Brenda Lewis Apologetics in Manchester 27 th November 2010 King Arthur Gawain and the Green Knight The late medieval writer has King Arthur celebrating Christmas for 15 days But King Arthur lived if he did before Augustine was sent to replace pagan rituals with Christian ones ID: 424165
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Slide1
Is Christmas pagan?
Brenda Lewis
Apologetics in Manchester
27
th
November, 2010Slide2
King Arthur
Gawain and the Green Knight:
The late medieval writer has King Arthur celebrating Christmas for 15 days
But King Arthur lived (if he did) before Augustine was sent to replace pagan rituals with Christian ones
He would not have celebrated Christmas - it’s pure anachronism – isn’t it?
When did we start celebrating Christmas?Slide3
Answers to the Arthurian problem
Arthur was British, ruling before the Germanic tribes invaded Britain
Britain had Christian churches before the pagan Anglo-Saxons arrived
Arthur may have been pagan (look at Merlin),
b
ut he could have been a Christian in the days when Britain hovered between Christianity and paganism
Augustine re-Christianised the south of Britain after the Anglo-Saxons invadedSlide4
Christmas
Not instituted in the New Testament
Tertullian
(late 2
nd
century) and
Origen
(early
3
rd
century) believe celebrating birthdays is a Roman, pagan custom
Christmas is not in Origen’s list of
festivals – ‘such as the Lord’s Day, Preparation, Passover, Pentecost’ (Contra
Celsum
, Bk8, Ch22)Slide5
Saturnalia
Festival to Saturn, from 17
th
– 23
rd
December, around the Winter Solstice
Saturn, god of agriculture, linked to death and gloom
Untying of his statue signal for licence – tomfoolery and debauchery
Introduced in 217 BC to raise morale after a crushing defeat
Attempts by Augustus and Caligula to reduce its length led to massive revoltsSlide6
Saturnalia
Master of ceremonies elected
Sacrifices
Public and school holidays
Special market
Present giving
Gambling
Limited role reversal
of
master
and slave
Dissipation, noise and insolenceSlide7
First evidence of Christmas
Early inconclusive hints
1
st
certain evidence, Clement of Alexandria in c200AD said:
Some Egyptian theologians were giving a date to Christ’s birth – 20
th
May, 28
th
year of Augustus (AD1 – too late) and
Some
gnostics
celebrated the Feasts of Epiphany and (probably) Nativity on 10
th
January and
Others celebrated them on 6
th
JanuarySlide8
Early practice
In the Eastern church, there was one feast in early January celebrating the manifestation of Jesus’ glory:
At his birth
To the shepherds
To the Magi
At his baptism.
Some people added the miracle of water into wine (John 2.13)
Others added the Transfiguration
Mostly the emphasis was on BaptismSlide9
Two feasts
Armenian Church still celebrates Epiphany and Nativity as one Feast
In the West (Rome), Christmas was celebrated before 350AD
Gregory of
Nazianzus
preached on 25
th
December 380 AD
that
they had just witnessed Christ’s birth, soon would see him baptized.
He
preached on 6
th
and 7
th
January 381 AD
that
they
had celebrated the Nativity and the Magi, next would celebrate Christ’s baptism
Epheria’s
account in 385 AD of 8-day Feast of Epiphany in Jerusalem includes 3 days of processions to Bethlehem
Prudentius
wrote separate hymns for Nativity and Epiphany in c390AD
Cassia seems surprised that Egyptian monasteries still celebrated both feasts at same time in 420 AD Slide10
Summary 1
Christians probably began to celebrate Christmas widely as a solemn feast between 250-300 AD
Christians were still being persecuted then
They were therefore careful to keep Christian feasts separate from pagan Roman festivals
Origin unlikely to be Saturnalia – dates different
Roman Feast of
Lights/
Natalis
Invicti
,
celebrated 25
th
December, was introduced in 271 AD, after Christians had begun to celebrate the
Nativity (others say it was not introduced until 354 AD)Slide11
Are Christmas Trees Pagan?
Boniface, born
Crediton
, Devon, 672 AD, missionary to the Germans
Earliest biography by Anglo-Saxon monk, Willibald, who worked in his Metropolitan district,
and wrote about
10 years after Boniface’s death:
In 723 AD, Boniface cut down the
Donar
oak - extremely important and sacred - to demonstrate Christ’s power over pagan deities
The Germans
believed anyone touching
the oak
would
die, so when he didn’t they were ready to convert.
Boniface built a chapel with the wood, where the cathedral of
Fritzlar
now stands
Germans say he later found a fir tree growing in its stump which became a symbol to him of everlasting life.Slide12
Christmas Trees
In 13
th
century people suspended
fir trees upside down from the rafters as part of their Christmas decorations
Martin Luther is said to have championed them
Introduced into Britain in early 19
th
century by German members of the Royal Family.Slide13
Did Arthur celebrate Christmas?
He could have, if he lived after
c250
AD
T
he Feast of the Nativity did not resemble Roman licentious festivals
It was a solemn and reverent feast of the Church
Nativity was celebrated for 12 days, ending on 5
th
January, Epiphany was celebrated for 8 days, starting on 6
th
January – 20 days altogether
People may have celebrated 12 days for Nativity and 3 for the Nativity part of Epiphany – 15 days
He did not have a Christmas tree, but Christmas trees celebrate the evangelisation of Germany by an English monk