So many of us know the ultra familiar Peanuts Classic's. My personal favorites are the Thanksgiving and Christmas specials. Mostly because Charles Schulz wasn't afraid to say what he wanted to say. But it's true that in the hubub and commotion of all that goes into the holiday's we tend to lose sight of what it's really all about. So I'm here to give you a little history lesson (my favorite) on Christmas. (Don't worry, I know most people aren't weirdo's like myself and I won't get too technical on you!)
So most people know, or are familiar with the fact that the celebration of Christmas revolves around the celebration of Christ's birth. Back, well back in the day, pagans celebrated seasonal change and thusly celebrated the coming of the winter solstice. Early Christians wanted to combat the pagan ritual and therefore implemented Christmas as a means of celebration for Christ. Although it has long been unrecognized that winter was not the actual season of Christ's birth. Many historians (although this subject is and always will be up for debate) put Christ's birth more around when we celebrate Easter, April or Spring time. Neat little fact, most Americans recognize 3 wise men coming to visit the baby Jesus, but really it would have been a great many and Jesus would have been around 2 by the time they got there. Traveling across great distances and especially across deserts posed serious hazards then. Thieves thrived on caravans, so the more the merrier - ha I crack myself up sometimes. These puns, I tell you. Anyway, so no rational person would have traveled so far with only 2 other fellas. It just wasn't smart. Also, in order to go as far as they did, it would have taken years. So, when we see references of a baby Jesus, he was probably more like Toddler Jesus. But I digress, back to the dates thing. If you dig into the history of Christmas you'll find a lot of information on calendaral change. (Yep I made up a word, get used to it. Not the first time, won't be the last!) To be honest, I don't really want to go into it, but rest assured there's a lot. So again, Christians needed a winter holiday and since Easter season was already taken, they picked celebrating Christ's birth in December. Gotta spread the Christ love a little.
To make this a little shorter than 57 pages, I'm gonna go all Reader's Digest on you and sum things up a bit. So Christmas didn't start out all gifty gifty. In fact it didn't even become a Federal Holiday in America until 1870. There was a lot of controversy over the holiday in Europe for a period, citing that it caused a lot of rauckus behavior. So the Pilgrims being the stuffy folks they were, banned the celebration of Christmas in early American history. In fact, from 1659-1681 Christmas was banned in Boston. (Side note, I find it interesting they started early. Some of you will get that, some of you won't, either way it's just me saying - Hmm.) Moving on, so before the Civil War the North and South were very divided on how to celebrate Christmas. Some of you may know this and some of you are now learning, the south has always been a place of custom and socialization. So the Christmas season was another chance for social events and parties. For the North, Thanksgiving was a more appropriate time for celebrating. Post Civil War children's books helped promote the spread of many Christmas traditions, including tree trimming and presents from Santa Clause. (Which has a very storied history himself!!) By the late 1800's American's were caroling, baking, decorating and buying at Christmas time. Since then, materialism, the media and mass marketing have driven Christmas to what it is today. People going on Thanksgiving night to get steals of deals on TV's for themselves. Because we just can't live with out that mini cake pop maker another minute! But many of the former traditional Christmas traditions (I realize that's redundant and I tried to stop it, but, there was no other way. But this post is almost over and it gets better, I promise) were blended together from customs from many other countries. In fact, those other countries consider America's National Holiday to be, Christmas. Fun fact there for ya.
So while you're baking your brains out, agonizing over those spilled sprinkles, hanging a lifetime's worth of ornaments, or worried that if you go to church you'll actually have to sing a dreaded hymn, remember that Christmas was and is more than all of this. The Pastor from my home church was born on December 25th, and his father was as well a minister, and while growing up, his parents on many occasions had to sit him down and say "Stephen, all this is not about you." I think that's applicable to us all. This isn't about us. It's not about who gets what, or whose ham is worse, or the fact that we actually have to dress up once a year. Nope. It's so much more.
Doctor Seuss had it right.Christmas still came without all the bells and whistles, it came just the same. Because Christmas, is about proclaiming the love of Christ by celebrating his birth. Even if that's a few months off.
And THAT Charlie Brown ... is the REAL meaning of Christmas.
** Most of the information supplied here was former knowledge of my own, the rest was supplied from: http://www.thehistoryofchristmas.com/ **
So most people know, or are familiar with the fact that the celebration of Christmas revolves around the celebration of Christ's birth. Back, well back in the day, pagans celebrated seasonal change and thusly celebrated the coming of the winter solstice. Early Christians wanted to combat the pagan ritual and therefore implemented Christmas as a means of celebration for Christ. Although it has long been unrecognized that winter was not the actual season of Christ's birth. Many historians (although this subject is and always will be up for debate) put Christ's birth more around when we celebrate Easter, April or Spring time. Neat little fact, most Americans recognize 3 wise men coming to visit the baby Jesus, but really it would have been a great many and Jesus would have been around 2 by the time they got there. Traveling across great distances and especially across deserts posed serious hazards then. Thieves thrived on caravans, so the more the merrier - ha I crack myself up sometimes. These puns, I tell you. Anyway, so no rational person would have traveled so far with only 2 other fellas. It just wasn't smart. Also, in order to go as far as they did, it would have taken years. So, when we see references of a baby Jesus, he was probably more like Toddler Jesus. But I digress, back to the dates thing. If you dig into the history of Christmas you'll find a lot of information on calendaral change. (Yep I made up a word, get used to it. Not the first time, won't be the last!) To be honest, I don't really want to go into it, but rest assured there's a lot. So again, Christians needed a winter holiday and since Easter season was already taken, they picked celebrating Christ's birth in December. Gotta spread the Christ love a little.
To make this a little shorter than 57 pages, I'm gonna go all Reader's Digest on you and sum things up a bit. So Christmas didn't start out all gifty gifty. In fact it didn't even become a Federal Holiday in America until 1870. There was a lot of controversy over the holiday in Europe for a period, citing that it caused a lot of rauckus behavior. So the Pilgrims being the stuffy folks they were, banned the celebration of Christmas in early American history. In fact, from 1659-1681 Christmas was banned in Boston. (Side note, I find it interesting they started early. Some of you will get that, some of you won't, either way it's just me saying - Hmm.) Moving on, so before the Civil War the North and South were very divided on how to celebrate Christmas. Some of you may know this and some of you are now learning, the south has always been a place of custom and socialization. So the Christmas season was another chance for social events and parties. For the North, Thanksgiving was a more appropriate time for celebrating. Post Civil War children's books helped promote the spread of many Christmas traditions, including tree trimming and presents from Santa Clause. (Which has a very storied history himself!!) By the late 1800's American's were caroling, baking, decorating and buying at Christmas time. Since then, materialism, the media and mass marketing have driven Christmas to what it is today. People going on Thanksgiving night to get steals of deals on TV's for themselves. Because we just can't live with out that mini cake pop maker another minute! But many of the former traditional Christmas traditions (I realize that's redundant and I tried to stop it, but, there was no other way. But this post is almost over and it gets better, I promise) were blended together from customs from many other countries. In fact, those other countries consider America's National Holiday to be, Christmas. Fun fact there for ya.
So while you're baking your brains out, agonizing over those spilled sprinkles, hanging a lifetime's worth of ornaments, or worried that if you go to church you'll actually have to sing a dreaded hymn, remember that Christmas was and is more than all of this. The Pastor from my home church was born on December 25th, and his father was as well a minister, and while growing up, his parents on many occasions had to sit him down and say "Stephen, all this is not about you." I think that's applicable to us all. This isn't about us. It's not about who gets what, or whose ham is worse, or the fact that we actually have to dress up once a year. Nope. It's so much more.
Doctor Seuss had it right.Christmas still came without all the bells and whistles, it came just the same. Because Christmas, is about proclaiming the love of Christ by celebrating his birth. Even if that's a few months off.
And THAT Charlie Brown ... is the REAL meaning of Christmas.
** Most of the information supplied here was former knowledge of my own, the rest was supplied from: http://www.thehistoryofchristmas.com/ **
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