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The
Origins of Christmas Customs
Such terms as Christmas (Christ's mass), Noel, Yuletide,
Santa Claus, Mistletoe, Christmas Tree, etc., never
appear in the Bible. Now that we know that it didn't
come from the events of the birth of Christ, where did
the traditional Christmas customs come from? Most encyclopedic
works show that the December 25th date stems from a
pagan European holiday. According to the Encyclopedia
Americana, 1956 Ed., Vol 6, p. 622, "the celebration
was not observed in the early centuries of the church."
The Roman Catholic Church completely destroyed the early
church made up of believing Israelites (Jews) and religious
proselytes. |
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"Seek
ye out of the book of the LORD, and read:
no one of these shall fail, none shall want her
mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his
spirit it hath gathered them." Isaiah 34:16 |
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Hence, the seven churches
the apostle Paul began throughout Europe and Asia were destroyed.
If the believers of the Jewish Messiah would not accept the
universal religion, they died brutal deaths at the hands of
the Romans.
A feast was established in memory of Yoshua 's birth
in the 300's AD by the Catholics. In the 5th Century, the
Roman Catholic Church ordered the feast to be celebrated on
the day of the "Mathraic rites of the birth ofthe sun,
and at the close of the Saturnalia." According to the
\World Book Encyclopedia, 1980 Ed., Vol. 17, p. 128, the Romans
honored Saturn, god of fertility and planting with a festival
called "Saturnalia." The festival began on December
17 and lasted seven days. Scholars attribute many of the modern
Christmas customs to the Saturnalia feast, including feasting,
tree decorating and the giving of gifts. The real reason for
the Christmas Customs is to honor and worship the sun and
pagan fertility gods. Lets explore the more popular Christmas
symbols and their origins.
Santa Claus/St. Nicholas
According to World Book Encyclopedia, 1980 Ed. Vol. 3, p.
415, Saint Nicholas served in the Roman Catholic Church as
Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor around the 300' s AD. He was
famous for his generosity and became the patron saint of children.
He was believed to bring gifts to children on the eve of Dec
6. Gradually he became accepted as the gift giver at Christmas
time, acquiring different names in different countries.
The name Santa Claus comes from early American Dutch settlers
who called Saint Nicholas "Sinterclaas." He took
on the same non-religious characteristics as the English Father
Christmas. The belief that Santa Claus enters the house through
the chimney developed from an old Norse legend. The Norse
believed that Goddess Hertha appeared in the fireplace and
brought good luck to the home.
In America, Sinterclaas became Santa Claus, and thanks to
a poem by Clement Moore named "Twas the Night before
Christmas," Santa soon began to be depicted in advertisings
as the modern day Santa. The motif of a cheerful, bearded,
jolly old man bringing gifts however is certainly not unique
to the Saint Nicholas legend. In fact this character can also
be found in Norse mythology under the name Woden Bacchus,
the bearded homosexual Roman god of wine and revelry also
led his festivities with the same jolly countenance and "spirit"
of merriment and gift giving during the Saturnalia festival.
The Christmas Tree Part 3
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