Meaning of Christmas

Ruwantissa ABEYRATNE

The word Christmas is a derivative of the old English cristes maesse, or Christs Mass. There is nothing in the Holy Scriptures to say that Christmas is a religious holiday nor is there any guidance in the book as to how Christmas should be observed. This lacuna has enabled various cultures around the world to develop rituals and popular traditions of their own for Christmas.

However, varied they may be, these traditions and practices all underscore and demonstrate on a common basis the spirit of Christmas, which starts on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and goes on till Christmas day (the four week period being called Advent).

The spirit of Christmas is essentially encompassed in the practice of giving gifts to one another. Christians traditionally exchange gifts to remind themselves of Gods gift of his son as a saviour to human kind. The tradition of exchanging gifts goes back to ancient Roman times where a custom existed that people give gifts to one another in order to bring good fortune for the New Year.

This dimension of hope and expectation of good things to come is especially relevant today as an unknown dimension of Christmas to people of the world who are looking at the prospect of lasting peace. To many in North America, particularly in the United States and Canada, the Christmas season is heralded by the annual thanksgiving parade which jointly celebrates the arrival of Santa Claus, a mythical saintly figure reputed to bestow gifts on the less fortunate, and the Feast of Thanksgiving, on which humankind offer their gratitude for all they have received throughout the year.

Significance

The symbolism of Christmas, particularly in its original setting, brings to bear the real significance of the event as a harbinger of peace and happiness and the heralding of understanding and compassion particularly of those in power toward their fellow beings. Most scholars are of the view that Christmas originated in about the Fourth Century where Christians began substituting the more tranquil practices of Christianity for pagan celebrations of the Winter solstice. Before the celebrations of Christmas, on 17 December each year, Romans had a festival called Saturnalia for Saturn, the ancient God of agriculture, (to which the modern day feast of Thanksgiving may have some link).

This feast lasted a full seven days including the winter solstice, where the Romans feasted, postponed all warfare and commercial business, exchanged gifts and temporarily granted amnesty to their prisoners and freed their slaves.

Traditions

Over the next 1,000 years, Christianity spread to the rest of Europe and to Egypt. Some of the vestiges of pagan beliefs and Christian traditions as they existed in earlier times still remain, for example, the belief in ancient Rome that the mistletoe plant bequeathed life, fertility and peace and brought relief from sickness and ill health.

Arguably, the three most powerful symbols of the Christmas holiday, from a non religious sense, are Santa Claus, Christmas tree and Christmas cards. The legend of Santa Claus was brought into the United States by Dutch settlers in the 18th Century. Sinter Klaas, as Santa was known in Dutch folklore was personified as a tall dignified and holy figure riding a white horse through the air.

Also known as Saint Nicholas in Germany, Santa Claus was thought to be accompanied by a no-nonsense elf called Black Peter, who punished obstinate and disobedient children.

This ancient and stringent demarcation between good and bad, reward and punishment, later gave way to the true gift of Christmas, depicted by a jolly, fat, saintly old gentleman who brings happiness to all humankind.

Almost contemporaneous with the popularity of Santa Claus was the German Christmas tree, which was transformed by the Germans from a pagan symbol of fertility to a symbol of hope and rebirth. What was reportedly the first Christmas tree in England was a gift given by Prince Albert to his wife Queen Victoria in 1841. The Christmas tree was popularized by German immigrants to other parts of Europe, The United States and Canada. In the present day context the Christmas tree is decked with candles (to signify light and hope) food (in streamers of pop corn for instance) ornaments of angels and other symbols of peace and harmony and whatever items of relevance.

It is not uncommon in North America to find gigantic Christmas trees at public squares and shopping malls decorated only with white doves and ribbons to signify peace and unity among the peoples of the World. The practice of exchanging Christmas cards became a wide spread custom in the 19th Century as a tool of communication and still remains one. The overarching significance of the Christmas card to understanding among people is that it acts as a tool to re establish contact by one person with another, with a message of goodwill and wish for happiness. Often, a Christmas card serves to diffuse hostility and misunderstanding harboured over the year, bringing whole families together at Christmas time.

Christmas is also a time for introspection of self examination for self worth. It is a time that all of Sri Lanka has demonstrably shown their capacity to shed differences and work toward the common human goal of peace. The Christmas season calls us to nurture our boundless spirit of giving, particularly to those in distress. When it comes to giving, we must not distinguish between our own people who are thrown out of a building which is destroyed by an explosion, and those in Honduras who are rendered homeless by a mudslide. This quality is a great consolation and blessing to humanity which carries the message that we do not, and indeed should not shut our doors to those who genuinely need our help.

We must start a new life and family amidst an embodied diversity of a multinational culture reputed for its familial spirit of belonging and ever present hand of friendship.