Cyber Sermon- December 2002 2002-12-13

Dispelling The Facts About Christmas

Let�s talk about Christmas. Seems appropriate, given the time of year... Why do we enjoy it so much? What is Christmas? How did it start? What�s the deal with Santa, reindeer, and Christmas trees? And Mistletoe, let�s certainly talk about that.

How did Christmas go from a holy day celebrating the birth of Christ to the rampant, frenzied holiday stress-rush that it is today? Why is it that there are more suicides around Christmastime than any other time of the year?

I always get a laugh when I see the signs or hear people say, �Put the Christ back in Christmas,� or �There�s no X in Christmas.� The Greek word for Christ is �Xristos�, and using the shortened form of Xmas became popular in Europe in the 1500s. And so I laugh, since I always laugh when I see people use righteous indignation as an excuse to remain ignorant.

So let�s start with the basics. Where did Christmas come from?

The word itself is pretty simple. Christmas comes from �Christ�s Mass,� celebrating the birth of Jesus. The first Cristes maesse was celebrated in Rome, right around the year 336 A.D. (C.E.). The Church decided on the 25 of December to celebrate the mass in an attempt to overshadow a popular holiday that celebrated the winter solstice (called Saturnalia in Rome and Yuletide in Britain). So let�s be absolutely clear on this� We celebrate the birth of Christ today because originally the Church wanted to increase its members by having people celebrate the holidays just like always, only having them call it something different. Not exactly a charitable reason to declare a holiday is it?

So what about gifts, why do we exchange gifts?

Ostensibly, the tradition of giving gifts comes from the gifts the Magi (3 wise men) brought to the baby Jesus. Of course, no one really got into the habit of exchanging gifts on Christmas until the late 1800s. In fact, Christmas in America was pretty much not even bothered with until the 1860s. In 1867, the Macy�s department store in New York remained open until midnight on Christmas Eve for the first time. Christmas themed window displays made their first appearance in 1874, also at Macy�s. Today, many retailers make up to 70 percent of their revenue off of Christmas, and in many cases, is the only way the stores can remain open.

This holiday is starting to sound like a marketing scheme for the commercial and religious branches of business. (Cynical, I know, but religion makes a lot more sense when you consider it a business. Evangelists will even agree with me. They�re in the business of �saving souls.�) So let�s find some good in the holiday.

Evergreen trees have been part of celebrating the winter season since well before the birth of Christ, though it began gaining popularity throughout Europe and America only since the 1800s. The first decorated Christmas tree was in the 1500s. And while most people think that back then people just marched out and cut down trees from the countryside, Christmas trees have been a viable commercial enterprise since the mid 1800s. Damn, more commercialism. The original idea of the evergreen tree was to celebrate life in the midst of a season of death. It also provided hope for the oncoming spring. The Yule log also comes from this idea. The yule log was a huge log used as the foundation for holiday fires, and it glowed throughout the holiday season underneath the normal flames of the fire, gradually turning to ash just as the season changed. The term �yule� comes from the Anglo-Saxon word �Yollen� (meaning �cry aloud�), and was celebrated in honor of the nights becoming shorter after Winter Solstice.

And what about decking the halls with boughs of holly? Well, originally the halls were decked with sprigs of mistletoe, but mistletoe is often associated with love and sex, getting its mythical origins from the Norse goddess of love, Frigga. So the Church forbade the use of mistletoe in any form, and suggested holly as a substitute. They helpfully explained that the sharply pointed holly leaves could represent the crown of thorns that Jesus wore on the crucifix, and the red berries could be drops of his blood. Of course, I thought we were celebrating the birth of Christ, not his death, but that fact probably just got overlooked as the church finished off the last of the Oktoberfest brew. Even as late as the 20th Century, some churches still forbade the wearing of mistletoe sprigs and corsages.

Too bad. The story of mistletoe is fascinating. Mistletoe is actually a parasitic plant that grows on trees, usually hardwoods like oak or apple. The berries of mistletoe are mildly poisonous, causing severe stomach cramps or diarrhea when you eat it, and sometimes it�ll even kill you. (Guess Batman was right.) The berries are eaten by birds (I guess they aren�t bothered by it) and the bird droppings contain seeds of the berries. Since birds love to hang out on tree branches, it doesn�t take too much imagination to figure out how mistletoe grows and spreads. Originally though, people thought that mistletoe just came from the birds. It comes from the Anglo-Saxon word �misteltan� (�Mistel� meaning �dung� and �Tan� meaning �twig�. Use your imagination). Vikings believed mistletoe had the power to raise people from the dead, coming from the myth of Balder�s resurrection (Balder was the God of the summer sun.) Ah hah� Hanging mistletoe around the house during winter brings about the resurrection of summer. So what�s the deal about kissing underneath it?

The myth tells us that Balder had a dream that he would die. His mother, Frigga, didn�t like this dream too much, and declared that if her son would die, than everything on Earth would die as well (winter, ahem...). To keep her son safe from harm, she went to every plant and animal, as well as all the elements�earth, air, fire, and water�and asked them not to kill her son. But the trickster god, Loki, and Balder�s only enemy, found a loophole�mistletoe. Since mistletoe grows on the tree it attaches itself to, it has no roots of its own and wouldn�t be applicable to Frigga�s plea. So he made a poisoned dart of mistletoe and tricked Balder�s blind brother, Hoder, into shooting it at Balder. For three days, all the elements tried to bring Balder back to life, but failed. Finally, Frigga�s tears for her son changed the red mistletoe berries to white, raising Balder from death. (Dead for three days, then resurrected� hmm) Frigga then kissed anyone who walked underneath mistletoe out of gratitude for getting her son back.

Celtic Druids also believed that mistletoe provided fertility to humans and animals and helped protect against witchcraft.

It�s likely that the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe originated from these two sources. What surprises me is how few people know correct mistletoe etiquette. The man must remove one berry from the plant when he kisses a woman, and when the berries are gone, there is no more kissing under that plant. It�s believed that an unmarried woman not kissed under the mistletoe will remain single for another year.

Hanging stockings by the fireplace? That�s part of the Santa Claus legend. We all know the story of Saint Nick, a charitable man who gave rise to legends of miracles he performed for the poor and unhappy, who was made a bishop in the church, and blah, blah, blah. The stocking story has it that three poor sisters were getting married and had no money for a dowry or for the general costs of living, and as a result were thinking of become prostitutes to generate an income. Well, they hung their stockings in front of the fireplace to dry before going to sleep one night, and the next day they were full of gold. Well, Protestantism made Saints very unpopular throughout Europe during the Reformation, except in Holland, where the legend of Saint Nicholas (�Sinterklass� in Dutch) persisted. They took the legend with them to America, where it got adopted under the name of Santa Claus, combining the legend of Saint Nicholas with Nordic folktales of a magician who punished naughty children and reward good children.

The Santa outfit most likely gets its colors from the original Saint Nicholas; red and white were the colors of traditional bishop robes. Everything else about him: the reindeer, the sleigh, the chimney is entirely made up from two principal sources. Clement Moore�s poem �The Night Before Christmas� (1822) invented the sleigh, the bag of toys, the chimney, and named the reindeer. It�s all fiction, brought to life by an imaginative author. By the 1830s, nearly everyone in America recognized or could recite it. The second source is a series of engravings by Thomas Nast, commissioned by Harper�s Weekly between 1863 and 1886. Santa�s Workshop, checking his lists, reading letters, all were spawned from the engravings.

Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer first made his appearance in 1939, coming apparently from out of nowhere. It was written by someone in the Montgomery Ward�s advertising department named Robert May, and Santas in the stores gave away copies to kids. In 1949, Gene Autry sang a musical version, and his (Rudolph�s) popularity took off.

How come we�ve forgotten all this? It�s certainly more interesting than the religious implications of the holiday, which appear to be chosen arbitrarily and completely at random. I like the idea of celebrating life and warmth in the middle of winter. I like the idea of celebrating a holiday that everyone can be a part of as well. It seems silly to keep the Jews out of this one.

Regardless of how you feel about the holiday, remember that life is about love, and any excuse to love your fellow Man (and Woman) is a good one. And whether you celebrate the holiday for the birth of Jesus or for the hope of Spring, the holiday is a celebration of life, and therefore love.

Many joys, and peace, be with you this season.

--The IrReverend