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« Can you feel the love tonight? | Main | Christmas Meditation » December 24, 2005The Christmas traditionAround this time thousands of years ago, Romans honored Saturn, the ancient god of agriculture, in a festival called Saturnalia. The festival began on December 17, lasted seven days, and eventually grew to include winter solstice, which fell on December 25. When and how this pagan holiday morphed into a Christian one remains a matter of debate. Some believe that in the fourth century St. John Chrysostom urged Christians to celebrate Christ's birth on December 25 because some communities had been doing it for several years. Others believe it was Emperor Constantine who's responsible for the day as part of an effort to welcome pagans already celebrating winter solstice. It is no secret that the Christmas tradition is rooted in calendar comprises, but that shouldn't stop us from celebrating what the day symbolizes. Or should it? In anticipation of tomorrow, here are some recent Christmas posts at ITA which I found particularly illuminating.
Posted by Joshua Claybourn at December 24, 2005 04:49 PM CommentsPosted by: marie at December 24, 2005 07:25 PM | permalink One of my professors last semester told us that, back in "the day" (timelines are lost on me), all prisoners and slaves were permitted to go free for 24 hours every december 25. He said that roughly 40% of Christian Believers at the time were slaves and servants, so it made sense for them to celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25th every year when all the Believers were free to assemble together. Posted by: Sarah Angeline at December 24, 2005 07:41 PM | permalink I'd say you got taken, Sarah. The church's mythology of historical persecution is pretty imaginary, so it's really unlikely that 40% of Christians were ever slaves or servants (unless you take a really broad definition of slavery, e.g. serfs in the Middle Ages). Anyway, giving a prisoner a day off seems like a strange tactic, for obvious reasons. Posted by: wahoofive at December 25, 2005 01:35 PM | permalink I never said that they were in prison or in slavory becausethey were Christians. Giving a prisoner a day off does seem like a strange tactic to me, but then so does the custom of letting one prisoner a year go free. (Barabas) I haven't personally looked this one up or anything, I just thought I'd throw it out and see if anyone else ever heard anything about it. Posted by: Sarah Angeline at December 26, 2005 03:25 AM | permalink Posted by: Sarah Angeline at December 26, 2005 03:26 AM | permalink Post a comment |
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