Who Put Christ In The Solstice?

Solstice festival, the celebration of the birth of the Sun, was changed to celebrate the birth of the Son.

(GOLD RIVER, B.C.) - Once more we have come to the end of a year. The Sun has reached its nadir on the horizon of the northern hemisphere, and we will once again begin the journey back to summer and fishing season.

In earlier times one could contemplate their future and wonder how many fishing seasons they had left in their life, meaning of course how much longer they had to live. Today I wonder which will end first, my life or the return of the fish.

The season that we are celebrating now has deep roots in the history and culture of our species. One often hears the phrase "put Christ back into Christmas" as if Christmas is a creation of the Christian faith. Well, perhaps the name is, but the holiday goes back much farther than Christianity.

The season that we celebrate is that of the Winter Solstice, the point where the days once again become progressively longer and another annual cycle of life on the planet begins. A celebration that is found across many ancient cultures.

The ancient Egyptians decorated their homes with palm fronds on the shortest day of the year and celebrated for twelve days. Similar traditions can be found among the Hebrews and in Asia.

The Scandinavians have given us Yule logs and Christmas trees from their ancient celebrations. Evergreens were seen by them as a promise of the return of Spring. In Celtic culture, holly and mistletoe were significant, symbolizing fertility. In ancient Rome, the celebration was called Saturnalia, and from the Pagan Romans we get the decorating of trees with lights and ornaments.

Even some Christmas carols have their roots in Pagan rituals, rather than in the Christian Church, and Santa Claus' history traces back to the pre-Christian times of Northern Europe. Christ, however, was more than likely not born in December.

So, perhaps a better question is "who put Christ in the Solstice?" It happened in the Fourth Century after Christianity was adopted as the official religion by the Roman Emperor Constantine, the first Christian emperor.

Religion is a tool of politics, a device for social control, and alternative religions and beliefs were then, as always, a problem for priests and those that they served. People were reluctant to give up their party time, so Constantine declared Christmas an immovable feast to be celebrated on December 25.

The Church then, over time, began co-opting Pagan festivals and customs and reassigning them Christian meaning. The Christmas Tree, for example, was proclaimed because of its triangular shape to symbolize the Holy Trinity. The Solstice festival, the celebration of the birth of the Sun, was changed to celebrate the birth of the Son.

Christians, like other radicals, often have a hard time agreeing on the finer points with one another - witness the Reformation and a few more sordid episodes in Church history, so the acceptance of Christmas celebrations was not universal throughout the Church.

The Protestant regime of Oliver Cromwell in England actually banned Christmas celebrations, and Christmas as we know it today did not begin to really take shape until the 19th Century. Of course one could argue that the Christmas that we know in this new century did not really take shape until the advent of mass marketing and the mindless production for witless consumption of the last half of the last century.

In any event, whether you are celebrating the Son or the Sun, or just out to have a good time, this is still the season of hope and joy, and love. These are three things that we could use a lot more of in this world, and whose season ought to be extended.

Jerry West grew up on a farm in Fresno County, California, and served with the US Marine Corps from 1965 to 1970 including 19 months in Vietnam with the Third Marine Division, and three years at MCAS Iwakuni where he became an anti-war organizer in 1970. He earned an Honors Degree in History at the University of California, Berkeley, and did two years of graduate study there. While in university he worked seasonally in fire and law enforcement with the US Forest Service.

After university he worked for a number of years in the international tour industry in operations and management before moving to a remote village on the west coast of Vancouver Island where he is currently the editor and publisher of The Record newspaper serving the Nootka Sound region. He is a Past President of the Northern California Land Trust, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Salem-News.com Top Stories

2025: Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst

Two Wars with No Way Out

No One Owns the Future

The Ugly Origins of Trump's America First Policy

A One-State Solution Could Transform the World

Comments Leave a comment on this story.

All comments and messages are approved by people and self promotional links or unacceptable comments are denied.

December 23, 2009 12:07 pm (Pacific time)

Hello, Josh and Jerry,
and thank-you for your responses. Apologies, as I have combined answers to both of you.

The extent of Constantine's power was to legalize Christianity and call the Council. He did not influence the outcome (in fact, there is evidence that his possible 'preferred side' lost). He did personally fund the first "mass production" of the Bible. The question re: his faith ... it was typical to delay baptism in that era, so his late baptism is in line with the cultural practice of the era.

The Church in the east has never had a singular "head" like the Pope, nor did the Emperor fill that role (history will demonstrate this, as there were often struggles between Church and State then; it was the State's responsibility however to protect its citizens and the Church).

The thought that Dec. was a reasonable calculation for the birth of Christ (based on the conception of John the Baptist, and the Scriptural record). In the early centuries, however, Theophany (baptism of Christ) was a more important commemoration than Christmas.

The history is quite interesting.

Best to you both,
Thank-you,
Ann

Mike December 23, 2009 7:58 am (Pacific time)

Religion is a joke. There are two sides to the coin though...

Vic December 23, 2009 6:58 am (Pacific time)

Phil...thank you for so eloquently proving my point. I certainly do not "knock" real Christians, just the phoney ones who have no idea what it entails and think that they can continue to live selfish, hateful lives , yet be assured of a place in heaven because they go to church and pay some slick preacher to reassure them of their superiority over the despicable heathen..(everyone else)..Real Christians are few and far between (I myself do not make the grade) and I admire them greatly. I also think that one can be giving, sharing and a good person without ascribing to any religion...I do not choose to, but whatever works for people..these are hard times, and we have to take comfort however we can.

Natalie December 23, 2009 2:53 am (Pacific time)

Sorry for the invasion, but I don't understand why the exact date is so important to so many. Neither of my husband's parents knows when their birthdays are. During WW2 their parents basically lied to Nazis about their age, so the kids would not be taken to Germany as free work force. Since they were teenagers, none of them remembers the actual birth dates. We still wanted to celebrate their anniversaries, so we set up the epproximate dates based on some memories, and have birthday parties now. I'm not comparing my in-laws to Christ in any way. Just saying, if Christ's followers decided to celebrate his birthday on December 25 or January 7, so be it. It would not bother me, if they change it to to April or September. As for christianity in general, everyone believes in something, hangs on to something, that helps to remain human. For some, that something is religion, for others it's believing in their own power. In any case, Christmas Season is a good opportunity for christians and atheists to show their better side. There's plenty of charity work, one could find during Holidays Season.

Nicolet December 22, 2009 8:53 pm (Pacific time)

How about Hanukah?It is real?Does jewish face exists?Why he doesn't say anything about?

Zach December 22, 2009 2:33 pm (Pacific time)

@Josh - the first we hear of Jesus comes much sooner than 400 years. The gospels weren't even written that long after his death, not to mention the extra biblical accounts of non-Christians.

Phil Morrison December 22, 2009 2:21 pm (Pacific time)

Vic maybe the Lord can answer your question. Maybe not. Do you believe in turning the other cheek? I don't, and I never let anyone harm me or my family if I can help it, that includes all those nuts out there who knock Christians, because they create a climate that enables those of similar moronic thinking to attack others unlike themselves. That goes double for those who dump on veterans.

Vic December 22, 2009 1:18 pm (Pacific time)

So Phil...80% of Americans believe in Jesus? Why do only about 4% live like they do? Talk is cheap.

Josh Behn December 22, 2009 10:41 am (Pacific time)

Ann, Constantine may not have been the official ruler of the Christian church(there's much debate on whether he ever oficially converted), but as the ruling emperor he had a tremendous amount of power and influence on the bishops. At this point there was a tremendous amount of contradicting doctorine and numerous Christian sects (alot of confusion), and at this point there was no central figure of authority (the papacy was in its earliest development and the bishops were fighting for primacy of authority. There WAS no real Pope. The Bishop of Rome was simply another bishop among many). Constantine's biggest influence was to call for the Council of Nicea to begin to centralize the doctorine. As a political ruler, uniformity in belief was a neccesity for easier control of the population. With Constantine's influence (and as it always is 'good to be the King'), the hardline Christian groups were able to win out in the doctorine struggle.

Phil Morrison December 22, 2009 9:06 am (Pacific time)

Josh do you read Latin? If so you can read the timely stories on Jesus as written in real time, not 400 years later as you asserted. I am not a practicing Christian, but one should at least make an attempt at reviewing the literature on any matter before asserting what they believe are facts. As most people know, hopefully, most all religions are based on a "leap of faith." There are some religions, including a few ideologies that have very little tolerance for opposing views. Try building a mosque anywhere in western civilization, no problem. Try building a Christian church in some countries in the middleeast. Josh you may not believe in Jesus, but 80% of Americans do, so you're swimming upstream with your opinion, but it's likely you won't be harmed physically for sharing that opinion here during these current times (not in the past, certainly), how do you think you would fare challenging the existence of Allah say in a Muslim-orientated country?

Jebus December 22, 2009 6:09 am (Pacific time)

Mario L Sanchez wrote: "Christmas and its customs come from ancient false religions" Ancient false religions? Oh, like Christianity?

Jerry West December 22, 2009 12:50 am (Pacific time)

Many thanks to all of those who have sent private emails on this story, and to those responding here. Some brief comments: Many sources indicate that Constantine had quite a bit of influence over the church. The Catholic Church has a vested interest in spinning this away as much as possible. I have no doubt that Jesus was a real person. Most accounts that I have read put the published and unpublished Gospels in the first two centuries AD. If not a real person, there was quite a literary operation based on an imaginary Jesus, which I doubt is the fact. There is a ream of information available on the net from religious and other sites discussing the date of December 25, which is the old date for Solstice. And, references to Constantine declaring it an immovable feast in 325 AD. Too many source to link here, but a google or bing search will keep anyone interested busy for hours. If anyone finds a scholarly reference citing the acts of Constantine that mention Dec. 25 I would appreciate the link.

Mark Toain December 22, 2009 12:11 am (Pacific time)

The word Christmas is a contraction of the words "Chist" and "Mass." A Catholic and Pagan celebration in it's roots. The cruel humor? Soon the Pope will be speaking on Christ -Mass day, in his Gold laced robes, and speaking from his Ivory tower, to those poor chaps who support his unchrist-like and lavish life style. Go figure.

Dee December 21, 2009 11:05 pm (Pacific time)

I suppose Mr Sanchez you believe that the 144,000 are made up entirely of "chosen" Jehova's Witnesses!!! Yeah, like Christ needs "help" ruling the new Kingdom........

Jeff December 21, 2009 7:03 pm (Pacific time)

Excellent article! It's refreshing to read the truth. The AFA (American Family Association) actually called for a boycott of GAP due to their commercial referencing Solstice and Christmas in the same sentence. It's amazing that individuals so defiantly ignore history simply because it goes against the grain of their beliefs (or indoctrination). More interesting is the fact that Christiany seems to usurp every ideology or tradition over time, claiming it as their own creation. We need more of the truth.

DJ: The nineteenth century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer wrote: “No child under the age of fifteen should receive instruction in subjects which may possibly be the vehicle of serious error, such as philosophy or religion, for wrong notions imbibed early can seldom be rooted out, and of all the intellectual faculties, judgment is the last to arrive at maturity.”

Mario L Sanchez December 21, 2009 10:23 pm (Pacific time)

Christmas- Jesus was not born on December 25. He was born about October 1, a time of year when shepherds kept their flocks out-of-doors at night. (Luke 2:8-12) Jesus never commanded Christians to celebrate his birth. Rather, he told his disciples to memorialize, or remember, his death. (Luke 22:19, 20) Christmas and its customs come from ancient false religions. The early Christians did not celebrate Christmas.the World Book Encyclopedia says, the early Christians “considered the celebration of anyone’s birth to be a pagan custom.” The only birthday observances mentioned in the Bible are those of two rulers who did not worship Jehovah God. Those who want to please God do not celebrate it or any other holiday that has its roots in pagan worship

Boss December 21, 2009 8:18 pm (Pacific time)

Oh shush, Bible beaters. Well said Jerry. Well said indeed.

Josh December 21, 2009 8:15 pm (Pacific time)

Ref Ancient-Future.net comment - Don't you think a website about catholics may be biased just a little bit on the subject? The bible is garbage and I doubt an actual person named Jesus ever actually lived. The first we hear of Jesus is 400 years after he supposedly lived. Imagine trying to tell people a story about your great great great (multiply time 20) grandfather who could turn water into wine. People would say you are crazy. Yet you believe it because you were told if you didn't, you would burn forever and ever. You were lied to. It sucks and I'm sorry.

Al December 21, 2009 7:53 pm (Pacific time)

Well said.

Al December 21, 2009 7:51 pm (Pacific time)

Well said. I don't so much mind that Christians take over the season, but it irks me that they have to take offense of anybody who celebrates Yule, and treat you like you are some sort of new age lunatic. Of course, trying to explain that Yule came first and has been here for a long, long time makes it worse and drives them to the “I can't hear you mode”

JBBW December 21, 2009 7:42 pm (Pacific time)

not that i am a Christ-believer BUT the phrase "put the christ back in christmas" means to put the message of christ (love) back into the celebration.

Ann December 21, 2009 7:19 pm (Pacific time)

Constantine was not in control of the Church - whatever his opinion on the matter, it didn't matter. A bishop of the 5th century thought, based on the probable time of the conception of John the Baptist, that Christ was conceived in March - thus a Dec. birth. This article has a longer discussion on the matter: http://www.ancient-future.net/christmasdate.html

[Return to Top]

Who Put Christ In The Solstice?

Quick Links

DINING

MUST SEE SALEM

AUCTIONS - APPRAISALS

CONSTRUCTION SERVICES

ONLINE SHOPPING

Advertise with Salem-News