Each year around this time, families gather for the Christmas season. One such tradition is the family argument. If you celebrate the holiday with your relatives, you know that Christmas isn’t complete without someone making a stupid comment and a table laden with the Christmas feast turning into a holiday battleground. Here are five such controversies that have arisen over the Christmas holiday and some background on how to approach them.
Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays
Recently, this has been a HUGE debate over how we greet someone with kindness during the month of December. Traditional Christians argue that the only way to greet people is by saying “Merry Christmas”, while others feel that it is more politically correct to opt with the “Happy Holidays” fare-thee-well. Both are messages of goodwill, yet people are offended if you say one over the other. Personally, I don’t care what people say. Merry Christmas has only been a traditional saying in England, Ireland, Canada and the United States. It first appeared as a greeting in 1565 in the Hereford Municipal Manuscript, though did not become a popular greeting until the mid-1800s. In most British-ruled countries, the correct phrase is actually, “Happy Christmas” because the term Merry represents a drunken behavior. “Happy Holidays” also appeared in the mid-1800s and is a collective inclusion of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. It can also represent the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. I think I will skip both phrases this year and just tell people “Seasons Greetings”. Dwight Eisenhower made this term popular in the U.S. with his 1955 Washington Christmas card. I’ll make sure to say this with a smile.
Christmas vs. Xmas
This is another ridiculous controversy. Some people claim that it is a way to undermine Christianity from the Christmas holiday, yet this logic is completely faulty. The people that complain about this do not understand the history of the term, Xmas. If you break down the term for Christmas, it literally means, “the mass of Christ”. Thus, when you look at the term “Xmas” you get “the mass of X”. This is an outrage, right? Well, it is if “X” is shorthand to take away word Christ. However, it is not. “X” is the Greek letter “Chi” which is short for the term of Christ – or Christos in Greek. As you may recall, the Bible was written in Greek before it was translated into Latin and then the secular languages. While frowned upon in many cultures, the term “Xmas” is nothing to get uptight about.
Traditional Christmas vs. Orthodox Christmas
While most people celebrate Christmas on December 25th, the Orthodox Church puts the date on January 7th. Why do the Orthodox Christians celebrate the day 13 days after the traditional date? The reason is simple enough. The Orthodox Church observes Christmas on the Gregorian calendar instead of the Julian version. They started celebrating this in 1927 and remain to use that system until this day.
Secular vs. Religious Observance
Another big controversy over the Christmas season is the fight between the religious aspects of the holiday and all of the commercialism. It seems that the day after Halloween, the big chain stores now have Christmas decorations out and artificial trees on sale. The religious folks are screaming for the “Reason for the Season” with good meaning. Should Christmas be a commercial endeavor with days like “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday”? The stores count down the days to the holiday with bigger and better sales going on every minute. They stay open later and later to entice visitors to shop, shop, and shop! People start to forget that it is a celebration for the birth of Christ and not a reason to trample your neighbors to get the biggest deal.
Christmas on December 25 vs. Another Day Altogether
Whether you want to believe it or not, Jesus Christ was most likely not born on December 25th. The stories of the shepherds and the wise men coming to the manger are written in the books of Luke and Matthew but no date is given. The census, ordered by the Roman Emperor, Augustus, was issued in 7BC and was the impetus for Joseph and Mary to return to Bethlehem. All records indicate they would have been in Syria around 3BC. Luke also mentions that the shepherds were watching their flocks by night, which would indicate lambing season. This occurs in the autumn and the spring. Further, Revelation 12 mentions that the constellation Virgo “was clothed with the sun and the moon at her feet”. This places the birth of Christ in September between the 10th and the 25th and matches with the lambs birthing season. So how did we get December 25th as the holiday for the birth of Jesus? The answer is most likely because there are several religious holidays that occur during this time period. First, there is the Jewish feast of Hanukkah or the “Festival of Lights”. Jesus, was of course, Jewish and it makes sense to follow this tradition. Also, the Romans were celebrating the Saturnalia, which celebrates the winter solstice and the Feast of Sol Invictus or the unconquerable sun which promised longer days occurring as the year progressed. Nonetheless, we just use December 25th as a reminder of Christ’s birthday, not the actual event.
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