The Truth About Holidays

The Truth about Holidays

As December approaches the air all around becomes filled with the smell of Christmas. Without thinking, people get out their trees, put up their decorations, and start buying their gifts. To do all these things is normal; almost a force of habit. These habits are customs that people look forward to and treasure. For some, though, holidays have deeper meanings. They hold a deeper meaning, and are sacred and pure, in a way. To them, they have deep religious roots that span over generations and generations. What most people do not realize is that their beloved holidays often have pagan roots, and unpure beginnings.

If someone were to ask the general public how Easter began they would most likely be able to state the reason it is celebrated, though not all would, and different Easter celebrations of the time period. A problem with their answers would arise if someone asked them to link the two events together. Most self respecting Christians understand that Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead three days later, which is why we celebrate a holiday that memorializes him. If that is they case, where did the rabbit come in? If people are commemorating God’s son dying on the cross, then why do they do it by dressing up like animals and handing out eggs? Is it to make it more acceptable to society?

The same happens with Christmas. Most people can relay the story of the birth of Jesus easily off the top of their heads. Almost all people, five year olds and elderly alike can tell vivid stories of their Christmas celebrations, with Santa Claus, stockings and eggnog galore. The same problem comes up again, however, when someone asks how it all coincides. How did a man in a white beard become linked with the story of a baby born in a manger? Even more importantly, how could a baby be born safely in the middle of winter with little to no shelter?

Questions arise with almost every holiday. These holidays have either started from falsehoods, or have been twisted from their original roots to fit the traditions of different time periods. Most holidays are thought of as Christian or have Christian origins, but have started from pagan roots.

A general consensus would confirm that most people’s favorite holiday is Christmas. It is a holiday observed by all people around the world, but is most significant to Christians. But how did this holiday get started? Some things are more widely known, such as the tales of St. Nicholas, the main figure to go into the early creation of Santa Claus (Tarpley 1). It was started in two ways. In the middle ages, Christianity began to grow more popular than most pagan religions thanks to the approval of rulers at that time (“Christmas” 3). As it spread, so did its main holiday, Easter. Around the fourth century as more and more people began to convert, it was thought that they should celebrate Christ’s birth along with his death (“Christmas” 2). A problem arose when they realized that the bible had no mention what so ever of the date that Jesus was born (“Christmas” 2). The logical thing to do, to them at least, was to make a holiday around the time that they were used to having celebrations. For pagan religions, most holidays were celebrated in the winter because that was the time that harvest was over, all meat was slaughtered, and all of the wine and mead was fermented (“Christmas” 1). Thus, a holiday was created called “The Feast of Nativity” to celebrate the birth of Christ. Such a sacred holiday was not celebrated as expected, however. Church officials had no control of how it was celebrated because they made it so close to original pagan holidays. People made the switch more natural by using the same traditions they always had.

On the day of the feast people would go to church to commemorate the event, then pull a completely turn around and party raucously in the street. It was unsafe for woman and children to go out after dark that night, and extra police force was often hired because the partying was so extreme. Tradition went that the crowds would pick a “Lord of misrule” and have the rest of the people serve him all night like insane subjects (“Christmas” 3). Also that night, the social order would be flipped in a “trick or treat” like fashion. The peasants and towns folk in the city would go to the upper class houses and demand food, drink, and entertainment (“Christmas” 2). If they did not meet their demands they would cause a ruckus to the poor nobles. Christmas was so incredibly dangerous, that it was outlawed in certain cities in the new colonies, such as Boston. If someone was seen showing the “Christmas Spirit” they could be fined on the spot. He strict demands were impart to the Puritans and their attitudes towards sin. Christmas fell even more out of favor after the American Revolution because of the distaste for the British that remained after the war (“Christmas 3).

Christmas was redefined slightly in 17th century as a Church reform swept the area. Surprisingly, the thing that contributed most its change, was simply a collection of short stories by Washington Irving called The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, gent. It painted a picture of a family using Christmas as a time of togetherness and bonding. Strange thing is, though, he had never experienced that himself. The idea of a peaceful and loving holiday was an idea that was solely created from his imagination. Imagine what Christmas might be like today if he had never thought of that. The holiday grew more and more about family values thanks to Charles Dickens and his story A Christmas Carol. The story helped