Saturday, 10 December 2011
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Celebrating Christmas: Making the Rituals Matter
I really have felt the need to finish this mini-series and I try to write as the spirit moves, so to speak. We've already covered when Yahshua was born. We've covered where the December 25th date came from and what those celebrations truly are. Now I'd like to talk about our current celebrations and how we can bring those pagan rituals back to Christ -- I'll go ahead and refer to Him that way because it's what you're more familiar with. That's a post for another day.To me, celebrating the birth during Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, is hugely significant. "And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us." It's a time when Jews erect tents, called sukkahs, and live in them as a way to be closer to God, without being surrounded by anything but nature, no distractions. The Sukkah is a holy place, where they dwell with God for seven days. It commemorates their wandering in the desert and the first harvest. That's why it's also referred to as the Feast of Ingathering -- now tell me that's not significant. It's amazing that the celebration was put into place centuries before Christ. That's why the date is so important to me, why I can't celebrate Christmas as a time of Christ's birth. There's already a celebration where we get to dwell with God just as Yahshua came to dwell with us.
But I understand that even if most people wanted to change and celebrate the birth of Christ at the appropriate time, it's very difficult to change. Family and friends all celebrate during December. And they will look at you like you've sprouted three heads if you build a sukkah, display your nativity, and sing "O Holy Night" during September. Trust me, I've been there. So my suggestion is to give religious significance, if you are of the religious nature, to those pagan symbols. Isn't that what originally happened anyway? The early christians blended pagan rituals with Christian beliefs to create the first Christmas. I know, you already feel that that's what you are doing. But you've really got to blend that Christmas tree in with the significance of what Christ means to us, as believers.
I've got a friend who really had a hard time having a Christmas tree when she knew it stood for pagan beliefs. She said it just didn't feel right. So she ascribed religious meanings to everything they did to celebrate Christmas. She doesn't have a Christmas tree, she has a Tree of Life. The evergreen represents the everlasting love that Christ has for us. The twinkling lights is to remind us that we are all lights for Christ. The ornaments are memories of the life they've had together, worshipping Him. And they give presents to celebrate the gift of everlasting life. I suppose you could say that we give presents like the Magi did. But she's trying to keep the birth story separate, since she celebrates it during Sukkot as well. Their Christmas holiday has nothing to do with the birth story, only the everlasting love of Christ. Does that make sense?
My family celebrates the birth at Sukkot as well. For us, Christmas is about Santa and spending time with our families since that's when everyone can get the day off together. Yes, I'm about Truth and Santa is a lie. My children love the idea behind it. But one day they will stop believing in that sort of magic and when they do, I know they'll think back on the wonderful memories of it and forgive me for telling them such a made up story. Some things we do just for fun. We are meant to enjoy life, to celebrate it.
So while I'm sure I've made a few of you angry with my series, I truly hope that you have a wonderful holiday, however you chose to celebrate it. Happy Chanukah, Happy Holidays, Seasons Greetings, Merry Christmas. Be safe.
How do you give meaning to the rituals of Christmas that don't inherently have a Christian meaning? Does it matter to you if the rituals of Christmas are not necessarily Christian in origin? Do you celebrate Sukkot?
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- From: greene_lily@xanga
- About Me: I'm a stay-at-home mom of two small children, a cat named Only, and a score of fish. I'm happily married to my high school sweetheart, celebrating 10 years of friendship and love. We're expecting a baby girl in January 2013. I love to sing, dance, and learn about old-school home keeping methods. We're into homeschooling, homesteading, and learning about Messianic Judaism. I'm a little strange and enjoy a bit of weirdness every now and again. Hope we'll hit it off and find something in common!
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Comments (4)
We know from the history of the Hebrews that inside each one of us is a wild pagan. But the touch of Christ transforms the pagan into a disciple and his Yuletide tree into Christmas worship.
Christianity isn't scandalized by it's transformation of the pagan world. It is glorified.
What this post has tragically missed is that worship of God is central to human life. Every great culture understood that. The worship of the gods was a central cultural aspect of the Greco-Roman world. Each town had its own god, it's own place of worship.
And Christianity brought the universal religion to mankind so that mankind could worship the One True God, together as one family, His family.
So even if Jesus' birthday was found to be the 18th of August, Christendom would simply add another season of worship to the calender. And we'd still put up our Christmas tree at the start of winter to celebrate the birth of baby Jesus.
@hectoramemnon@xanga - Good answer. :)
Thanks for this interesting series, I like posts that open my mind up and where people share their take on things in a non threatening and non defensive manner.
This is how I understand some of these issues. I am a pagan. I do not practice an ancient pagan religion, so I don't have a religious heritage in those traditions that many modern Christmas rituals stem from. But...what works, works. People tend to use certain things to signify the sacred. Flame, for instance. Shiny things that cause us to ooh and ahh and catch our eye. Special food. Is it pagan to do those thinsg? is it Christian?
I think it's human. We use things that bring about that response in ourselves that we are seeking, and because we are all human and are hardwired a certain way, we are going to find significance in many of the same things. I can find significance in traditions and stories from many cultures, because they speak to human nature. It's not stealing or sacrilidge to feel the authenticity of observing the birth of the "Light of the World" at the time the Sun begins it's reign over the night. People have been responding deeply to that real event before recorded history, it's what people do. It's an honor, not a sacriledge to take such a critical real life event and weave it into one's faith. It is empowering the faith with an undeniable connection and significance. As our lives and bodies respond to the seasons, we also weave the stories and teachings of our faith into synch with those real life experiences. That's awesome!
@ccccourage@xanga - Thanks. I'm always open to discussion. I understand that everyone has differing opinions and I just hate that most can't discuss them without being nasty to one another. I'm sure you noticed the very unchristian-like behavior going on at the previous segment. I will apologize if you were targeted, considering you declared yourself a pagan. It was probably like jumping into a nest of vipers and to me that isn't what christianity should be about. That's why I distance myself from that name altogether. I consider myself a Yahshua follower in a general sense, Messianic Jew to be more precise. If you're ever interested, please feel welcome to stop by my site. If not, come anyway, I'm always looking for crazy stuff to put up. =)
And I just want to say that I agree with what you've said, exactly. We each have to follow the path we're given.