Religion News Service
USA, December 24, 2003: This interesting piece on the origins of Christmas appeared in the Religion News Service and is written by Yvonne Betowt: Did you know Alabama was the first state to declare Christmas an official holiday? That happened in 1836, 71 years before the last state — Oklahoma — followed suit in 1907. Christmas is the only legal national religious holiday in the United States. While it has been less than 100 years since all 50 states recognized Christmas as an official holiday, Dec. 25 has been celebrated for centuries by Christians as Jesus’ birthday. But until 245 A.D., when a group of scholars tried to determine the date of Christmas, the question had never been addressed, according to a 1995 article by Victor M. Parachin in the Christian Reader. However, the project by the early church theologians was denounced by a church council, which thought it wrong to celebrate Jesus’ birthday “as though he were a King Pharaoh.” That didn’t prevent the scholar-theologians from continuing their quest to determine the day Jesus was born. They originally listed four dates — Jan. 1 and 6, March 25 and May 20 — as possibilities, according to Parachin’s research.
It wasn’t until 349 A.D. that Dec. 25 was formally chosen as Christmas Day by Pope Julius. The date was already celebrated as the Natalis Solis Invicti in honor of the sun god, Mithras, by Roman citizens. They decorated their homes with greenery, exchanged gifts and gathered for festive meals on that date, observed just after the winter solstice. Many scholars believe Pope Julius picked Dec. 25 as Christmas Day to convert followers of Mithras, in addition to providing Christians with an opportunity to celebrate Jesus’ birth. Christmas continued, however, to be a contentious issue.
In 17th century England and early America, English Puritans said the Bible offered no clear basis for celebrating Jesus’ birth. In 1643, the English Parliament outlawed not only Christmas, but Easter and other Christian celebrations. But by 1660, Christmas had become such a popular holiday, the law was repealed. After the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth, Mass., in 1620, their English misgivings about Christmas celebrations continued. In 1659, people in Massachusetts who celebrated Christmas were fined. The law was struck down in 1681 because the popularity of observing Christmas had grown immensely.
However, Christian groups remained divided over whether Christmas should be celebrated because of its ties to pagan observances. The Lutherans, Dutch Reformed, Catholic and Anglican churches forged ahead with the celebrations while the Baptists, Presbyterians, Quakers and Puritans continued to rail against it. Even today, some Christian groups, including many Churches of Christ and Seventh-day Adventists, do not acknowledge Christmas as a religious observance.
Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami created the modern-day festival of Pancha Ganapati to coincide with the Christmas celebrations for Hindus living in the West. It’s a means to participate in the festive season without the trappings of another religion’s holiday. Click here for the details.