CHRISTMAS IN THE ORIENT

The Origin of Christmas

A wild animal that is moved into a cage in a zoo is still a beast. And it would be a grave mistake to believe that it has been domesticated just because it has been in a cage for awhile and seemingly enjoys itself with its young ones. You may have heard reports of zoo workers being attacked.

In some ways we can say much the same about the celebration of Christmas. At first it was a "beast" living outside of Christianity. Under the subheading "Relation to the Roman Saturnalia," The Christian Encyclopedia (in Korean) observes regarding Christmas: "The pagan Saturnalia and Brumalia were too deeply entrenched in popular custom to be set aside by Christian influence. The recognition of Sunday (the day of Phoebus and Mithras as well as the Lord's Day) by the emperor Constantine . . . may have led Christians of the fourth century to feel the appropriateness of making the birthday of the Son of God coincide with that of the physical sun. The pagan festival with its riot and merrymaking was so popular that Christians were glad of an excuse to continue its celebration with little change in spirit or in manner.

Do you think that such a development could come about without any opposition? The same encyclopedia says: "Christian preachers of the West and the Nearer East protested against the unseemly frivolity with which Christ's birthday was celebrated, while Christians of Mesopotamia accused their Western brethren of idolatry and sun-worship for adopting as Christian this pagan festival. "Truly, something was wrong from the beginning. "Yet the festival rapidly gained acceptance and became at last so firmly established that even the Protestant revolution of the sixteenth century was not able to dislodge it," the encyclopedia notes.

Yes, a festival of the sun-god, outside of true Christianity, was brought into the prevailing church. It got a different name-yet its pagan character remained. And it helped to infuse paganism into nominally Christian churches and to corrupt individuals' spiritually. History bears out that as Christendom developed, the original attitude of "love thy enemies gave way to moral degradations and violent wars.

In time, it was clear that despite its counterfeit name, Christmas reflected its pagan origin with revelry, heavy drinking, merrymaking, dancing, gift-giving and the decorating of homes with evergreens. for the sake of commercialism's ultimate goal-more sales-Christmas has been exploited in every way possible way. The mass media praise it; the public is simply amused. In downtown Seoul, a store that specializes in underwear made television news by displaying in its window a Christmas tree decorated only with underwear. The atmosphere of Christmas was noticeable, but any sign of welcoming the Christ was not.

Next time: Scriptural Insight Into Christmas

Watchtower, 1999