything together to make it seem like an all-in-one situation but its not. I believe that Jesus should be celebrated for his birth.....
and i believe that Santa needs to stay in the 'north pole'
2007-12-19 17:51:59 · answer #10 · answered by Ayanna 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋