The Origin of Christmas

Fr Stephen Touthang *

Church in Ukhrul

The Meaning of the Word "Christmas"

The word "Christmas" comes from the Old English Christes maesse or Christes-messe which means "Christ's Mass" or "Mass of Christ". What is then Christ's Mass or the Mass of Christ? The Mass of Christ is the celebration of the supreme and holy sacrifice of Jesus' own body and blood on the Cross of Calvary for the salvation of all mankind. This Holy Mass is also called the Eucharist which is the "source and summit of Christian life" and occupies the most central worship of all the Catholics.

Celebration of the Mass or the Eucharist in the Catholic Church is considered as a sacramental re-enactment of the death and resurrection of Jesus as well as a true sacrifice in which the body and blood of Jesus (the bread and wine) are offered to God. It is also seen as a sacred meal that unifies and nourishes the community of believers. In the Catholic Church, this celebration of the Holy Mass continues till today.

Every Catholic priest is obligated to celebrate the Mass every day. Jesus says in Jn. 6:53-56 "Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink my blood, you have no life in you. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them." Therefore, the celebration of CHRISTMAS without MASS is empty. This is why every Catholic priest tries to reach out every catholic community during Christmas season to celebrate MASS with them. MASS is the HEART of CHRISTMAS and CHRIST is the HEART of the HOLY MASS.

Why is Christmas not called the Birthday of Christ?

It is strange that the "Birthday of Christ" is called 'Christmas' which has a different meaning all together. The word 'Christmas' does not speak anything about the birth of Christ. The word Christmas is centred on the "Mass". This is because for the early Christians the most important of all worship was the "Eucharistic Celebration" (Mass) i.e., the reception of the Body and Blood of Christ.

In the Acts of the Apostles, we see the Christians gathered together for the "breaking of bread" (celebration of the Eucharist). So the whole life of every Christian was centered on the Eucharist (Mass). Because of this, from the early days of the celebration of Christmas, Mass occupied the most central place. The early Christians could not think of living a perfect Christian life apart from the Eucharist. As a result of all these, whenever birthday of Christ was commemorated, the Mass was considered as the heart of the celebration. This is why the Birthday of Christ is called Christmas.

Christmas and Easter:

Christmas and Easter are the two most important feasts of all Christians. Of these two, Easter was considered as more important by the first generation Christians and the early Christians. This was because with the Resurrection, they came to know truly the divinity of Jesus Christ. From this point of the Resurrection only, the Apostles and the first generation Christians began to reflect back the life of Christ.

If there was no resurrection, Jesus' life could have ended like any other superstar who was popular for sometime and then evanesced. The Apostles were completely discouraged at the death of Jesus because they expected that Jesus would become a political liberator and they would become high ranking officials in Israel. As a consequence, they were completely distraught and about to go back to their homes and resume their old trade after being with Jesus for about three years. Suddenly there was a report of Jesus rising from the death. When the Resurrection of Jesus Christ was confirmed, the life of the Apostles and the Christians took completely a new turn fraught with hope and joy.

It was the Resurrection that made the Apostles to understand who really Jesus was and pushed them forward to spread about the Resurrected Christ. The Resurrected Christ became the heart of the Kerygma (Proclamation) for the Apostles and the early Christians. St. Paul himself says in I Cor. 15:14, "If Christ has not been raised from the death, then, our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain." From the beginning of the Church, the Feast of Easter was always celebrated.

But the Feast of Christmas came much later. Even the Bible does not ascribe any specific date regarding the birth of the Saviour. The celebration of a special feast pertaining to Christmas was referred to as early as in AD 200 by St. Clement of Alexandria (AD.150-215). Its next recorded celebration was in 336 as noted in the Roman Chronograph of 354.

December 25:

25th December is not the birthday of Jesus. Nobody knows the exact date and year in which Jesus was born. Regarding the year, many Church historians have agreed that Jesus must have been born between 3 and 8 B.C. December 25 was a date fixed by the early Church leaders. This date came to be accepted as the Birthday of Jesus as it was on this (25 December according to the Julian Calendar, 6th January according to the Egyptian), the time of winter solstice, i.e., a time when the dying sun began its steady climb into the northern skies, that the pagans celebrated the DIES NATALIS SOLIS INVICTI (the birthday of the invincible sun).

Besides the sun god had been proclaimed principal patron of the Roman Empire, with a temple dedicated to him, on 25 December 274 by Emperor Aurelian and the date was also regarded as the birth date of the Iranean mystery god, Mithra, the Sun of Righteousness.

The 4th century Saint John Chrysostom asks, "Who indeed is as unconquerable as our Lord?" "He is the 'Sun of Justice'. Thus the new feast, celebrating the Incarnation of the God-man, his "manifestation in the flesh" gave a suitable liturgical expression to the profession of faith drawn up by the Council of Nicea in 325 and before the end of the century it was adopted in the east as well.

The Popes and Christmas:

Popes since the 4th century have been celebrating three Masses at Christmas, the readings for each being different, a practice in which mystics of the medieval ages saw the "threefold birth of Christ": The First Mass, "The Mass of the Angels" at midnight held in the great Basilica of St. Mary Major (Rome), where the relics of the manger were preserved – since removed in 1586 to the Sistine Chapel – recalled our Lord's eternal birth in the bosom of the Father "before the dawn of ages".

The second Mass, the "Mass of the Shepherds", celebrated at dawn in the Church of St. Anastasia, the "imperial church" of the Byzantines – originally built to reproduce the Anastasia(Resurrection) Basilica in Jerusalem, commemorated the human birth of the "Light of lights", the "Word made flesh in the Virgin's womb".

The third and solemn Mass, celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica around 9 o'clock in the morning, symbolized the birth of the Lord in the hearts of the faithful. Since the time of Pope Gregory the Great (540-604), the Church has extended this purely Papal privilege of celebrating three Masses to every priest.

The Christmas Crib:

The popular Catholic custom of adoring the Holy Infant in the Christmas Crib owes its origin to the creative spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi who in 1223 recreated the setting of the manger-birth, complete with live ox and ass, in a forest-cave near the little town of Greccio. The simple rustic folk of the village were edified as he preached on the limitless love and mercy of God while the image of the Little Babe he held in his arms was seen to come alive even if for a fleeting moment!

Christmas Carols:

It was also under the influence of St. Francis of Assisi that popular Christmas carols originated in Italy, whereas, German Christmas songs and "Noels" came into existence in the 11th and 12th centuries. Incidentally, the singing of Christmas Carols during the season of Advent is per se inappropriate, the season of Christmas that follows being the right period.

Christmas Tree:

Candles on a tree were first mentioned in a 13th century epic. The "Christmas Tree" that is popular today is most likely of German origin and symbolizes the "tree of life" in the Garden of Eden and of the Tree of the Cross. Not surprisingly, in Russia it is the Cross itself that is gaily decorated with fruit and flowers.

The earliest reference to the Christmas tree is in Strasbourg in 1605. It was popularized in England in the mid-nineteenth century by the German Prince Albert, Royal Consort of Queen Victoria.