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A History of Christmas in America

12/18/2015

14 Comments

 
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In the United States of America, Christmas was established as a federal holiday on June 26, 1870.  It is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, the man Christians believe is the son of God and the savior of the world.  It has its roots in ancient times and is celebrated around the world.
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For the first few hundred years after Jesus Christ, his birthday was not celebrated.  Instead, Epiphany, when the three kings from separate places of the world visited Christ, was the focus of Christians.  The visit of the Magi symbolized that salvation was open to the whole world, not just one select nation.  Later, early Church Fathers promoted the idea that the birth of Jesus Christ should be celebrated.  December 25, 336, marks the first day Christians officially celebrated the first Christmas on Earth, and it was in the Roman Empire.

The date of Christmas and some American traditions have pagan roots.  In the Roman Empire, December 25th was the day of “natalis solis invict” (the Roman birth of the unconquered sun), and the birthday of Mithras, the Iranian “Sun of Righteousness.”  Saturnalia, a Roman festival that honored the sun, lasted from December 17th to December 23rd.  The winter solstice, the darkest day of the year, also falls a few days before December 25th and had been celebrated by pagans.  Early Christian Church leaders believed that days that had been set aside to honor pagan gods could be changed to honor Christianity.  It was thought that people would more easily accept Christianity and move away from paganism by replacing pagan celebrations with Christian ones. 

The festival of Saturnalia honored the Roman god Saturn.  Romans had a public banquet, gifts were exchanged, there was much partying, and servants were served by their masters.  Singers performed in streets, and baked cookies shaped like men.  While some Christians dislike any association with pagan traditions, Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430) wrote, “We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun, but because of him who made it." 
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In Great Britain, Christmas was celebrated until the Puritans, led by Oliver Cromwell, outlawed Christmas in 1645.  Puritans believed that celebrating the birth of Christ was a sign of decadence and a disgrace to Christianity.  In the English Colonies, the English separatists also believed in worshipping Jesus without ceremonies and made celebrating Christmas a crime.  

In the 1800s, Americans' views on Christmas changed a great deal.  One author, Washington Irving, wrote fictitious stories of how Christmas had been celebrated in England before the Puritans took over, and some of these stories caught on in American practices.  German immigrants brought with them the practice of placing evergreen branches and trees in home during winter as a reminder of life during hard times.  And, Catholic immigrants brought the tradition started by Saint Francis of keeping small nativity scenes in their homes.  By the late 1800s, most Americans celebrated Christmas. In 1870, President Grant and Congress declared Christmas, the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, savior of the world, a national holiday.

Questions
  1. What is Christmas a celebration of?
  2. What day did early Christians celebrate that was not the birthday of Jesus?
  3. What is “natalis solis invict” and on what day did Romans celebrate this holiday?
  4. Why did early Christian leaders choose a date that used to be a pagan holiday to celebrate Christmas?
  5. What was the festival of Saturnalia?
  6. Who outlawed the celebration of Christmas in 1645? Why?
  7. What did English Separatists in the colonies think about celebrating Christmas?
  8. What did Washington Irving write about Christmas?
  9. What did German immigrants to America practice regarding Christmas?
  10. Who created the idea of the nativity scene?
Research or analysis
  1. Research how Christmas is celebrated in three other countries. Write this down. Choose one tradition that you find most interesting. Share this with your family.
  2. Research the history behind Santa Claus. Who was Saint Nicholaus?  
14 Comments
Judith Martinez
12/23/2015 03:27:51 pm

I've read numerous articles in recent years that make a good argument against the roman holidays predating the date early Christians chose for Christ's birth. Some early Christians believed that a prophet would die the same day he was born and then it was pointed out that thru should consider conception date rather then birth. Although there isn't enough evidence to know for sure it appears that the early church determined march 25 to be the dates of the crucifixion and then counted forward nine months to determine his birthday.

Reply
Ethan Clausen
12/30/2015 07:25:04 am

This was a very interesting article. I always knew WHY we celebrated Christmas but I knew the history behind America's version of this holiday.

Reply
Rachel Johnson
1/4/2016 10:25:18 am

This was a really interesting article. I knew that part of the celebration of Christmas had pagan roots, but I didn't know how we got the tradition of Christmas trees.

Reply
Hannah Stebner
1/6/2016 02:10:51 pm

Interesting history. I never knew that christmas had once been outlawed.

Reply
Elisabeth
1/6/2016 02:20:13 pm

Christmas has become such an established holiday it's really interesting to hear about it's origins, and to learn that Puritans thought it a disgrace to Christianity.

Reply
Colin Lewis
1/6/2016 02:43:41 pm

Thank you for writing this article it was nice to learn more about the history of Christmas during the holiday season.

Reply
Everett
1/6/2016 04:21:03 pm

Interesting that Christmas wasn't a huge deal back then compared to what it is now.

Reply
Megan
12/12/2017 06:24:01 am

the English colonies paragraph mid way down. About ceremonies. sadly we get so taken in by ceremonies that we are focused on those not Christ. I think they are on to something good. drop the ceremonies and worship Jesus, truly worship him deep in your heart. most don't even get past the surface today of what worship is. Maybe Christians are afraid of that depth of love and respect. but they should not be. its what He wants from us.

Reply
Donita link
12/13/2017 11:03:35 am

You said, "one early Christian writer commented, 'We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun, but because of him who made it.' Who was it and in what document? I am researching this subject and the people I deal with demand verifiable sources.

Reply
John De Gree link
12/13/2018 01:09:30 pm

Dear Donita,
I apologize it has been forever since you wrote this comment!
It was St. Augustine of Hippo who wrote this.

Reply
Desiree Giselle Gonzalez
12/19/2017 08:07:18 pm

I really enjoy reading this amazing article and it was very interesting to me. It was interesting to me because there was a lot of stuff that I did not know about Christmas. This help a lot for my speech that I'm going to do for Christmas . I thought it was very interesting that they did not celebrated Jesus birthday for the first few hundred years.

Reply
joanna
12/20/2018 12:51:05 pm

Merry Christmas

Reply
Jesus Christ link
12/20/2018 01:14:32 pm

Jesus Chri stmas

Reply



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    John De Gree

    John De Gree writes the current events with a look at the history of each topic. Articles are written for the young person, aged 10-18, and Mr. De Gree carefully writes so that all readers can understand the event. The perspective the current events are written in is Judeo-Christian. 

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  • Home
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