Christmas, What?

Just about two weeks ago, I was speaking to my 14 year old foster daughter about Christmas and she made the mention that the Christmas tree was just a pagan symbol or instrument repackaged by Christianity. These weren't her exact words or terms, but that was essentially the claim. When I told her that this wasn't accurate, she had a genuine look of surprise on her face, as if I had just proven that the earth was round to her flat-earth indoctrinated mind. I gather that someone had told her that Christmas was repackaged paganism. Below is a simplified and itemized explainer of common claims about Christmas and my responses or counter claims. Enjoy!

Claim 1: The Christmas tree is the pagan Germanic (Anglo-Saxon) Yule log. 

Answer: The Yule log was burned in a fireplace for seasonal warmth and light in pagan practice -- a Christmas tree was/is not burned. Though the practice may be ancient, the clearest written testimony about the log comes from eighteenth century England, where it is incorporated into Christmas celebration as a fireplace log, independent of the Christmas tree. 

Claim 2: The Bible forbids Christmas trees in Jeremiah chapter 10.

Answer: No. On the surface, it seems as if this passage is describing a Christmas tree, but that would be an anachronistic reading. Here's the context of the passage...

    10 Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says the Lord:“Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens  because the nations are dismayed at them, 3 for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. 4 They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. 5 Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil,  neither is it in them to do good.”

If we stop before verse 5, it seems like the prohibition is against trees, since these are cut down and decorated. However, the last clause of verse 4 hints at what's to follow by saying that it is nailed down so as to not move. Then in verse 5 it describes the fashioned tree as a scarecrow that can't speak or walk. In short, these trees were carved and decorated to look like people -- gods to be worshiped as idols. A Christmas tree is not worshiped, which means to be sacrificed to. It is merely a decorative symbol that tells as story. 

The popularity of Christmas trees began in Germany in the sixteenth century, possibly with Martin Luther, who may have borrowed from earlier Roman Catholic mystery plays, where the story of creation, the fall [eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil], and redemption [Jesus dying on a cross -- shaped from trees.]. These trees (aka paradise trees) symbolized sin and salvation. They were usually decorated with apples (the forbidden fruit) and lit candles (the light of the world -- Jesus Christ). 

Claim 3: Jesus was not born on December 25th. This date was the winter solstice and was pagan.

Answer: It is likely that Jesus was not born on December 25th... That much is true. But it's likely that the pagan claims actually came after Christianity and Christmas. Two main pagan holidays have been cited as the source of Christmas. The first holiday was the Roman Saturnalia, celebrating the god Saturn,which some experts say was actually December 17th and not the 25th. And the other holiday was Sol Invictus (the Invincible Sun), which was a holiday made official by the Roman emperor Aurelian in 274 AD, possibly as a challenge to emerging Christmas practices and not the other way around. 

Clement writes around 200 AD that people were beginning to speculate when Jesus was born. So, while the first recorded Christmas was officially practiced by Western Christians in the fourth century, the concept of Christ's birth being important began in the third century. Christmas may have been a growing celebration even before its concrete arrival in the 300s. It may be that Aurelian saw this as a challenge and so he co-opted the 25th for the official imperial holiday.

Prior to Christmas, Christians did not celebrate birthdays, but rather death days. Birthdays seemed out of step with the humility of the faith, aggrandizing people. Death days symbolized the arrival of a Christian into eternity. It is possible that the earliest celebration was the holiday of Theophany or Epiphany on January 6th, which celebrated Jesus' incarnation, marked by noting his baptism in the Jordan River. The incarnation obviously began with Christ's birth, so his birthday was not like that of ordinary people. Jesus' birthday celebrates the incarnation of God in flesh. Christmas came to mark a distinct period that celebrates the incarnation, which came to be known as the 12 days of Christmas (Dec. 25 to Jan 6). What starts with a birth arrives with Jesus' baptism and call to ministry by the presence of the Father and Holy Spirit. But why the 25th if not to displace paganism?

We know Jesus' death was in the spring (Easter/Pascha). In the 200s, Christian leader Turtullian posited the clam that Jesus' exact death day was March 25th. This is the highest point in the Christian calendar and the chief death we celebrate, which by it conquered death for humans. While Easter tends to move annually with celestial shifts, March 25th became the day the Annunciation or conception of Jesus is celebrated in Christianity. It was truly holy to die the same day one was conceived on, which may be why two celebrations overlap here. So, nine months from conception (March 25th) to birth would place Jesus' birthday on December 25th. This may not be the actual day Jesus was born, but the formula of conception explains the placement of the dating. 

Additionally, the Christian heretical movement called the Donatists believed December 25th was the earlier practice of Christians, well before January 6th, and they believed this since the early 300s, before Christianity was even legal. It really did not serve Christians in the minority to take a pagan religious day as their own as it would call undue attention and possible persecution. Besides, the first suggestion that Christians adapted pagan celebrations to their own didn't even come until the 12th century when a biblical commentator named Dionysius bar-Salibi conjectured it. 

Even if Christmas day was pagan and Christians adopted it, they would have merely baptized it for the real invincible sun (Son). Christ conquered the pagan deities who according St. Paul and the early Church were demons (Galatians 4:8). History lends greater evidentiary weight to the timing of Christmas being parallel to pagan holidays as merely coincidental.  

So, is Christmas pagan? No. It is devoted completely to Jesus Christ, the God-man, regardless of its roots.