 Early Europeans observed the shortest day -- Winter Solstice -- to celebrate the worst of the winter being over them as they look ahead to increased daylight hours. During this celebration, they killed their livestock that would not survive the winter and gorged from late December through January. At this time there was also the celebration by Scandinavians and Germans of the Yule season which runs for 13 days and begins the night before Winter Solstice. In Germany, Odin was celebrated by many who viewed the pagan God as a fat, gift giving Elf who flew over houses during the night bestowing good tidings on people that were nice and bad tidings on others. Another tradition during Yule was the burning of the Yule Log from a giant tree that was to protect the house from storms and bring it good luck throughout the year. Sound like the celebration of Christmas? You Bet!
Christ wasn't born on December 25th. No one knows the birth date of Christ, or even what year. Christ, according to many historians was born in the springtime. Nowhere in the New Testament do we see Christ's disciples observing His birthday. The apostles did not honor pagan rituals, and accordingly, preached to other Christians to avoid the pagan rituals.
The origin of Christmas took place in 336 AD. Pope Julius I declared the birth and celebration of Christ's birthday as Christmas and chose December 25th because it coincided with the popular pagan traditions of Winter Solstice. The purpose was to replace the pagan celebrations with the Christian one. It worked, and it worked extremely well!
Could this be the most creative and successful marketing strategy ever implemented? It certainly has all the ingredients of a sound marketing plan including; competitive analysis, packaging, branding, product differentiation, and promotion.
Most Christmas customs, the decorating the evergreen "Christmas" tree, the hanging of mistletoe, gift exchanges, and Santa Claus, all came from pagan winter practices and secular traditions that were celebrated throughout Europe.
Christmas as we know it today, is not only a mix of ancient pagan practices and hundreds of years of adopting secular and religious traditions, it also has a Victorian period influence that affected the practice and acceptance of Christmas.
The US Government views Christmas as a secular holiday. While Christmas wasn't declared a federal holiday in the US until June 26, 1870, on December 6, 1999, federal U.S. District Judge Susan J. Dlott ruled that Christmas has become so secular that the government does not violate the Constitution by declaring it a federal legal holiday.
Christmas has the unusual distinction of being a multi-cultural, multi-religious and secular holiday. It is celebrated throughout the world, and in the US, over 90% of the population celebrates Christmas. Depending on national and local customs, it integrates sun worship, polytheism, pagan nature religions, Christianity, and other later myths and traditions.
Christmas is big business and is the most commercialized holiday in the world with many mass-produced symbols, decorations, and gifts manufactured in less developed countries and sold throughout the world.
Many non-Christian religious observers have capitalized on this huge market, especially Jewish merchants and songwriters who have successfully launched businesses and careers from the Christmas market. Most of the major department stores and the majority of the Top 25 Christmas carols played on the radio and in the malls are the works of Jewish songwriters. Some popular songs include; White Christmas, O' Holy Night, The Christmas Song, He's a mean one Mr. Grinch, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Rockin Around the Christmas Tree, Have A Holly Jolly Christmas, and Silver Bells.
The Jewish shoppers who are displeased by all the Christmas music played at the malls and department stores at Christmas time should take note that they are hearing the music of Jewish songwriters.
The celebration of Christmas is enjoyed by everyone! The non-religious celebrate the joyous traditions. The Christians, who believe that Christmas and its rituals solely relate to the birth of Christ, celebrate the religious rituals. The pagans celebrate the rituals of Winter Solstice and Yule. The Big business, commercial enterprises, and non-Christian merchants enjoy the profits from the sale of decorations, symbols, gifts, and Christmas songs.
Have we left anyone out? Oh yes. What about all the people who each year are given a paid day off from work for having Christmas as a legal holiday, regardless of their beliefs.
Having taken all this in, why all the fuss about changing the greeting "Merry Christmas" to "Happy Holidays"?
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