Village Break
Christmas Holiday-How is Christmas is a mixture of secular and religious traditions?
I have always wondered about this.
Public Comments
- IIRC, the Bible doesn't mention Santa Claus by name, much less reindeer, decorated pine trees, jingle bells, and lots more.
- Actually, the entire concept of Christmas is a pagan holiday that was adapted by Christians to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
This link should illustrate what I'm saying:
http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=1252&display_order=1&mini_id=1290
So, if you get right down to it, in a literal sense the holiday itself is secular. The tree has a secular concept behind it as well. The tree more than likely dates back to before Christ when Middle Eastern pagans would cut down trees, bring them into their home and decorate them in the middle of the winter season.
Most of the holiday has a secular background. One of the main things that is not secular is the giving of gifts. The first real identifiable advertising for Christmas gifts isn't found until the latter part of the 1800's. The concept of the gift is recreate the wise men giving gifts to Jesus.
Christmas itself as a Christian holiday was a concept first propagated by Pope Julius I in 320 AD but, it wasn't widely accepted because even at that time the vast majority of people who celebrated the holiday were pagans and celebrating it for pagan ideas. The Christian community has a long history of separating itself from the holiday because of concerns of the meaning of the holiday. As a matter of fact in 1640 the holiday was outlawed in England because of it's pagan ties.
