Happy Advent! In this episode of the Compass Podcast, we prepare for the UPCOMING Christmas season by looking at the history and practices of the holiday.
Why is the date of Jesus’ birth celebrated on December 25? Why do we sometimes call Santa Claus “Saint Nicholas”? Was the Grinch based on a real person? We’re doing a short but deep dive into Christmas traditions and practices.
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Episode notes
In this episode:
(00:00) Rethinking Christmas traditions
(00:59) Myth 1: Christmas is the most important Christian holiday
(04:06) Myth 2: Christmas is just an adaptation of a pagan festival
(06:06) Myth 3: Jesus was born on December 25
(07:52) Myth 4: There's a new modern war on Christmas
(10:33) Myth 5: Writing "Xmas" is disrespectful or sacrilegious
(12:11) Myth 6: Santa Claus is Saint Nicholas
(15:33) Myth 7: Mary rode a donkey to Bethlehem
(17:02) Myth 8: A star shone directly above the birth scene
(18:05) Myth 9: Three kings were present at Jesus' birth
(18:37) Myth 10: December is the Christmas season
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This episode posted on December 21, 2022
Episode Transcript:
Ryan Dunn:
This is the Compass podcast where we disrupt the everyday with glimpses of the Divine. Including… Christmas!
That’s right! There are actually religious and spiritual roots to the holiday. The Divine is present in the celebration! It’s not all commerce and over-consumption.
I’m sorry… I’ll stop there. This podcast is definitely not the kind of space where we get outraged by coffee cups that say “happy holidays” and the like. But for the spiritual seeker, it’s definitely helpful to keep going back to the spiritual origins of our Christmas celebrations.
So, in the interest of diving into the spiritually-influenced side of Christmas, we’re going to use this episode to disrupt or debunk 10 myths that are commonly applied to Christmas.
My name is Ryan Dunn, and it’s the holidays and nobody’s got time to mess around… so let’s get to the disrupting. Shall we?
Myth number one that we tend to believe about Christmas is that it’s the most important Christian holiday.
Now, in practice, we treat this like it is true… even within the Christian community. If we look at the resources that churches sink into their Christmas celebrations verses what the invest in other holidays, I think we would see through our little audit that churches tend to play into the idea that Christmas is THE big deal in the Christian year.
And that might be true for many congregations in terms of making connections with their communities and opening connections with new comers and all that.
However, I don’t believe there’s much theological support for saying that Christmas is the big deal that we tend to make of it.
In terms of holidays, most churches by practice and investment suggest that Christmas and Easter are the really big events in Christian remembrance and celebration. Those are definitely the two times of the year when churches count on bumps in worship participation. In fact, there are terms used by church staff for people who seemingly come out of the woodwork to attend these holiday services. Sometimes they’re called “Creasters”. I’ve also heard them called “two-timers”... because, you know, they come to worship two times a year.
Did you know you could be a two-timer? ANYWAYS….
Of those two holidays, theology seems way more concerned with the events of Easter than with the events of Christmas. If we review the scope of the New Testament, it becomes clear that Jesus’ birth is not comparatively a big deal. Two of our four gospel accounts don’t mention it. It’s even less present in the epistles of the New Testament. Only Galatians makes mention of Jesus birth, but it doesn’t give any description of the event. Galatians 4 just says that Jesus was born of a woman.
But the Resurrection that we remember and celebrate in the Easter celebration? Well, that’s all over the place. It’s in all the gospel. In Paul’s New Testament letters, the Resurrection is THE thing.
I am OFTEN reminded on our Rethink Church social media accounts that the early church did not celebrate Christmas at all. And they would likely be shocked to see the prominent role that this modern holiday plays within the church’s rhythm of life. Since, again, Easter and the Resurrection were and are THE thing.
But on the flip side, we can celebrate that Easter has not endured the degree of commercialism that Christmas has. None of us get burned out on Easter music… or feel like there are too many Easter parties to attend… or feel pinched to send out a hundred Easter cards and get gifts for everybody.
Easter is not without it’s own degree of commercialism. But it’s still largely a religious event and carries a lot more reverence.
So where did Christmas come from? Let’s let that take us into myth number two: that Christmas is just a modern adaptation of a pagan festival and therefore, according to my commenting friends on social media, it should not be celebrated.
There are many traditions that have origins outside of Christian practice that have become part of our Christmas celebrations. Things like mistletoe and yule logs and Christmas trees and the like. However, these practices are not central to the Christian observance of Christmas.
The date of Christmas was derived from the supposed date of Christ’s conception… which some early theologians thought was in March. So, the date of Christ’s birth, they supposed, was 9 months later… on December 25.
Of course, there were already several holidays being observed by many different cultures that would adopt Christian beliefs. Some of the practices associated with these holidays became associated with Christmas. But the holiday itself didn’t seem to be a kind of Jesus Juke to supplant an already existing festival.
Now, I certainly don’t believe that there’s some kind of 11th commandment that thou shalt observe the Christmas holiday and keep it a big deal. But I also think there’s a lot of merit to observing a season that is devoted to enacting the ideals of Christ. And if that comes along with some frivolities like a tree in my living room, I’m OK there… especially because I don’t think that a trapping like that is leading me on a path separate from God’s.
In short, we’re not accidentally worshipping Saturn or Mithras or Osiris or some other pagan entity by reflecting on the origin story of Christ.
But this takes us to myth number three… which is that Jesus was born on December 25th.
Truth? We have no idea when Jesus’ actual birthday is. Our two gospel accounts don’t include a date. As already mentioned, our date of December 25 was contrived by using the supposed date of Jesus’ conception.
Now, where did the conception date come from? Well, there was an old belief that prophets and holy people died on the same day they were conceived. And Jesus died at the time of the Jewish Passover, which we can kind of sort of date. So they took 9 months out from that and come up with a date for Jesus birth. Now this was not universally assumed to be December 25th… it was just kind of around December 25th. Some communities had it on January 6th, others earlier.
The bottom line is that we don’t actually know for sure why December 25th became the traditional date to observe Jesus birth. Which means it was probably a whole slew of reasons… like the math equation from the conception date and the presence of other observances like the winter solstice.
So there we go… we can’t say for sure when Jesus was born nor can we say for sure why December 25th was ultimately decided… except that a 4th-century Pope said that this would be the date we observe the mass of Christ’s birth.
OK, so glad I could really clear that up for everyone.
Let’s talk myth number 4: there’s a new modern war on Christmas.
I’ll start here by saying that I don’t see a concerted, organized movement to erase Christmas. There are probably some people who would like to cancel Christmas. But a movement to say “happy holidays” does not dispel the existence of Christmas.
In the past, there have been far more organized and comprehensive efforts to erase Christmas–not what we celebrate, but the celebration itself. The Puritans, who were amongst the earliest European colonizers of North America, expressed their will to practice freedom of religion by banning Christmas celebrations. Ha, so some people thought we were being too harsh in our Thanksgiving episode. Anyways, for the Puritans, Christmas traditions were too pagan and the celebrations often grew too raucous for their comfort.
One Puritan pastor, a passionate fellow named Arthur Grinchley, was a Crusader against Christmas. It seems that during a brief visit to condemn some Christmas revelers, he was served some bad nog. It made him quite sick… but Rev. Grinchley would not be kept down. As he delivered a sermon the next morning, the sickness and the passion took a strong hold of the Reverend. And as he shouted out his condemnations of the colonists revelry, his skin took on a pale, greenish tint. And while his words are forgotten, the passion and sickly green tint of the good Rev were long-remembered. Rev. Grinchley became the archetype for the anti-Christmas movement. And, of course, provided the inspiration for Dr. Seuss and his Grinch character. And, of course, I hope it’s obvious that I made this stuff up. Sorry. The things about the Puritans banning Christmas are true… but Arthur Grinchley is not. Sorry.
In other, true Christmas bannings… Oliver Cromwell saw to it that Christmas was banned in England for a period in the 1600’s. Maybe he was the inspiration for the Grinch.
Many church leaders and theologians during Medieval times tried to dissuade a heavy concentration on Christmas. Some church leaders discouraged the gift giving practices of their congregants, fearing that the practice was leaning into materialism and consumerism. Ha! We’ve shown those old Grinchley codgers, haven’t we?
One of the claims utilized by proponents of the War on Christmas is that the use of the shortened term “Xmas” takes the Christ out of Christmas. And we’ll make that myth number 5: that writing “Xmas” is disrespectful or sacriligeous.
I’ve been accused of this one. Twitter only gives you so many characters, friends. So it’s really expedient to shorten the Christmas term and save space. Or when jotting quick notes, it’s much easier and useful to put down an X in place of the whole word.
When I was in seminary, I had a number of professors who would freely substitute an X in place of the term “Christ”. “X-T-N” was a ubiquitous substitute for the long-form “Christian”. Why would they use X? Are they ex-ing out Jesus and Christ?
Nope. It’s an old practice, actually. “X” has long been used as an abbreviation for the word “Christ”. The Greek word “Christos” begins with the letter chi, which is represented by what we understand to be an X. So very early in the church, leaders began substituting an X for Christos. And if you look at Christian, old stained glass, or even episcopal symbolism, you’ll see the X character is widely used… since it is a symbol for Christ.
There are even documents from the 11th-century where the use of Xmas is common. Were they trying to take Jesus out of Christmas? Nope. They were just trying to save parchment, just like I want to save Twitter characters or, well, writing effort.
Alright, we’re going to get biblical in a minute. But first, let’s hit a myth that touches on the substitutionary things we’ve hoisted onto Christmas. In this case, the claim that Santa Claus is Saint Nicholas. That’s myth 6.
Saint Nicholas was a Greek born in the late third century, around 280 A.D. He became bishop of Myra, a small Roman town in modern Turkey. Nicholas was a fiery, wiry, and defiant defender of church doctrine during the Great Persecution in 303. During this time, Bibles were burned and priests made to renounce Christianity or face execution.
Nicholas defied these edicts and spent years in prison before the Roman emperor Constantine ended Christian persecution in 313 with the Edict of Milan. Nicholas's fame lived long after his death (on December 6 in the mid-fourth century, around 343) because he was associated with many miracles, and reverence for him continues to this day independent of his Christmas connection.
In one story about Saint Nicholas, three young girls were saved from a life of prostitution when young Bishop Nicholas secretly delivered three bags of gold to their indebted father so he could supply their dowries.
In another story, Nicholas entered an inn whose keeper had just murdered three boys and pickled their dismembered bodies in basement barrels. The bishop not only sensed the crime, but resurrected the victims as well.
His feast day is December 6. And it was a custom to give gifts to children in honor of St Nicholas’ feast day. It’s likely that during the Reformation, when observations and commemorations regarding saints was becoming displace, the gift-giving tradition become more heavily associated with Christmas gift giving.
NOW, let’s compare that man with the description of our current Santa Claus, as popularized in the United States. This is a rhetorical description from American bard, Bob Dylan and his song “Must Be Santa”
Who's got a beard that's long and white?
Santa's got a beard that's long and white
Who comes around on a special night?
Santa comes around on a special night
Special night – beard that's white
Must be Santa,
Who wears boots and a suit of red?
Santa wears boots and a suit of red
Who wears a long cap on his head?
Santa wears a long cap on his head
Cap on head – suit that's red
Special night – beard that's white
Must be Santa,
Who's got a big red cherry nose?
Santa's got a big red cherry nose
Who laughs this way: "Ho-ho-ho"?
Santa laughs this way "Ho-ho-ho"
Ho-ho-ho – cherry nose
Cap on head – suit that's red
Special night – beard that's white
Must be Santa,
You get the idea… You can include bringing gifts or lumps of cool, drinking Coca-Cola and visiting shopping malls for long listening sessions with children. Is that still a thing? I wonder if the pandemic killed that tradition.
ANYWAYS, to call that character St. Nicholas is quite a departure from the St Nicholas of the 4th century.
That’s fun. Let’s get biblical. Myth 7: That Mary rode a donkey on her way to Bethlehem.
There was a picture that hung in a Sunday school room of a church I used to serve that showed a pregnant Mary riding a donkey. And it made me laugh because trailing like 20 yards behind and slightly out of focus was Joseph. It felt like a relatable example for anyone who has taken a family road trip, capturing that moment when everyone’s just sick of the travel, of the companionship and longing to be at the destination.
Anyways, here’s what the Gospel of Luke says about Mary and Joseph’s journey.
So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. (Luke 2:3-7)
Where’s the donkey? I dunno. I suppose it’s possible she rode a donkey. But that really seems to have been just a supposition that has taken off… possibly to make Joseph look like a nicer guy–providing a ride for his pregnant wife.
We know the next part, May gives birth and Myth 8: a star shines above the manger area leading others to the Christ (or X) child.
Just about every nativity set or depiction of the blessed birth includes a shining star over the heads of the characters. Except the Gospels don’t say that the star was there at that time.
What we’ve done is taken several events that were spread out over months… or possibly even years… and conflated them into this singular night of spectacular events. The star enters the Jesus story when the magi are searching for the Christ child. According to Matthew 2, they see a star that points them in the direction of Jesus. They follow it first to Jerusalem, then on to Bethlehem. King Herod then orders all children two and under in the area to be killed… so Jesus could have been nearing 2 years old by this point.
And speaking of the magi, here’s myth 9: there were 3 kings present at the birth scene.
The biblical accounts don’t say how many magi visited Jesus. Nor does it mentions kings. It seems a little weird that there would be these three kings hanging out together in the wilderness searching for a child.
We likely get the number three from the report that three gifts were presented by the magi to little Jesus–those gifts being gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Myth debunked… sort of.
We’re coming fast and furious now, so here’s myth 10: December is the Christmas season.
For Christians, December corresponds with the season of Advent, which is distinct from Christmas.
The word “advent” derives from the Latin “adventus”, meaning “coming.” During its earliest observances, Advent was 40 days of repentance, fasting and prayer as new believers prepared for their baptisms. Oftentimes, these baptisms took place on the day of Epiphany--which is a day remembering the Magi’s visit to baby Jesus; it was a celebration of Jesus’ incarnation on Earth.
Later Christians began tying Advent not just to Christ’s incarnation, but to an anticipated second coming of Christ. Advent became a period for renewing the anticipation and longing for Jesus’ return.
Today, Advent is a period of preparation for both “advents”--or arrivals--of Jesus.
The actual, liturgical Christmas season begins on December 25 and lasts until Epiphany, 12 days later. Thus the 12 days of Christmas and all that. That, technically, is the Christmas season.
So how’s that for a fakeout. All those get togethers you attend through the season, you’ve actually been duped into attending Advent parties! And if you’re feeling like a failure because you’re not getting your cards in the mail until December 26, don’t sweat it! You’re actually right on time for the Christmas season.
So there’s some good news to close out this happy holidays, merry Christmas-ed episode of Compass.
The Compass Podcast is brought to you by United Methodist Communications.
If Compass is meaningful for you, then check out another episode.
If you like this one, then check out our “Ongoing history of hell” episode–JK, though it’s not bad. “God interruptions of good news” from December of 2021 is full of Christmas cheerl. You can also kick back to 2019 and listen to the Digital Dentangling episode. It’s not exactly about Christmas, but has some nice, restful ideas as we head towards a new year.
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Compass comes out every other Wednesday… unless we are interrupted by a holiday, in which case, we’ll hit your feed the following week.
Talk to you soon and Merry Christmas!
Peace!
