Five days from now, it would be Christmas once again, an indication
of the cyclic nature of time. As usual with the weeks and days leading
up to it, preparations for the celebrations are gathering momentum in
all the nooks and crannies of the globe. In the major cities of Nigeria,
Santa Claus’s white-bearded cheery face is emblazoned at shop entrances
and windows.
A visit to the major markets and shopping malls in Lagos and
commercial centres all over the country is a tedious undertaking at this
time, because everybody is hustling about, pulling and pushing all in a
bid to buy one thing or another.
Of course, petty thieves and pickpockets are on the prowl, cleverly
stealing from people’s handbags and pockets. And given the ubiquity of
Internet technology and explosion in electronic transactions, fraudsters
are working hard looking for victims to defraud. Business people and
transporters are already implementing strategies aimed at profit
maximisation.
Unfortunately, with the growing hardship in the country right now,
millions of Nigerians would not enjoy the Yuletide the way they would
have wanted. Many of the roads in the country, especially federal roads
in the South-East, are in a terrible state of disrepair, which means
that road accidents will likely increase from now till after the New
Year celebrations.
According to “The Truth about Christmas,” an informative essay on
Christmas published in the December 2010 edition of Awake, Christmas
celebration has spread to non-Christian countries such as China,
Indonesia, Japan, Lebanon and Turkey. The article reports that in the
West, Christmas has metamorphosed into a secular moneymaking enterprise,
with many advertorials blatantly targeted towards children. Millions of
Christians still go to church on Christmas day in the pretext of
commemorating the birth of the purported “saviour of mankind,” whereas
their real intention is to show off their expensive new clothes, shoes,
bags etc. Meanwhile, the well-decorated shopping malls playing Christmas
carols have become the new temples. Because of relentless
commercialisation, people are unduly agitated and worried over how to
buy Christmas gifts for their loved ones. Some of them borrow money in
order to meet the expectations of family members and friends.
Overspending during Christmas has become an unfortunate feature of a
supposedly spiritual event. From the foregoing, there is no patina of
doubt that Christmas, which is supposed to mark the birthday of Jesus
Christ, the most iconic spiritual teacher in human history (according to
Christians), has evolved into the celebration of rabid materialism,
debauchery and showy exhibitionism. But how did this come about? Is the
transformation due to the largely non-Christian origin of Christmas
itself, or is it an inevitable product of rampaging capitalism? Looking
at the historical basis of Christmas, was the figure described as Jesus
of Nazareth a genuine historical figure or were the narratives
concerning him an admixture of fact and myth – more of myth, in fact? If
there was indeed a historical Jesus, was he actually born on Christmas
day, that is, 25th of December? What are the historical origins of
Christmas? Attempts to answer these questions can open up fresh and
interesting vistas of thought concerning one of the most celebrated
festivals in human history.
Most Christians, particularly in Nigeria, do not know that Christmas
celebrations developed from non-Christian sources. Tradition has it that
Jesus was actually born on December 25, and his birthday is celebrated
on that date. Indeed, ‘Christmas’ means ‘Christ’s Mass,’ that is, the
mass commemorating the feast of Christ’s nativity, or birth. The
Christmas Encyclopaedia states that canonisation of December 25 as
Jesus’ birthday did not evolve from biblical precedent, but from Roman
festivals held at the end of every year, about the time of winter
solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. Those festivals included the
Saturnalia, in honour of Saturn, god of agriculture, and the combined
festivals of two sun gods, Sol and Mithra from Rome and Persia
respectively.
Both birthdays were celebrated on 25th of December, the winter
solstice, according to the Julian calendar. The metamorphosis or
adaptation of these celebrations into Christian practice began in 350
A.D., when Pope Julius 1 proclaimed December 25 a Christ’s birthday. The
nativity gradually absorbed and supplanted all other solstice rites,
while solar imagery became increasingly prominent in depicting the
notion of “the risen Christ” or sol invictus, and the old solar disk was
transformed into haloes around the heads of Christian saints. Now,
granted that The Bible contains narratives of questionable historicity,
and although, contrary to what most Christians believe, the question of
whether the individual named Jesus in the Gospels actually existed is
far from settled, Christmas celebration was never recommended in the
Christian scripture. Indeed, The Bible did not state the actual date
Jesus was born – it merely gave geographical indications surrounding the
birth and early circumstances of Jesus.
In Luke 2:8, for instance, The Bible suggests that when Jesus was
born, shepherds were living out of doors herding their sheep at night
near Bethlehem. Meteorologically speaking, October usually marks the
commencement of the cold rainy season in the area of Christ’s nativity,
and at such period shepherds, especially in the colder highlands such as
those around Bethlehem, brought their flock into protected shelters at
night. The coldest weather, occasionally accompanied by snow, usually
occurred in December, making that period inappropriate for shepherds to
tend their animals at night. Thus, it appears that, judging from
biblical account concerning the birth of Jesus and the weather condition
of Bethlehem and its environs, it is unlikely that he was born in
December.
Another work published by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, entitled Insight
on the Scriptures suggests, that Jesus was born during the ancient
Jewish month of ethanim, that is, in September or October. As already
indicated, The Bible does not contain any account about Jesus
celebrating his birthday, nor recommendation by Jesus or any of his
twelve disciples that it should be celebrated by his followers. The
pioneer Christians, some of whom accompanied Jesus in his missionary
work, never celebrated it on any date. But interestingly, during the
last supper with his twelve disciples, Jesus asked them to commemorate
his death, probably indicating that his death is a momentous event for
his followers (Luke 22: 17-20).
Two of the most popular manifestations of mythology in modern
Christmas are the phenomenon of Santa Claus and the Christmas tree, the
latter arising from ancient superstition connected to the god of
agriculture. In many countries today, including Nigeria, it is generally
believed by children that Santa Claus actually brings presents to them.
Children regularly write to Santa asking for presents which,
according to tradition, elves help him to manufacture in his
headquarters at the North Pole. There is a popular account of the myth
of Santa Claus which claims that it was invented by the legendary Saint
Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Asia Minor (Turkey). Probably,
therefore, the appellation ‘Santa Claus’ could have originated from
Sinterklaas, a corruption of the Dutch expression for ‘Saint Nicholas.’
Needless to say, there is no mention of Santa Claus in The Bible, which
implies that the cheery, red-faced fabrication that goes by that name
has absolutely nothing to do with the birth of Jesus.
By Douglas Anele
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