December 8 2007

I have some friends and relatives who are evangelical Christians. They always feel distressed at this time of year because of how Christmas is celebrated in our culture.  I can understand their discomfort.  There's so much emphasis on shopping and parties that it's sometimes hard to remember whose birthday we are supposed to be observing.  However, these same Christian friends and relatives would be very annoyed with me if I told them that Christianity was responsible for the situation.

 For about the first three hundred years after the death of Jesus, Christmas was celebrated during April.  There was a much older pagan feast that occurred during Winter Solstice.  This pagan celebration had many names, but the Norse called it "Yule".

Yule began as an attempt to lure back the sun which seemed to be going away forever during the dark winter months.  Later, various pagan gods were worshipped, but Yule always involved plenty of drinking, feasting and (Horrors!) sex.  

The early Christian Church worked hard at stamping out all pagan religions and the clergy took a dim view of all the drinking, eating and wenching that went on at Yule parties.  The Pope altered the Church's ecclesiastical calendar to move Christmas smack into Yule season.  The plan was to replace debauchery with prayer and piety.  Not surprisingly, the plan failed miserably and all that happened was that Yule excesses became Christmas excesses. 

So, I have a simple proposal.  Let's move Christmas back to the springtime when the weather is nicer.  Leave miseltoe and the practice of decorating trees for Yule.  They're of pagan origin anyway.  Even Santa Claus looks suspiciously like the Frost Giant of Norse mythology. 

With this new arrangement, those who like prayer and piety will have their own special day that's unsullied by indulgences of the flesh.  People who prefer to party hearty in December will be able to do so without needing to pay lip service to religion.  Everybody wins.

Like most sensible ideas, this one has absolutey no hope of being adopted.

George