Wednesday, December 19, 2001
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Wednesday, December 19, 2001 |
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The origins of Christmas tradition can be found all over the world By MICHAEL
BOYLAN
Christmas is a holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, but its origins also include festivals to mark the winter solstice. Many of these traditions are still around today. Ancient Mesopotamians and Babylonians had festivals that marked the beginning of the new year. The festivals, Zagmuk for the Mesopotamians and Sacaea for the Babylonians and Persians, began 12 days before the new year. The ancient Greeks had a similar festival in which they believed Kronos, a god, battled with Zeus and his Titans. Many of these festivals also included role playing in which peasants became the masters for a period of time. The Romans used the idea of role playing in their festival known as Saturnalia. The festival began in mid-December and ran into January. There were parades and feasts and people visited their friends and bestowed gifts on them. They also celebrated a festival known as Juvenalia, a feast honoring children. Christians wished to mark the birth of Jesus Christ and eventually co-opted some of these practices. Early Europeans at the time welcomed back the sun in a ceremony during winter solstice. Scandinavians had no sun for 35 days a year and would send out a search party to look for it. The party would return having seen the first glimpses of the sun as it returned and a festival would begin. They would burn a yule log and have a feast until the log burned out. This was practical as they were forced to slaughter their animals so they would not have to feed as many through the winter. It is said that Christmas has been celebrated since 98 A.D. In 137 A.D, the bishop of Rome ordered a feast to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas was set on Dec. 25 by Bishop Julius I of Rome in 350 A.D. Christianity had spread to Egypt by 432 A.D. and to England by the end of the sixth century. Celebrations over the next several centuries used many of these traditions depending on the beliefs of the people and their rulers. In 1645, Christmas was cancelled in England by Oliver Cromwell. He and his men were overthrown and Charles II was restored to the throne and Christmas returned to England. The Puritans left England for what would become America and, though some colonies in Virginia documented celebrations each year, Boston outlawed Christmas from 1659-1681. In fact, anyone exhibiting the Christmas spirit was fined five shillings. Christmas did not become a federal holiday until 1870. Christmas actually started to resemble the holiday we celebrate today in the 19th century. Earlier in the century there were class riots in both England and America but Charles Dickens and Washington Irving, two influential authors in their homelands, wrote stories about the Christmas spirit, being with one's family and helping out the less fortunate. The carnival type atmosphere and feasts and parades were on their way out and Christmas became a day of peace and nostalgia. Over the years the holiday has become more commercial, but we must remember its origins and realize that people were celebrating at this time of year 2,000 years ago. The world marches on, continually evolving its traditions, and we are a part of history.
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