The Truth About Christmas
- olivierbranford
- Dec 21, 2024
- 8 min read
Updated: Jan 25
We all accept it fully, with it ruling our lives for at least a month every year, and dive headlong into it, but what is really true about Christmas?
Santa Claus in red suit used to advertised confectionary, 1868
We have no idea if Jesus was born on Christmas day. For most people, Christmas takes place every year on 25 December—the day that the Roman Catholic Church chose to mark Jesus’ birthday. But, in fact, no one actually knows the exact date or year that Jesus was born!
The oldest existing record of a Christmas celebration is found in a Roman almanac that tells of Christ’s Nativity festival led by the church of Rome in 336 A.D. The first date listed, December 25, is marked: Natus Christus in Betleem Judeae: “Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea.” The day or season has been estimated by various methods, including the description of shepherds watching over their sheep. In the third century, the precise date of Jesus's birth was a subject of great interest, with early Christian writers suggesting various dates in March, April and May. Steven Hijmans of the University of Alberta writes that ‘cosmic symbolism’ inspired the Church leadership in Rome to choose 25 December, the Roman date of the winter solstice and the birthday of Sol Invictus ('Invincible Sun'), as the birthday of Christ.
Although most Christians celebrate December 25 as the birthday of Jesus Christ, few in the first two Christian centuries claimed any knowledge of the exact day or year in which he was born. The precise reason why Christmas came to be celebrated on December 25 remains obscure, but most researchers believe that Christmas originated as a Christian substitute for pagan celebrations of the winter solstice.
Every winter, Romans honoured the pagan god Saturn, the god of agriculture, with Saturnalia, a festival that began on December 17 and usually ended on or around December 25 with a winter solstice celebration in honour of the beginning of the new solar cycle. This festival was a time of merrymaking, and families and friends would exchange gifts.
At the same time, Mithraism—worship of the ancient Persian God of light—was popular in the Roman army, and the cult held some of its most important rituals on the winter solstice. After the Roman Emperor Constantine I converted to Christianity in 312 and sanctioned Christianity, church leaders made efforts to appropriate the winter solstice holidays and thereby achieve a more seamless conversion to Christianity for the emperor’s subjects. In rationalising the celebration of Jesus’ birthday in late December, church leaders may have argued that since the world was allegedly created on the spring equinox (late March), so too would Jesus have been conceived by God on that date. The Virgin Mary, pregnant with the son of God, would hence have given birth to Jesus nine months later on the winter solstice. From Rome, the Christ’s Nativity celebration spread to other Christian churches to the East and West, and soon most Christians were celebrating Christ’s birth on December 25. To the Roman celebration was later added other winter solstice rituals observed by various pagan groups, such as the lighting of the Yule log and decorations with evergreens by Germanic tribes.
The word Christmas entered the English language originally as Christes maesse, meaning “Christ’s mass” or “Festival of Christ” in Old English. A popular medieval feast was that of St. Nicholas of Myra, a saint said to visit children with gifts and admonitions just before Christmas. This story evolved into the modern practice of leaving gifts for children said to be brought by “Santa Claus,” a derivative of the Dutch name for St. Nicholas—Sinterklaas. Most biblical scholars and ancient historians believe that his birth date is around 6 to 4 BC. So, Jesus wasn’t even born in 0 BC, and we really have no idea of his birthdate or birthday.
We can’t talk about Christmas without a mention to the big bearded, rosy-cheeked jolly man: Father Christmas! His name Santa Claus comes from Sinterklaas, which means Saint Nicholas in Dutch, the language of the Netherlands. St. Nicholas was a Christian bishop who lived in the 4th century – known for being kind and generous, he later became the patron saint of children.
He’s a central part of Christmas alongside presents, gluttony and familial tension (you know whatI mean!) , but one controversial rumour about Santa Claus is repeated every year. It is claimed that jolly old Saint Nick’s red suit was in fact a creation of global soft drinks purveyor Coca-Cola.
Coca-Cola advert featuring Sandblum inspired Santa, 1956
The internet and social media has stoked the rumour, which suggests that the red suit was the product of Coca-Cola marketing campaign.
The story of Santa Claus goes back to a monk named St Nicholas, who is believed to have been born around 280AD in what is now modern-day Turkey.
St Nicholas was known both for his religious devotion and generosity, and many stories exist of his alleged charitable acts and gift-giving.
Whether or not St Nicholas was in fact a real figure is a matter of some debate, as he does not exist in historical documentation. He appears in diary entries and writings showing that people did believe in him.
In the UK, this personification combined with folklore around Father Christmas, who was associated with festive merriment.
The modern image of Father Christmas, which became broadly interchangeable with the American Santa Claus, was popularised in Victorian times by poems and short stories.
The cartoonist Thomas Nast did much to spread the modern characteristics of Santa Claus in a 1863 issue of Harper’s Weekly, as part of a large illustration titled, 'A Christmas Furlough'.
But when did Santa become red? There are a number of popular depictions of Santa wearing red in the 19th century. The image of a white-bearded, red suited man was used in advertising campaigns including for the US Confection Company’s Sugar Plums and on the cover of humour magazine Puck.
An 1881 illustration by Thomas Nast, Merry Old Santa, featured a plump man in a red-suit, with a pipe and a rosy complexion.
Coca-Cola began to use the red image of Santa on advertising in the 1930s, when the company hired artist Haddon Sunbloom to create a character of Santa Claus for use in festive campaigns. The idea was to ensure people continued to drink Coke during the winter months, as the drink was associated with warm, summer days. The red suit was a convenient feature of the character as it matched the advertising colours of the company.
Father Christmas was inspired by the classic 1822 poem, 'A Visit from St Nicholas', which features the line: “Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house; not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse”. The poem featured a description of Santa Claus’s clothing and personality which came to define the modern figure.
Not all Christians celebrate Christmas on the same day? In countries with large populations of Orthodox Christians*, such as Russia, the Ukraine and Romania, Christmas Day falls on 7th January. Some Greek Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on 7th January, too. The Armenian Christmas (the oldest Christian Orthodox society) is celebrated Christmas on January 6th.
4. The name ‘Christmas’ comes from the old English phrase Cristes maesse, which means ‘Christ’s mass’. But what about ‘Xmas’? Lots of people think this is just a modern-day abbreviation—but it actually dates back to the 16th century! The ‘X’ is said to represent the Greek letter ‘Chi’—the first letter in the Greek word for Christ, Χριστός (pronounced ‘Christos’).
5. Most of the festive traditions we have in the UK today came about in the Victorian era such as Christmas cards, gift-giving and crackers, as well as traditional foods like mince pies and roast turkey! Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert were huge fans of Christmas.
6. Christmas trees also became popular in Victorian Britain. But these were first seen in 16th Century Germany where, at Christmas time, people decorated fir trees with fruit and nuts—and later sweets, paper shapes and candles. Amazingly, historians think the origins of this festive tradition may date back to the Romans and Ancient Egyptians, who used evergreen plants and garlands as symbols of everlasting life.
Christmas trees were introduced to England around 1800
7. Every year, Norway sends a beautiful home-grown Christmas tree to London, where it is decorated with lights in Trafalgar Square. Standing a towering 20m tall, the terrific tree is a gift to say thank you for the help the UK gave Norway during World War II.
Santa isn’t the only Christmas character – there are many more around the world! In Italy, for example, a kind witch called La Befana is said to fly around on a broomstick delivering toys to children! And in Iceland, children leave shoes under the window for 13 mischievous trolls called the Yule Lads. If the child has been good, they’ll find sweets in their shoe—but if they’ve been bad, the Yule lads will leave them a rotten potato!
We all love to sing along to Jingle Bells, but have you ever noticed that the song doesn’t have the word Christmas in it? Or Jesus or Santa Claus? That’s because it wasn’t originally a Christmas song! In fact, the jolly anthem was written in 1850, entitled 'One Horse Open Sleigh', for the American holiday, Thanksgiving.
Now, imagine if there was no Christmas. Does it feel quite strange? Sad, perhaps? In 1644 Christmas celebrations were made illegal in England, and soon after, in the English Colonies in America, too. At that time, members of the government felt that the religious meaning of Christmas had been forgotten, and so banned the holiday festivities. Some people still celebrated in secret, however, until Christmas was once again legal almost 20 years later.
Merry Christmas my friends, if I do not speak with you before then.
Namaste.
Olly
Dr Olly Alexander Branford MBBS, MA(Cantab), PhD.
Fully qualified and certified coach
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