Origin of Christmas goes back
to ancient worship of seasons

Y OLDEN times, before the

dawn of recorded history,
our primitive ancestors cele-
brated and worshipped the
seasons. The principal and vir-
tualy universal festivals were
those of the Summer (June
21) and Winter (December 22)
Solstices; i.e. those seasons
when the sun reaches its
greatest intensity, when the
Sun in its great annual pass-

age reverses its former growth
or decay.

Other seasonal festivals were
observed, of course, in particu-
lar around May 1 (Walpurgis)
_ and November 1 (All Hallows

— All Saints — Day) the eves
of which are remarkably simi-
lar in their ghostly and goblin
prowlers. These celebrations
likely relate to pastoral epochs,
approximating the times of the
year when the herds went out
and returned to the home-
Steads. The equinoxes and, sol-
stices were more directly re-
lated to cultivation.

Now in the old Julian ealen-
der, the 25th of December
rather than the 22nd was
reckoned the winter solstice,
and was celebrated as the Na-
tivity of the Sun. It can be im-
agined with what rejoicing the
primitives perceived -reversal
of the waning power of the
sun, and with what care they
assisted its rejuvenation.

These observances continued
from’ magic through religion,
the latter liberally sprinkled
with earlier precepts (as are

folk survivals today, although
their significance has long
been forgotten).

Striking resemblances _ to
Christianity (which arrived
late on the scene) can be ob-
served in ancient religious and
pagan festivals alike. The
parallels are especially close
in the Mithraic religion, in the
cults of Adonis and Attis, and
in the ritual of nativity as
celebrated in Syria and Egypt.

After having retired to inner
shrines, the celebrants would

emerge at the midnight hour
crying: “The Virgin has
brought forth! The light is
waxing!” The Egyptians even
represented the new-born sun
bythe image of an infant.

As Sir James G.- Frazer re-
marks in The Golden Bough:

“No doubt the Virgin who
thus conceived and bore a son
on the 25th of December was
the. great Oriental Goddess
whom the Sémites called the
Heavenly Virgin or simply
the Heavenly Goddess; in
Semitic lands she was a form
of Astarte.”

Mithra likewise ,celebrated
his Nativity on December 25,
and was ‘regularly identified
by his worshippers as the Un-
conquered Sun.

We turn now to December
25 as the birthday of Christ.
Since the Gospels gave no
identification of His birthday,
the early church did not cele-

Plight before Christmas

*Twas a week before Christmas (a horrible thought)
When we figure the things we haven’t yet bought.
Most prices are high in the sky_as a kite

And some are as high as an earth satellite. e

The wifie and us in our wee ben and butt-nik :
Have figured the bosses have listened to sputnik :
And it’s not that we're nasty, or vicious or morbid,

But prices this Christmas are out of our orbit.

The kiddies are snuggled all ‘tight’ in their beds,
Too many rum candies have gone to their heads,
They're dreaming of gifts and turkey and thrills
While pay-rents must ponder, just who'll pay the bills.

Tis the season of buying, the season of living, :
The season of You-all tide and high cost of giving,
And the bosses and such throughout the whole nation
Are inflating the trend of inflated inflation.

The admen and hucksters_are beating the drum,
Whatever they're selling, “you just must buy some.”
Their products are “tops,” this can’t be gainsaid
And we need them as much as a hole in our head.

So there you are, citizens, how can you win?
This time of the year can drive us to sin.
There’s just one consolation within all the strife,
The boss sure is thriving on “our way of life.

BOB WARD
in UE News

brate it. In time, however, the
Egyptian . Christians settled
upon January 6 as the proper
date. By the Fourth Century
it was universally established
in the East.

But around 200 A.D. the
Western Church, which had
never acquiesced, adopted Dec-
ember 25 as the true date of
the Nativity. Before long the
change was accepted by the
Eastern Church, although the
change was not introduced in
Antioch until 375 A.D.

The reasons for this recanta-

tation are easily found. The
heathen, despite beneficient
ministrations of the Christian
Church, continued to celebrate
December. 25 as the birthday
of the Sun and to kindle lights
“in token of festivity. Even
more bothersome, many Chris-
tians participated in the fes-
tivities. ;
What could be more effica-
cious, then, .but’ to graft a
Christian significance onto the
ancient pagan ceremony? Ac-
cordingly, the church transfer-
red the true Nativity to’ Dec-
ember 25 and celebrated Epi-
phany (Twelfth Day) on Jan-
uary 6. The practice of kindl-

ing fires has prevailed in this
custom.

To quote Fraser again:
“Thus it apears that the
Christian Church chose to
celebrate the birthday of its
Founder on the 25th of Decem-
‘ber in order to transfer the de-
votion of the heathen from the
Sun to him who was called the
Sun of Righteousness.”

Comparably, the dogma of
the Immaculate Conception (as
of Resurrection and others)
has been inherited from earlier
practice.

“Santa Claus” is, of course,
a childish corruption of “Saint
Nicholas,” the Bishop of Myra
and patron saint of children,
who flourished in the Fourth
Century. One of the trappings
of the Christianized festival,
it has been enlarged upon in
folk tradition.

It is extremely unlikely,
however, all the weary way
back into darkling primitive
society, that any could have
anticipated the transformation

of the festival of the winter _

solstice wrought by modern
capitalism. For earlier rituals
has been substituted a tightly
organized commercial carni-
val presided over by the un-
jovial god of profit: Mammon.

N, E.. STORY.

OPEN FORUM

A cry for freedom

DOUKHOBOR CHILDREN,
New Denver, B.C.: Separated
from our parents and held
here for many years, we Douk-
hobor children have written a
poem and hope -you will pub-
lish some of the verses before
Christmas:

We do not know why we

must be here

‘It is five Christmases to date

That we have not been with

our mothers:

Must we forgive or learn to
hate?

Forgive the fence around

the buildings?

Forgive the lock on the gate
bars?

Forgive the hate and ill will
to us? ;

Forgive the matrons and the
guards?

-We long to be again with
mother, _

We trust that she will teach
us best :

Of God. and love and peace
on earth: :

Of these’ she knows more
than the rest.

The other
daddies
‘Will share the Christmas
joys and cares -

While we just look through
the fences

And again shed our bitter
tears. ,

mommys and

Oh people, help us, release
_us

From these “prison” gates
and bars.

We want to be home with
the others,

Not in “prison” with matrons
and guards.

December 20, 1957 —

Left off list

M. MARTIN, North Vancou-
ver, B.C.: On election day I
found myself among hundreds
‘who were left off the voters’
list, disenfranchised via the
new Municipal Act, or more
precisely, the so-called adver-
tising of the Act.

Upon inquiring at the City
Hall in North Vancouver I was
informed that they had adver-
tised, “as required,” three.
times in the local press — a
press it would be safe-to say
not 75 percent of the citizens
know exist, let alone read.

Do you suppose, in view of .
the vast expenditures of our —
tax monies for other purposes,
the voters would have objected
to the nominal cost of adver- —
tising in the two Vancouver
dailies, which go into practic-
ally every home here?

Or was.this restricted form -
of advertising intended to dis-
enfranchise, as indeed it has?

I find, too, that a number of
registered property owners
were lyift off the North Van-
couver city and district voters’
lists..This can only be’ attri-
buted to penny-pinching atti-
tudes, resulting in shortage of
staff workers to deal ade-
quately with registration.

What is more, not even regi-
stered property owners, inad-
vertently left off the list, can
be sworn in on election day;
and thus vote, as could be done
under the old Act. Are we
going forward or backward?
“It is to late this year for
me and. the large company in
which I find myself. So: let us
resolve that next year we will
be on the list, and let us look
for candidates, labor and in- |
dependent, who will have the
interests of the people at heart,
and throw out the old gang of
chair warmers,

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE-

e