Christmas didn't originate from Christianity. It came from the
pagan religions in Rome.
December 25 was not the actual day when Jesus Christ was born.
In fact there is no records of when He was born. It couldn't have
been in December because the shepherds didn't herd their sheep in
winter.
Pope Julius 1 chose December 25 for Christmas because he wanted
it to coincide with the other two pagan holidays, Saturnalia and
Mithra. The other reason is he wanted everybody to celebrate
Christmas including the pagans.
Eventually the Christianity had replaced the pagan holidays.
Christmas started being a carnival-like celebration like our
Mardi Gras of today.
The Christians attended church service in the morning, then
afterwards celebrated in a drunken carnival-like atmosphere.
During this time, they would pick a student to be crowned as
"The Lord of Misrule".
The poor people would then go to the homes of the rich begging
for their best food and drink. The rich was terrorize with
mischief by the beggars if they didn't satisfy the beggars.
In the early 17th century Oliver Cromwell and his puritan
forces banned Christmas in America because they didn't want
to honor Jesus Christ's birthday the way the pagans did.
After the American Revolution, Christmas was brought back
into America.
Some say because of the famous author, Washington Irving,
Christmas was transformed into a family celebration of peace
in the 19th century as we know of it today.
President Grant declared Christmas (December 25) as a federal
holiday on June 26, 1870 which was introduced by Representative
Cook (Illinois).
Some says God wouldn't approve of Christmas and others say
He would.
In my opinion, when we forget about the real true meaning
of Christmas then God would frown upon that. Christmas is
about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.
(c)Noreen Ann Jenkins November 13, 2007
