Is Christmas pagan? - PowerPoint Presentation

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