Written 6 years ago, and fine tuned today for clarity, conciseness and readability. Still valid today!
As usual, we’re seeing the usual proliferation of yard signs and bumper stickers conveying some version of "Jesus is the Reason for the Season", which is quite possibly true for those who place the signs. Oddly enough, however, is the fact that the choice of the date near the Winter Solstice is not considered by any reputable Biblical scholars as the actual birth date of Jesus. The eventual choice of December 25, made perhaps as early as 273, reflects a convergence of Origen's (of Alexandria, an early Christian writer) concern about pagan gods and the church's identification of God's son with the actual celestial sun. December 25 already hosted two other related festivals: “Natalis Solis Invictus” (the Roman "birth of the unconquered sun"), and the birthday of Mithras, the Iranian "Sun of Righteousness" whose worship was popular with several groups of Roman Legionnaires. The winter solstice, another celebration of the sun, fell just a few days earlier.
The earliest attempt, and still the only actually “reasoned” one to date, to pin down Jesus' birth was made by Clement of Alexandria who gives a date using the Egyptian calendar that converts to May 14, 6 BC in the Gregorian calendars. He “retrofit” the date consistent with background material described in Luke, including the fact that shepherds would have been in the wilderness of Judah, not in the fields surrounding Bethlehem, since this was the season when the wheat and barley were growing. After that harvest in April/May the sheep are put into these fields to eat the stubble and fertilize for the next growing season. Even the conservative Associates for Biblical Research affirm that in all their efforts, the is nothing found in the Bible which supports any linkage to December 25. It seems rather more likely that, seeing that pagans were already exalting deities with some parallels to the “true” deity, church leaders decided to commandeer the date and introduce a new festival to supplant the old ones which were popular among many pagan peoples.
At this point I should point out that an entire book could be written regarding the numerous appropriations of non-Christian traditions which now populate the “Christmas tradition” landscape. In the interest of brevity (never my forte) I’ll try to be brief:
So, let's see what they looked like:
Other Pagan Yule practices are interesting as well:
It was ancient custom that when sacrifice was to be made, all farmers were to come to the temple and bring along with them the food they needed while the feast lasted. The narrative continues that toasts were to be drunk. The first was drunk to God “for victory and power to the king", the second "for good harvests and for peace", and thirdly a beaker was to be drunk to the king himself. In addition, toasts were drunk to the memory of departed kinsfolk. These were called "minni [memorial toast]". Yule feast still had a function in the cult of the dead and in the veneration of the ancestors, a function which the mid-winter sacrifice certainly held for the West European Stone and Bronze Ages. "Yule" or "Yuletide" is a festival observed by the historical Germanic peoples. Scholars have connected Yule observances to the Wild Hunt, the god Odin, and the pagan Anglo-Saxon Mōdraniht. The traditions of the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar (described in multiple Icelandic Sagas) are still reflected in the Christmas ham, Yule singing, and others stemming from Yule customs, and customs which indicate the significance of the feast in pre-Christian times. These customs, like the Babylonian Yule, are pre-Christian, that is post-Jesus, but centuries before Christianity reached their practitioners, the early Proto-Germanic tribes. The "God” was Odin, the toast for harvest and peace were drunk to Njoror, and Freyr and probably whoever else Stan Lee would later immortalize in film.
In the Heathen tradition of Urglaawe, the Yuletide begins at sundown on December 20 and ends at sundown on January 1. Broken down and translated, "der Urglaawe" literally means "the original faith" in the Pennsylvania German language. The focus is on the pre-Christian religious and cultural undertones that still flow through the Pennsylvania German culture. The term “Pennsylvania Dutch” derives from the ignorance of colonial English speakers who confused "Ich Bin Deutsche" as meaning " I am Dutch" Although the Pennsylvania Germans did not exist as a distinct ethnic group during the pre-Christian era, their ancestors brought with them many Heathen practices that continued to flourish here after the German "diaspora" into the Americas. Urglaawe worshippers' purpose is to weave the cultural experiences of the Pennsylvania Germans into the Heathen tapestry. Practices such as Braucherei and Hexerei as well as folklore and folk medicine lend more insight regarding the way their ancestors practiced the original faith.
The name Braucherei comes from the book “Pow-wows”, or, “The Long-Lost Friend”, written by John George Hohman and first published in German as Der Lange Verborgene Freund in 1820. Despite the use of "pow-wow", taken from an Algonquian Native American word for a gathering of medicine men, the collection is actually a very traditional collection of European magic spells, recipes, and folk remedies. These formulas/spells mix prayers, magic words, and simple rituals to cure simple domestic ailments and rural troubles. Curiously enough, they blend Christian and pagan terms and prayers. Hexerei would most likely be described as "White Witches" in today's parlance. Their tools included hex signs such as those seen on some Amish barns today, spells, and protective "charms." Many Germans who came to America as Hessian mercenaries in the Revolution (such as my several greats grandfather) carried papers with safety hexes written on them as protection.
The Yuletide includes observances that are part of the Urglaawe faith or the wider Deitsch culture. Belsnickeling, which is the original Deitsch tricks-or-treats, takes place on December 21 or 22. There are many parallels between Belskickel and Santa/St. Nicholas. Visitations from men dressed as Belsnickel, who is the Urglaawe equivalent to interaction with men and seeker aspects of the god Wudan, may occur throughout the Yuletide. The linking of St. Nicholas to Santa is, without question, an attempt to distance Christian Christmas tradition from the pagan Belskickel. The Berchtaslaaf, or the Progression of the goddess Berchta, is celebrated on December 31 and includes Berchta's commanded meal of herring and gruel (double yuck!). The Yuletide ends on January 1, with the Feast of Frey. This traditional feast includes pork and sauerkraut, both of which are held as sacred to Frey, so, "Please pass the sacred sauerkraut?" In our Dorman family tradition (Pa. Deutsch/Bavarian on both sides) this is a traditional New Years' Dinner! (Sauerkraut is the reason for the season?”)
The Sigillaria on December 23 was a Roman day of gift-giving. This is almost certainly the origin of the "Christmas present" idea, linked by the Church to St. Nicholas to displace Belskickel. Children received toys as gifts. In his many poems about the Saturnalia, Martial cited both expensive and quite cheap gifts, including writing tablets, dice, moneyboxes, toothpicks, a hunting knife, an axe, various lamps, perfumes, pipes, a sausage, a parrot, tables, cups, items of clothing, statues, masks, books, and pets. Gifts might be costly, but Martial suggested that token gifts of low intrinsic value inversely measure the high quality of a friendship. In a practice that may presage modern greeting cards, verses sometimes accompanied the gifts. Catullus received a book of bad poems by "the worst poet of all time" as a joke from a friend.
So, why spend all this time on this topic? First of all, I have that kind of time. Furthermore, I'm sick of people bitching about other persons personally celebrating (or not) whatever version of this holiday they choose to follow. I violently agree that it's inappropriate to force a Jewish child to play baby Jesus in a Nativity scene, since Jesus was Jewish, his name (in Aramaic or Hebrew) would have been Yeshua bar Yussef, and he definitely wouldn’t have looked like the fair haired, Nordic, “Sven Christ” pictured in churches across the world. I am fine with the Christian owner of a store piping in Christmas carols, or “Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel,” or whatever they wish. We all need to lighten up, tolerance wise, about whichever festival we're celebrating, since there are aspects of Ancient Sumerian history, Christianity and Paganism in essentially all of them and the one sure thing is that the timing of Christmas was selected to coincide with them.
By the same token, I adamantly endorse the logic behind not spending tax dollars provided by all citizens, regardless of tradition, to commemorate one specific group's religious celebration. Bill O’Reilly notwithstanding, it isn’t a “war on Christmas,” simply fiscal fair play. Consider the uproar if tax dollars were used to fund celebrations of Diwali, Eid al-Adha, Nagar Kirtan, Visakah Puja (Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Buddhist if you're keeping track).
There are many reasons for this season, including the physical fact that after the Winter Solstice, we begin to see the sun longer; so lighten up, be happy for your friends and neighbors who celebrate for whatever reason and, as The Buddha, Confucius, Mithras , Jesus, atheists, Bill and Ted, and so many others have said over the ages, love each other. And I do believe that's all I have to say about that (today).
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