’Tis the season! But what season is that? It’s Christmas time! I received multiple messages from different people asking me if Christians can put up Christmas trees or even celebrate Christmas because of pagan roots. So, let’s examine…
SHORT SUMMARY:
- “The season” was the drudgery of winter; “the reason” was a coping mechanism to survive winter.
- The festivals of Saturnalia of ancient Rome, and Yule or Jul in northern Europe help explain the origin behind Christmas.
- Early Christians had no Christmas. The first written evidence of an annual celebration on December 25 commemorating the birth of Jesus comes from the fourth century. The death and resurrection of Jesus — not the birth — were the center of the early Christian message.
- The birthday of the sun god, Sol Invictus was celebrated on December 25.
- Constantine (306-337) embraced Christianity and ended persecution against Christians. With the support of the emperor, Christianity was now in a position to contend openly with its rivals, which included Roman deities and Roman midwinter parties. The dating of the Philocalian Calendar suggests that Christmas developed either in Constantine’s lifetime or shortly after his death. Some way or another, Christmas was started to compete with rival Roman religions, or to co-opt the winter celebrations as a way to spread Christianity, or to baptize the winter festivals with Christian meaning in an effort to limit their excesses. Most likely, it was all three.
- With Christians able to meet publicly without persecution (Council of Nicaea in 325), the church arrived at a proper understanding of who Jesus was by understanding what the Holy Spirit revealed through Scripture. Thus, it made sense to add a Christian observance to emphasize the theme of incarnation (“the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”). Whatever the role of theological themes or calculations about the date of Jesus’s birth, we cannot avoid the reality of Roman midwinter parties and Christianity’s conscious decision to place a Christmas celebration right in the middle of them. It was spiritual warfare. However, “the season” was never truly Christianized.
- Jesus was actually most likely born during the Feast of Tabernacles, which takes place on the 15th of the Hebrew month Tishri. This was the seventh month on the Hebrew calendar and usually occurs in late September to mid-October.
- All evidence indicates that the Christmas tree originated from Germany.
- The Puritans tried to eliminate Christmas, but it didn’t work.
- Santa Claus originated from Saint Nicholas, who mutated into Sinter Klaas. German Christians tried to cover him up by claiming the Christ child brought gifts. In German, the child was known as the Christkindel, which later mutated in English to Kris Kringle, and in the United States eventually ironically became yet another name for Santa Claus.
- It was in the United States, particularly New York, that Saint Nicholas became Santa Claus. There were cumulative additions and transformations by six notable contributors, all of which culminated in the ubiquitous Coca-Cola advertisements that “sealed the deal” on the image of Santa Claus we all know today.
- Yes— Christians can celebrate Christmas, we can put up a Christmas tree, and decorate both interior and exterior of the home (see “Conclusion” at the end of the article for arguments).
- Christians need to keep the main thing the main thing: it’s all about the incarnation of GOD, the birth of Christ.
- And because Christians glorify GOD in all we do, this means that parents should not tell children that Santa Claus is real. It’s a lie. (Again, see “Conclusion” at the end of the article for arguments.)
LONGER EXPLANATION
(which is still a short explanation considering the amount of history there is to explain):
Many people today might be surprised to realize that much of what they love about Christmas season is not really Christmas at all.
In the English-speaking world the word Christmas began as “Christ’s Mass,” referring to a special midnight mass, the worship service that marked the beginning of Christmas Day. The word Christmas dates back perhaps as far as the eleventh century; however, the origin of Christmas dates back much farther than that.
In the ancient times, winter was horrible and not as easy to deal with as it is in our modern time where we are comforted by a central air system providing heat for us to stay warm. In most modern houses, you probably wouldn’t even know it’s freezing outside unless you check the weather app or walk outside to feel the temperature for yourself. In addition, our modern technology provides us with lights and we don’t really struggle or suffer with the darkness outside because we have lights inside. Back in the ancient times, humans were forced to cope with the cold and darkness of winter. How would people back then do this? Even before studying the history and anthropology of early cultures, we can guess that people would want to organize a big midwinter party so that people would have something to look forward to in the dead dark of cold nothing.
Again, before studying early cultures, we could guess what this party would be like. When should it happen? The ideal time would be when the days stop getting shorter and are poised to begin lengthening again, in mid to late December. And we can guess other features of this party as well. First, it would have to be a festival of lights, pushing back against the oppressive darkness, featuring candles and torches and burning logs. It would also make sense to highlight evergreens as symbols or decorations, because the greenery could serve as signs of life in the midst of apparent death. We might look for other plants that stay green and, against the norm, even bear fruit in the middle of winter, like holly, or mistletoe. Of course, there would be feasting and drinking, probably to excess, as there is at almost any party. Obviously, a midwinter celebration would involve gatherings of people, perhaps the whole village, or selected neighbors, friends, and family; an individual might sponsor or attend several such gatherings throughout the festivity period. As the midwinter festivities go on year after year, special music would undoubtedly develop for the season. And, of course, many parties involve gifts. But this is more than mere speculation. This is what people actually did back in those ancient times. After all, a midwinter celebration is simply an understandable human impulse and coping mechanism in order to help people survive winter. However, because of variations in climate, agricultural patters, and changing calendars, the winter festivals were not all in mid-December. But all in all, a perfect combination was created for exuberant parties in winter: leisure, fresh meat, harvested crops, and alcohol.
Two examples of the resulting festivals are the Saturnalia of ancient Rome, and Yule or Jul in northern Europe. Every December 17 a sacrifice was offered to the god Saturn in the Roman Forum, but what mattered most to the general public was the feasting and partying that followed, varying from 3-7 days, until December 23. The Oxford Classical Dictionary says “The Saturnalia were the merriest festival of the year, ‘the best of days.’” No one worked during this period, except those whose help was needed to provide food for the lavish feasts. Friends visited each other from home to home and also joined in boisterous street processions. Houses, great hills, and streets were decorated with laurel, green trees, and shrubs, illuminated by candles and lamps. Major bonfires were lit at high ground where many citizens could see them. People exchanged small gifts, such as wax candles, wax fruit, and clay dolls. It should go without saying that in such an environment, Saturnalia gained a reputation for wanton behavior, with excessive drinking, gambling, and other unrestrained activities.
It is likely that the Viking Jul involved ancestor worship, beliefs about the return of the dead, and ghost stories. The howling winds of the dead of winter could explain the folklore of creatures or spirits riding across the sky. One such story is of Odin (Wotan in Germany), a somewhat frightening one-eyed god, with white hair and a beard, who rode a flying eight-legged horse. This attention to the spirits of the dead also made Jul a natural time for ghost stories. One further feature of the Jul observances was fire. Bonfires and candles not only brought light but were also believed to keep evil spirits away, or to warm the spirits of the dead. Best known today is the Yule Log, a practice that probably predated the introduction of Christianity. In addition, evergreen branches may have been hung on doorposts and around windows, in the hope that their prickly needles also would ward off evil spirits.
Why December 25?:
Early Christians had no Christmas. The first written evidence of an annual celebration on December 25 commemorating the birth of Jesus comes from the fourth century. The death and resurrection of Jesus — not the birth — were the center of the early Christian message. In fact, early Christian martyrdom almost forced Christians to focus on death. When martyrs and saints became recognized within the church, Christians noted the dates of their deaths, not of their birth. In a sense, the death dates had become their real birthdays, into eternal life. In fact, birthdays weren’t typically celebrated. The writings from Origen help us understand that a general attitude held by some early Christians was that birthdays were something that only “pagans” (non-Christians) celebrated. But even in the Bible it is evident that for the early Christians, the Christmas story was not a primary focus as only Matthew and Luke mention it. Evidence of the earliest church fathers would lead us to believe that the early Christians did not celebrate the birth of Jesus and for good reason: they did not know the date on which the day of birth actually occurred. So, why do Christians celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25 nowadays?
A widely accepted theory was that eastern Christians developed an Epiphany celebration to compete with an Egyptian winter solstice on January 6 in an attempt to co-opt or replace a pagan festival that had already been in place. So, did Christians do the same for Christmas? Is that why it is celebrated on December 25? In the West, the first written record we have that associates the birth of Jesus with December 25 is found in a Roman document called the Philocalian Calendar, also known as the Chronograph of 354. Through lists of deaths, at one point in the list of consuls it says (translated into English): “Christ is born during the consulate of C. Caesar Augustus and L. Aemilianus Paulus on 25 December, a Friday, the 15th day of the new moon.”
Although the eastern church offered some initial resistance, observance of Christ’s birth on December 25 spread throughout the Christian realm. It almost seems as if the eastern and western churches negotiated a trade, saying to each other, “we will adopt your observance if you adopt ours.” So almost all of the eastern churches except the Armenian came to celebrate Christmas on December 25, and in turn the western churches adopted Epiphany, which in the western version focused on the coming of the magi.
In A.D. 567, the Council of Tours proclaimed that the entire period between Christmas and Epiphany should be considered part of the celebration, creating what became known as the 12 days of Christmas, or what the English called Christmastide. If Christmas Day is the first of the 12 days, then the 12th night would be on January 5, the eve of Epiphany. Christians also gradually added a period called Advent, as a time of spiritual preparation leading up to Christmas. Just as Lent developed among Christians as a period of fasting and repentance in preparation for Easter, Advent became a parallel time of preparing for Christmas. One common feature of the season is the Advent wreath, a circle of evergreen branches the holds Advent candles, bringing us back once again to familiar elements of midwinter festivities. However, we still have unanswered questions. Why did the Christmas observance arise at all, after two or three centuries of early Christianity without it, and why choose the date of December 25? The answers involve Roman midwinter parties, and Constantine.
By the late third century, Roman culture featured three festivities from mid-December into January. The first one was Saturnalia, generally from December 17-23. The second was the January Kalends (which refers to the first day of the month). This was essentially a New Year’s party. The houses were decorated with lights and greenery, tables overflowed with food, and people exchanged gifts. The impulse to spend seized everyone. However, in between those two festivities was a third observance, the birthday of the sun god, Sol Invictus. And when do you suppose it was? December 25, the date of the winter solstice by that era’s calendar, when the days stopped getting shorter and were poised to grow longer again. This solar worship became associated with another religious tradition called Mithraism, centered on Mithras, a god of light and truth, also identified as a warrior god. Hmm. Interesting. This explains why people often wrongly believe that Jesus was a copycat of Mithras. In fact, Jesus was not a copycat of Mithras, but the church tried to cover Mithras up by throwing a Christmas blanket of Jesus over Mithras in order to “put out the fire” of a false god.
Then came Constantine, the first Roman emperor to embrace Christianity, who ruled some or all of the empire from A.D. 306-337. Everything changed. With the support of the emperor, Christianity was now in a position to contend openly with its rivals, which included Roman deities and Roman midwinter parties. The dating of the Philocalian Calendar suggests that Christmas developed either in Constantine’s lifetime or shortly after his death. Some way or another, Christmas was started to compete with rival Roman religions, or to co-opt the winter celebrations as a way to spread Christianity, or to baptize the winter festivals with Christian meaning in an effort to limit their excesses. Most likely, it was all three.
Once Christians could more fully discuss theology, and with the beginning of empirewide gatherings of Christian bishops like the Council of Nicaea (325), the Christian church arrived at a proper understanding of who Jesus was. Thus, it made sense to add a Christian observance to emphasize the theme of incarnation (“the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”). Whatever the role of theological themes or calculations about the date of Jesus’s birth, we cannot avoid the reality of Roman midwinter parties and Christianity’s conscious decision to place a Christmas celebration right in the middle of them. The birthday of the sun god was changed into the birthday of the Son of GOD. Pope Leo I (pope from 440-461), thought it was very appropriate to celebrate the birthday of Jesus, the “light of the world,” on winter solstice. The decision was part of what amounted to a compromise with culture and false religions; it was a compromise for which the church paid a high price. There were always people for whom Christmas was a time of pious devotion rather than carnival, but such people were always in the minority. It may not be going too far to say that Christmas has always been an extremely difficult holiday to Christianize. Many modern Christians protest, “Keep Christ in Christmas!” Or, “Jesus is the reason for the season!” This is true for Christians; however, Christmas never was the pure spiritual holiday some Christians imagine it to be. From its very beginnings, Christmas was a fusion of preexisting winter festivals and Christian themes.
Was Jesus born on December 25? I don’t believe so and neither do scholars. All Scripture considered, it actually makes more sense that Jesus was born on the Feast of Booths (Feast of Tabernacles). It was during the Feast of Tabernacles that that Solomon’s Temple was dedicated to the Lord (1Kings 8:2). It was also at the Feast of Tabernacles that the Israelites, who had returned to rebuild the temple, gathered together to hear Ezra proclaim the Word of God to them (Nehemiah 8). The Feast of Tabernacles takes place on the 15th of the Hebrew month Tishri. This was the seventh month on the Hebrew calendar and usually occurs in late September to mid-October. Consider this: GOD initially dwelled in the tabernacle and Temple but then later dwelled in a flesh body (GOD incarnate), and eventually within each believer, thereby making every believer the temple of GOD (Romans 8:9; 1Corinthians 6:19; Ephesians 1:13). Some of the evidence that Jesus might have been born earlier in the year during the Feast of the Tabernacles includes the fact that it would be unlikely for shepherds to still be in the field with their sheep in December, which is in the middle of the winter, but it would have been likely they were in the fields tending sheep at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. The strong possibility that Jesus was born at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles is also seen in the words John wrote in John 1:14. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” The word John chose to speak of Jesus “dwelling” among us is the word tabernacle, which simply means to “dwell in a tent.” And flesh bodies are temporary tents (2Corinthians 5:1-4). Therefore, it makes sense that Jesus was born during the Feast of Tabernacles.
Christmas Tree: Conquering or Confiscating and Compromising?:
One of several competing legends about the origin of the Christmas tree centers on Boniface, an English Benedictine monk who was a missionary to Germany. Or to say it another way, Christians always tried to conquer legends and myths and false religions but ended up compromising instead. As the story goes, in 723 Saint Boniface encountered winter sacrifices being conducted in front of a mighty oak tree dedicated to Thor, near Geismar, in what is now Germany. In anger, Boniface seized an axe and felled Thor’s oak in one mighty blow. The crowd expected Thor to strike Boniface with a bolt of lightning, and when the lightning failed to appear, Boniface proclaimed it a sign of the superiority of the Christian GOD. He pointed to a young fir tree growing at the roots of the fallen oak, with its branches pointing to Heaven, and said that it was a holy tree, the tree of the Christ child who brought eternal life. There are other versions of this story as well. The point is that Christianity and Christmas celebrations spread from the Mediterranean region into Europe and beyond. Christian missionaries usually saw the process as a spiritual battle with rival religions that they called pagan or heathen. The Boniface legend illustrates the manner in which Christianity and Christmas moved through Europe picking up traditions or adapting to them, not just conquering or replacing them. And it happened over and over, again and again. Christmas rolled through Europe and elsewhere in the world, picking up winter customs as it went, incorporating them into Christmas celebrations and also spreading certain customs from one region to another. However, when Christians picked up symbols and practices of a newly encountered culture, it was not necessarily accidental; as exemplified in Pope Gregory I’s 601 letter to Abbot Mellitus, containing a message to be delivered to Bishop Augustine of Canterbury. Confiscating and using certain pagan practices was sometimes a conscious strategy to co-opt local customs and use them to advance Christian meanings. In fact, I (Trenton) admittedly do this with Halloween. Though I do not celebrate Halloween, I use Halloween in order to preach the Gospel.
In addition to greenery in general, there were two other likely precursors to the Christmas tree. The first arose out of “mystery plays” or “miracle plays,” which were used by the church in the medieval era to teach the populace about biblical stories and Christian doctrine, since most lay Christians could not read. The plays eventually moved outside the church to become even more popular public entertainment, at times humorous or bawdy, performed by traveling dramatic troupes. The plays were welcome amusement in the middle of winter. Some stories enacted the miracles of Saint Nicholas, whose feast day was in December. And because December 24 was the appointed feast day of Adam and Eve, winter plays frequently were about the creation story and humanity’s fall into sin, concluding with the promise of a Savior to come. They were called paradise plays, and the action revolved around a paradise tree, an evergreen tree decorated with apples. Later, white, flat communion wafers were added as decorations, representing Christ’s forgiveness of sins, and the trees were circled by candles. The transition is unclear, but apparently this tree shifted from being a prop in a play to a household symbol or decoration. In Bavaria, even in recent years the Christmas tree is sometimes called Paradiesbaum, meaning paradise tree.
The other possible precursor was a German practice of constructing a Christmas pyramid, or a Lichstock, a wooden frame upon which a family could place evergreen branches, nativity figures, candy, fruit, small gifts, and a star. Regardless, Germany does appear to be the place where these converging traditions came together; consequently, Germany generally gets credit for introducing the Christmas tree, even though earlier examples of greenery in winter festivals are numerous. Various accounts in the 1600s describe Christmas trees in homes, but mostly in northern Germany. By the 1800s, the German nobility had embraced Christmas trees. By the 1840s and 1850s, the number of Christmas trees had begun to explode. From greenery as a sign of life in the midst of winter, to paradise trees associated with the teaching of Christian doctrine, to German cultural pride in the Christmas tree tradition, to the association of trees with gift giving, to trees as an icon of a cultural but not necessarily a religious Christmas, both the form and function of the Christmas tree have varied over the years. It has been a rolling snowball, with cultures influencing one another along the way.
Reformation and Suppression / Return and Celebration:
The Puritan suppression of Christmas began in England in the mid-1600s and also spread to the colonies of Puritan New England. In the following two centuries, even after Puritan influence diminished, Christmas remained deemphasized or unimportant for many Christians in England and in the United States, until Christmas finally made a comeback in the mid-1800s. This twist and turn was immensely influential in the development of the modern English and American Christmases. But who were the Puritans? During the Protestant Reformation of the 1500s, people like Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Menno Simons led movements that broke from the Roman Catholic Church. They campaigned to eliminate Catholic features that they believed departed too far away from the biblical model, the practices and beliefs of the earliest Christians. Many Protestants, especially Lutherans, were willing to continue Christmas observances as long as the most glaring “abuses” were eliminated, such as the veneration of saints. That approach was bad news for Saint Nicholas, but it allowed Lutherans to retain a winter festival that was exceedingly popular with the masses. Calvinists, on the other hand, were more inclined to put the entire Christmas package on their hit list. And the Puritans were Calvinists, who struggled with the Church of England.
Puritans believed Christmas had no biblical warrant because it was not practiced in the early church, and was rooted in pagan superstitions. The second major reason for their opposition was the complaint that the Christmas holiday had become overwhelmed by immoral behavior. One document of the time was Josiah King’s Examination and Trial of Old Father Christmas (1678). It described Father Christmas, “of the Town of Superstition, in the County of Idolatry,” who was accused of having “from time to time, abused the people of this Commonwealth, drawing and inticing them to Drunkenness, Gluttony, and unlawful Gaming, Wantonness, Uncleanness, Lasciviousness, Cursing, Swearing, abuse of the Creatures, some to one Vice, some to another; all to Idleness.” Based upon the history [previously summarized], we should admit that the Puritans had a point: Christmas was not a focus for the earliest Christians, and the midwinter celebrations were indeed often prone to debauchery.
But eventually, the generation who opposed Christmas died off and new generations replaced them, not sharing their same convictions. Christmas eventually returned in a revival in the 1800s, in both England and the United States. Christmas was not a legal holiday in any state in the United States until the 1830s; the first state to make Christmas a legal holiday was Alabama, in 1836. Three people played central roles in the resurgence of Christmas in England: Charles Dickens, Queen Victoria, and Prince Albert. Dickens (1812-1870) is best known for his novella, A Christmas Carol (1843). Dickens was not simply telling us about Christmas at that time; he was also trying to change it, selectively re-creating Christmas. An example was the issue of working on Christmas Day. And even though the main message was about the “spirit of Christmas” and giving selflessly and loving one another, there was no mention of Jesus or anything of the nativity story.
In addition to Dickens, both Queen Victoria and Prince Albert contributed to the revival of Christmas in two major ways: importing the German Christmas tree into English Christmas observances, and modeling Christmas as a family-centered celebration. The family tree became especially famous when, on December 23, 1848, the Illustrated London News published an illustration of Victoria, Albert, children, and a governess, all gathered around a decorated Christmas tree that had been placed on a table, with small gifts hanging from the boughs and at the base of the tree. Here was a perfect family Christmas, a model to emulate. Christmas trees were soon popular in England. (By the time President Benjamin Harrison placed a tree in the White House in 1891, he called it, “an old-fashioned Christmas tree.”) The family was seen as the basic, essential unit of society. Victoria and Albert seemed to exemplify this theme, experiencing by almost all accounts a happy marriage and producing nine children. A family-centered Christmas thus fit with the Victorian emphasis.
It is interesting to note that the return of Christmas was not the result of any concerted church-based campaign. Instead, it arose from efforts by cultural leaders and drew on broader cultural forces encouraging the general themes of generosity, family activities, and festivity in the middle of winter. In the words of commentator Tom Flynn, it is “surprising how small a role the churches played in the Victorian revival. From its inception, contemporary Christmas was primarily a secular and commercial holiday.”
From Saint Nicholas To Santa Claus:
Saint Nicholas probably was a real person, but we know very little else about him. Historians can’t really agree on his origin and often debate about it. The Catholic Encyclopedia begins its entry about Nicholas succinctly, summing up our minimal historical knowledge: “Though he is one of the most popular saints in the Greek as well as the Latin Church, there is scarcely anything historically certain about him except that he was Bishop of Myra [what is now Turkey] in the fourth century.” There is a lengthy list of myths and legends surrounding Saint Nicholas, some of them so absurd it makes me cringe to write them out. One example is Nicholas’s trip by sea to Egypt and Palestine. When a storm arose, Nicholas calmed the seas. When a sailor fell from the ship’s mast onto the deck and died, Nicholas restored him to life. However, the best known story is about a poor widower who feared for the future of his three daughters. Because he could not provide dowries for them, the daughters would probably not find husbands, and they would be sold into slavery or worse. Nicholas was the only child of prosperous parents, and he was determined to distribute his wealth to those in need. Nicholas learned of the family’s plight, and one evening when everyone else was asleep, he dropped a bag of gold through a window of their home, allowing the widower’s oldest daughter to marry. And he eventually did the same for the other two daughters. But the miraculous tales surrounding Saint Nicholas go on and on, telling of incidents supposedly during Nicholas’s life and also long after his death. For example, it is said that, even as an infant, Nicholas demonstrated his holiness by refusing to breast-feed on Wednesday and Fridays, because these were the traditional days of fasting. It’s all very cringeworthy. Yet with all the stories there emerged recurring themes: Nicholas cared for children and young people, and he was generous, a gift giver. And thus far, that is the only connection we have between Saint Nicholas and Santa Claus. The seeds for a link with Christmas derived from the fact that Saint Nicholas’s Day and Christmas were in the same month, and in some cultures, especially the United States, the festivities associated with Nicholas eventually migrated across the month of December and became absorbed into Christmas.
There exists multiple different accounts of where Saint Nicholas had been buried and who exactly raided and stole the bones of Nicholas. In addition to being a fascinating story in its own right, the relocation of Nicholas’s relics to Bari accelerated the growing influence of Saint Nicholas in the West. As Crusaders and pilgrims who traveled through Bari spread the word in western Europe, the Catholic church embraced the saint as their own. In the 1100s, French nuns began a practice of secretly delivering gifts to the homes of poor children on the even of Saint Nicholas’s Day, especially inspired by the story of the three daughters. The custom of gifts for children in early December proliferated in Europe, leading to the development of Saint Nicholas markets where parents could purchase toys, candy, and cookies.
Spain became part of Dutch lore surrounding Sinter Klaas (i.e., Saint Nicholas = Santa Claus). Each year, two or three weeks before Saint Nicholas’s Day, Sinter Klaas and Zwarte Piet would arrive in Amsterdam by ship from Spain. Dressed as a medieval bishop, Sinter Klaas examined the children, and sometimes the adults, to see if they had behaved well, and he distributed token gifts to those who had. Black Peter provided playful comic relief and helped distribute gifts, but he also was the one assigned to deal with bad children, leaving a switch or, worse, carrying the misbehaving children away in his bag. In the evenings, Sinter Klaas rode a white horse over the rooftops, leaving small gifts in wooden shoes children had placed on the step or by the fireplace. With modern adaptations, much of this pattern remains the same in the Netherlands today, still at the beginning of December, weeks prior to Christmas. This Dutch version of Saint Nicholas observances is a striking example of the snowball effect, picking up traditions over time, starting with Saint Nicholas lore, adding remnants of the Arab presence in Spain, remnants of Spanish control of the Netherlands, a flying white horse perhaps derived from the Germanic and Nordic Odin, and Dutch clogs to receive presents, all rolled together.
Some Protestant leaders wanted to totally eliminate any beliefs and practices about Saint Nicholas, but others, especially in Germany, proposed a substitution. Instead of having Saint Nicholas come to visit the children on the evening of December 5, why not have the Christ child do the visiting, and change the date to Christmas Eve? In that way, everything associated with Saint Nicholas’s Day would be covered up and the focus would turn to the Christ child and Christmas, and any gift giving to keep the children happy would be in a much more spiritual context. Judging by the results, it was a horribly disastrous idea. In German, the child was known as the Christkindel, which later mutated in English to Kris Kringle, and in the United States eventually and ironically became yet another name for Santa Claus. Consequently, the exact opposite of the desired outcome came about.
Here Comes Santa Claus!:
It was in the United States, particularly New York, that Saint Nicholas became Santa Claus. There were cumulative additions and transformations by six notable contributors: John Pintard, Washington Irving, Clement Clarke Moore (or Henry Livingston Jr.), Thomas Nast, Francis Church, and Haddon Sundblom. And the first five people in the list were from New York, begun as New Amsterdam, and even more, the first three were members of the very same organization, the New York Historical Society.
John Pintard:
Under Pintard’s leadership, the New York Historical Society began an annual Saint Nicholas Day dinner on December 6, 1810, and for the occasion, Pintard commissioned a woodcut illustration of Nicholas, clothed in a bishop’s robes.
Washington Irving:
Irving was Pintard’s brother-in-law. In the words of historian Stephen Nissenbaum, “If it was John Pintard who introduced the figure of St. Nicholas, it was Washington Irving who popularized it.” Known among most Americans for his stories “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” Irving wrote a parody of The Picture of New York (by Samuel Latham Mitchell) titled, “A History of New York.” However, Irving wrote the epic under the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker. The name “Knickerbocker” refers to knickers, short pants gathered at the knee, worn by the Dutch. Because of the fame of Irving’s pseudonym, Knickerbocker became a nickname for residents of the city and the state of New York, which in turn led much later to the name for the professional basketball team the New York Knicks. Irving published Knickerbocker’s History on Saint Nicholas’s Day 1809, and it contained 25 references to Saint Nicholas, describing the importance of Nicholas in the lives of the residents of New Amsterdam. As portrayed by Irving, Saint Nicholas flew over trees in a horse-pulled wagon and slid down chimneys to deliver gifts. Again, it’s important to remember that the epic was a parody of another work he found to be pretentious.
Clement Moore (or Henry Livingston):
The popular poem, “The Night Before Christmas” was first published anonymously in the Troy, New York, Sentinel in 1823. The generally accepted author is Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863), who was yet another member of the New York Historical Society, a personal acquaintance of both Pintard and Irving, and part of New York’s elite. The poem was printed elsewhere, and by the 1830s it really took off. However, the family of Revolutionary War veteran Henry Livingston, Jr. (1748-1828) claimed that he wrote the poem. Whoever wrote the poem, it has assumed an immensely important role in the development of the American Santa Claus. We could give it credit for a number of “firsts,” for example, the first to place Santa in a sleigh, with reindeer, and the first to give the reindeer names. Yet historians have discovered another possible source, a little-known poem published in 1821, that may preempt some of the claims. If Livingston wrote “The Night Before Christmas” before 1810, it still would be first. If Moore wrote it in 1822, with its anonymous publication in 1823, then it is likely that Moore borrowed ideas from the earlier 1821 poem. The 1821 poem was part of a projected series of children’s books called The Children’s Friend, published in New York by William Gilley, an acquaintance of Moore’s, but the engraving and poem are anonymous. The somewhat crude drawing put Saint Nicholas, or Santa Claus, on a rooftop, in a sleigh pulled by only one reindeer. The poem referred to “Old Santerclaus” and said that he brought yearly gifts on Christmas Eve.
But “The Night Before Christmas” helped create vital parts of the Santa Claus tradition. First, Saint Nicholas traveled in a sleigh, not riding a horse or in a wagon.
Second, the sleigh was pulled by a team of reindeer, and they were given names. No one truly knows where the idea of reindeer came from; no portrayal of Saint Nicholas in Europe associated him with reindeer.
Third, Saint Nicholas came on Christmas Eve. The observances encouraged by John Pintard and the writings of Washington Irving celebrated the coming of Saint Nicholas on December 5, the eve of Saint Nicholas’s Day, as celebrated in Holland. In this poem, however, Nicholas migrated to Christmas and became a key part of Christmas festivities. This was a big deal in the far-reaching implications of gift giving with Christmas.
Fourth, Saint Nicholas lost his bishop’s robe and mitered cap; you might say he was defrocked. In Europe the Dutch Saint Nicholas appeared as a bishop, and he retained a similar appearance in the drawing commissioned by Pintard in 1810. Irving provided some changes, giving Saint Nicholas a broad-brimmed hat, a pipe, and Flemish “trunk-hose.” Yet “The Night Before Christmas” was even more intent on creating an endearing figure. “St. Nick” became a cute, loveable little man, like a favorite grandfather, but magical.
Fifth, relieved of his role as an authority figure, he no longer threatened punishment. Many of Saint Nicholas’s visits in Europe brought rewards for children who were good and a switch or a lump of coal for those who were not. The 1821 poem still included threats for children who were bad; historian Stephen Nissenbaum calls it “a mini-version of the Day of Judgment.” The well-known Christmas song “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” warns that “he knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake,” a remnant of the theme of discipline. Unlike it, “The Night Before Christmas” contains not even a hint of punishment, making clear that there is “nothing to dread.”
Hence, this poem did far more than add some reindeer and name them. It transported Saint Nicholas across the month of December to Christmas, and it transformed him from the authority figure of a bishop into a non-judgmental jolly gift giver. Is it any wonder that children and families embraced him? Additional features of Saint Nicholas were yet to come. First of all, notice that this poem included no references to Santa Claus. He was still Saint Nicholas, and in one case “St. Nick.” However, in the broader New York culture the related names were already becoming interchangeable, simply as a process of bringing a Dutch Sinter Klaas into the English language. A poem published in 1810 referred to “Sancte Claus,” and the 1821 Children’s Friend poem described “Old Santerclaus.” When the Troy Sentinel republished “The Night Before Christmas” in 1830, again anonymously, the editor gave it the title “An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas, or Santa Claus,” even though the words Santa Claus never appear in the poem. Clement Moore preferred the title “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” And an additional curiosity, most people do not notice that in the poem, Saint Nicholas is little, an elf, not a full-sized person. Significant phrases refer to a “miniature sleigh,” “eight tiny reindeer,” “a little old driver,” and “a right jolly old elf.” (That would explain, by the way, how he could go up and down chimneys.) When the poem was first published as an illustrated book, the accompanying illustration featured someone who looked like a scruffy leprechaun.
Thomas Nast:
Nast was born in Germany, but emigrated to New York when he was six years old. Nast became a prominent cartoonist and illustrator. Not only did Nast invent both the Republican elephant and the Democratic donkey as political party emblems, and he had a role in developing the symbol of Uncle Sam, but he essentially created the Santa Claus we all know now. Santa’s height would vary in Nast’s illustrations, but he still tended to be short. The outfit that Nast gave Santa was a little different from our modern image, with a fur hat rather than a stocking cap, and clothes (“dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot”) that looked like very itchy long underwear. Nast returned to the subject of Santa year after year in Harper’s, and the content of his drawings added many other lasting features to the Santa mythology:
- a North Pole headquarters
- Santa as a toymaker, in his North Pole workshop
- elves as Santa’s assistants
- Santa receiving letters from children
- Santa’s giant ledgers to record children’s names
- snacks left in homes on Christmas Eve for Santa
Francis Church:
It all started with a newspaper editorial response, written in answer to a child’s question. In the fall of 1897, the New York Sun received a letter from an eight-year-old girl, Virginia O’Hanlon, asking if there really wa a Santa Claus. Her mailing address was West 95th Street, New York City (where else?). The New York Sun did not identify the author of its editorials with a byline, so only upon the death of Francis Pharcellus Church did the public learn his name. If his last name isn’t ironic enough, he was also a son of a Baptist minister. Church’s response, though written with good intentions, was utterly unChristian and traveled in the wrong direction:
“Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see…. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love, and generosity, and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginia. There would be no childlike faith, then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The Eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished…. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside [the veil covering the unseen]… and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.”
The correct Christian response would be to tell the Truth: Santa Claus is a false legend, formed only from lies. The only Truth is Christ Jesus and if we abide in the Lord, then and only then will we fulfill our purpose and find fulfillment. Church, the son of a Baptist minister, failed to fulfill his moral obligation to speak the Truth out from love. Instead, he lied and filled a child’s mind with the lie of Santa Claus. But what’s worse is that his letter did not merely affect one child, but millions of people throughout the ages to come.
By the late 1800s, images of and references to Santa Claus appeared in children’s books, games, songs, dolls, newly introduced Christmas cards, and magazine and newspaper advertisements. Tall or short, thin or plump, Santa was dressed in fur or cloth, with colors varying from red and blue to earth tones. Red became the most common color for his clothing, and department store Santas appeared with standard red and white costumes, although the uniformity was not absolute. An editorial in the November 27, 1927, New York Times described both the variations and the emerging common pattern:
“In other years children who went from one store to another frequently were disturbed by a succession of Santa Clauses of different sizes and figures— tall and thin, short and fat, lean, burly, and nondescript. Parents this year will be less hard put to it to explain why one Santa Claus differs from another, for one type is in demand. Height, weight, stature are almost as exactly standardized as are the red garments, the hood, the white whiskers, and the pack full of toys. Ruddy cheeks and nose, bushy white eyebrows and a jolly paunchy effect are also inevitable parts of the requisite make-up.”
Haddon Sundblom:
From 1931-1964, Sundblom produced at least one Coca-Cola Santa Claus painting every year, and between 1944-1953 there were two or three Santa paintings annually. With Santa’s colors being red and white, they were ideal for a soft drink whose emblematic colors were the same. Sundblom made a familiar image even more likeable and widespread. And the overwhelming ubiquity of these Coca-Cola advertisements ensured that no rival version of Santa could emerge in the North American consciousness.
Conclusion:
If Christmas revived in England in the 1800s, it really took off in the United States. In addition to Dickens’s “spirit of Christmas” and Victorian influences, it was the American Santa Claus who made the difference, emerging as the central icon of the season, around whom everyone could rally. Both the religious and nonreligious public embraced a Santa who brought joy to children and families, who represented a spirit of giving and the nonjudgmental warmth of good feeling among all people. Even business interests could add their encouragement, because Santa as gift giver held so many commercial possibilities; indeed, Christmas is now commercialized and quite superficial. And it all still serves as a winter party, bringing lights and celebration in the midst of the cold and dark.
The sad truth is that there never was a pure spiritual Christmas. When Christmas started in the fourth century, right in the middle of three Roman winter festivals, it was, from its very first moments, a winter party with Christian meanings added on top as an attempt to cover up the false religions and debauchery that accompanied the festivities. Like it or not, there are two Christmases: a cultural Christmas, and a religious or Christian Christmas. Some people focus on one, some focus on the other, and many are involved in both. But Christians cannot claim that it is “no longer” controlled by Christians, because it never was.
But the main questions every Christian wants to know is as follows:
- Should Christians celebrate Christmas?
- Is it sinful to put up a Christmas tree and/or wreath?
- What about decorating the house with lights?
- Should parents tell children that Santa Claus is real?
Before I answer the main questions, I want to clarify the argument that many people make about “Xmas” being a war against Christ. In Greek, the original language of the New Testament, the word for “Christ” is Χριστός, which begins with the Greek letter that is essentially the same letter as the English letter X. So, originally, Xmas was simply an abbreviation of Christmas. It is not a grand conspiracy to take Christ out of Christmas. It’s just an abbreviation.
Now, some people argue that the Bible forbids bringing trees into our homes and decorating them. The passage often cited is Jeremiah 10:1-16, but this passage refers to cutting down trees, chiseling the wood to make an idol, and then decorating the idol with silver and gold for the purpose of bowing down before it to worship it (see also Isaiah 44:9-18). The passage in Jeremiah cannot be taken out of its context and used to make a legitimate argument against Christmas trees. Christmas symbols, such as trees and candles, may have had some pagan connotations, but these are so common in human experience that it cannot be claimed that their use was ever exclusive to paganism. In fact, GOD made everything and everything belongs to GOD; therefore, we can glorify GOD with what GOD made and owns (Psalm 24:1; 89:11; 1Corinthians 10:26). Motive matters. If you enjoy having life and light of a Christmas tree in your house, then enjoy it. After all, you can easily decorate your entire tree and house so that it glorifies GOD. What unique and creative decorations and ornaments can you make that will glorify GOD? Try making them yourself. Who knows— it could end up being a fun family project that unites the family together.
Consider this: if you asked the average American to tell you about Nike, most people would tell you about a brand of athletic shoes and clothing, but they would fail to mention the Greek goddess of victory for whom the company is named. Therefore, if you refuse to celebrate Christmas because of some of its origins, then by that same standard you must never wear Nike apparel, or even refer to the day of Saturday or the planet of Saturn because the names have origins of the false god Saturnus, which is equivalent to the ancient Greek god Kronos. But my acknowledgment of a planet being called Saturn in no way identifies me as a Saturnus worshiper. Again, GOD made everything and everything belongs to GOD. You can call it whatever you want to call it, but you’ll never alter the Truth about it.
If there are unbiblical practices in our Christmas celebration, then those should be forsaken. For example, do not worship the tree. Feasting is biblical, but gluttony is not, so perhaps that is an area that Christians need to think about in their Christmas celebrations. Drinking an alcoholic beverage is not forbidden by the Bible, but getting drunk is. But of course, you also need to consider if your drinking will cause someone else to stumble. So, a Christian celebration should not involve drunkenness or even drinking if it’s going to cause someone else to stumble. Giving of gifts is biblical, but going into debt or spending beyond your means is not, so Christmas gifts should be purchased responsibly. It’s good for Christians to examine their celebrations to make sure that they truly honor GOD.
All in all, Christmas is not a pagan holiday because it does not need to be a pagan holiday. Christmas is the Christian remembrance and celebration of the birth of Christ Jesus. Christians believe that, in Christ, GOD entered the human race and so deserves the title Immanuel or “God With Us” (Matthew 1:23).
Are we able to learn mistakes from history so that we do not repeat them? The Puritans attempted to outright ban Christmas, but it didn’t work. An important question we need to ask ourselves is this: what would be gained and what would be lost if you stopped celebrating Christmas? Are there certain parts we should definitely not do? Are there acceptable portions we can partake in? After all, winter still remains a challenge today, albeit not as much of a challenge as it was in the ancient past. But winter still tests us as it brings darkness and depression, and people need light and inspiration to lift their spirits. So, how can we do this the biblical way?
(Matthew 5:14-16)
“14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
If what you’re doing is done in order to glorify GOD, it’s not wrong. While we should use every opportunity given to us to shine our light and share the Gospel, it’s also important that we not further advance the lies of the enemy. So, speak the Truth out from love (Ephesians 4:15). Christmas can be fun, but Santa Claus is a lie. Jesus is the Truth, the life, the light, and the only way. And for this reason, I admonish all Christian parents to avoid lying to children about Santa Claus for a few reasons. Children who believe that the gifts they receive Christmas morning are from a magical man with unending resources are less likely to appreciate what they have been given, and the sacrifices their parents make in providing them. Greed and materialism can overshadow the holiday season, which is meant to be about giving, loving, and worshiping GOD. Children whose parents are on a tight budget may feel that they have been overlooked by Santa, or even worse, deemed one of the “bad” boys or girls. And ultimately, Jesus said “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). And the most obvious reason is that GOD hates lies. Telling children that Santa comes down the chimney each year to leave their gifts is a lie. We live in a society that believes that lying for the “right” reason is acceptable. “As long as it doesn’t hurt anyone, it is not a problem.” This is contrary to what the Bible tells us: “The one who desires life, to love and see good days, must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit” (Psalm 34:12-13; Proverbs 12:22; 1Peter 3:10). Of course, telling our children that Santa is real is not a malicious deception, but it is, nevertheless, a lie. And there are many people like me, who, refused to believe in GOD after discovering the many lies that had been told regarding Santa, the Easter bunny, etc. Children honestly feel deceived and betrayed by their parents when they find out that Santa is not real. Children trust their parents to tell them the truth, and it is our responsibility not to break this trust. If we do, they will not believe more important things we tell them, such as the truth about Christ, whom they also cannot physically see.
So, may we all have fun, sing, decorate, spend time with family, and focus on giving and loving people, but we need to keep the main thing the main thing. For Christians, Christmas is all about the incarnation, GOD tabernacling in the body of Jesus in order to eventually become the willing perfect sacrifice, saving us from ourselves. Indeed, Jesus is the reason for the season and we do need to keep Christ in Christmas if we are to celebrate Christmas. The secular society will not do so, but that is why we are called to be lights in the darkness of this world. So, shine!
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Quest For Truth 