HoHoHo! and All That

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

Most of us remember those opening lines of the most famous Christmas poem by Clement Clark Moore, though some scholars contend that Henry Livingston, Jr. of Dutch background was the author, citing as evidence the German names of Santa’s reindeer (Donner and Blitzen – thunder and lightning - mentioned for the first time).

Besides being celebrated in popular culture, famous composers have bestowed a sublime note on the birthday of Jesus, to mention only Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.

This Christmas blog post features a beautiful rendition by Placido Domingo of Mozart’s Ave Verum, which contrasts radically with tin-pan alley songs like Jingle Bells.. which also have their place, but become irritating when played day after day in shopping centers.

So many customs worldwide and works of art and literature have grown up around Christmas that it’s impossible to say anything new.

Christianity is the only world religion that celebrates the birth of its founder. The birthdays of Buddha, Mohammad, and Moses are not celebrated.

One of the reasons for this is that no one knows exactly when these great religious figures were born. Another is that the doctrine is much more important than the founder’s birthday.

That is also the case with the birthday of Jesus, which is important for our calendar.

Early Christians were not interested in Jesus’s birthday but in when he would return. Jesus said:

Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming to his kingdom (Matthew: 16-28)

Did he deceive us?

After time passed without his return, when Christianity became the recognized religion of the Roman empire in 380 AD under Theodosius, the Church directed its attention to codification of the dogma and combatting heresies. Many people wrongly believe that Christianity became the official religion under Constantine, but the Edit of Milan only extended toleration to Christians.. Paganism was recognized as well.

Originally, Christmas was not a birthday party. Jesus gave the command to commemorate his death, which was a promise of eternal life.

Early Christian Church Fathers such as Origen of Alexandria (165-264) mocked the Roman celebration of birthdays, referring to such feasts as “pagan.”

So when did December 25th become Christmas?

To make a long story short, many scholars believe that December 25th was chosen as Jesus’s birthday because it was the date when pagans celebrated the Saturnalia and the birth of Sol Invictus..

It was argued that if that date were chosen for Jesus’s birth, more pagans would join the Church. This happened sometime in the 4th century AD.

I won’t go into the complicated problem of the Julien and Gregorian calendars here.

The date of Christ’s birth is important for historical chronology as well.

For centuries we have used AD and BC to date events. AD stands for Anno Domini, the Year of Our Lord, BC for Before Christ.

These abbreviations have been replaced by the politically correct c.e. (common era) and b.c.e. (before the common era). Anyone with a brain will notice that this sneaky operation does not get rid of Christ if we ask “common to what?” Common to the birth of Christ, of course.

That is why I prefer to stick to the old abbreviations.

Another problem is that Christ was not born in zero AD.

He was born during the reign of King Herod, who died in 4 BC. Confused? Small wonder.

These historical and chronological issues do not take the joy out of Christmas.

For Western Christians December 25th (for Eastern Christians, January 6th) is celebrated as the birthday of Jesus Christ, the Savior of mankind.

That is the reason for the bright lights, the cards, and the festive air of the anticipation of something wonderful about to happen. That is why people, in spite of themselves, try to be a little nicer to each other, to smile, say a kind word, give to charity, visit the sick, and forgive.

After the Christmas season, of course, we go back to being our old nasty selves.

As an aside, Christmas did not become an official holiday in Amarica until 1870 because it had been regarded as an English holiday (and anything English was bad, of course).

What is the great thing that we are anticipating and celebrating at Christmas?

Put simply, it is Jesus’s promise of eternal life.

Every person regards him/herself as the center of the Universe and cannot imagine the world without him/herself.

If you try to imagine nothingness, you won’t be able to.

Pain and suffering are better than nonexistence.

Dante’s Hell is better than eternal blackness.

What a cruel hoax it would be if our life were just a brief flash of consciousness between two infinities of nothingness.

Is consciousness just a sickness?

Whatever it is, it calls out loudly – I want to endure, forever!

No arguments to the contrary can silence this cry of the heart. We feel that we are immortal. Are we deceived?

Christmas offers us hope that our heart’s desire will be fulfilled.

Let the sceptics mock this belief, but no arguments or evidence to the contrary will shake it.

That is the Christmas message. That is the Good News.

To my friends and readers, I express my wishes for you in the beautiful words of our great Charles Dickens:

Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days, that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, that can transport the sailor and the traveler, thousands of miles away, back to his own fireside and quiet home.