| The so-called War on Christmas.... yeah, whatever. |
[Dec. 13th, 2009|09:57 am] |
Jesus? Not so much the reason for the season
From ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) alyxbradford
Excerpt: (the rest is at the link I posted)
If I hear the phrase "War on Christmas" one more time, I think I'm going to scream. I am so bloody flipping sick of hearing right-wing nutjobs whinge about people trying to "take the Christ out of Christmas". Because I've got news for them. Jesus? Was not the reason for the season until about 60 years ago.
Let's ignore, for argument's sake, the fact that Jesus was probably born in the spring, when Roman taxes were collected, and when early church historians said the nativity was. Let's pretend the holiday is placed where it ought to be. I'll give you that one, out of charity.
Christmas was not even a feast day for the first few hundred years of the religion. Natality wasn't even something you were supposed to celebrate at all. In 245, the theologian Origen of Alexandria stated that, "only sinners (like Pharaoh and Herod)" celebrated their birthdays. In 303, Christian writer Arnobius ridiculed the idea of celebrating the birthdays of gods. Not until sometime in the mid-to-late 4th century did the birth of Jesus warrant celebration, and then, it was celebrated during Epiphany, which actually celebrated the visit of the Magi. And this was mostly in the Eastern church. It was fully the 9th century before Christmas actually became a big deal, and then it was more because Kings and Emperors started deciding it was a good day to hold coronations. |
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