History of Christmas

The life of Jesus has been called the Greatest Story Ever Told, and every great story needs a good beginning. The nativity, or birth, of Jesus is one of the best known aspects of his life. Each year at Christmas the tale is retold in countless homes, churches, and TV screens across the world. To get the whole story of the nativity, however, you have to examine our best sources, the four canonical gospels, and piece it together. Each gospel was written to emphasise different aspects of the life of Jesus and each includes details about the birth of Jesus that may not be reflected in the others. The Gospel of Mark, considered the first to be written of the four, gives no narrative of the birth of Jesus at…

“This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham…” Thus begins the Gospel of Matthew. The writer then gives the male line genealogy of Jesus, via 40 generations back to Abraham. The line of descent as listed in Matthew misses out several generations that are mentioned in the Old Testament. In the Gospel of Luke a genealogy is given that traces Jesus’ descent all the way from Adam. The two sets of ancestors given in the gospels are strongly divergent and disagree in many places. Was Joseph’s father Jacob, or Heli? In Matthew’s telling Jesus is descended from Solomon, son of David, while Luke suggests it was via David’s other son Nathan. Various attempts have been made to reconcile these differences but why…

Jesus is so closely associated with the town of Nazareth that A scene in many from ancient to Luke, so how did Jesus come to be born around 70 miles away in Bethlehem? The answer lies in biblical prophesy. The Old Testament records the sayings of the prophet Micah who lived in the 8th century BCE. In one of his statements Micah declared that: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” This has been taken to be a prophecy stating that the Messiah would be born in the town of Bethlehem. The belief that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem is…

Christmas, literally meaning Christ’s Mass, is of course a Christian tradition that arose nearly 2000 years ago in celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. However, it is not the first major festival that occurred around the winter solstice, and while it may or may not have sprung up independently of other midwinter celebrations, both pre-Christian Neolithic beliefs and concurrent pagan pageants have shaped the ways in which we celebrate Christmas today. Winter was a terrifying season for our ancestors. In the north, winters were bitterly cold and plagues ran rife as people were cooped up inside, shivering by the fire and picking scraps of food. Many fresh fruit and vegetables were a summer luxury, while livestock had been culled in anticipation of the harsh weather and limited resources. You…

The sun god is a familiar figure, with numerous variations spanning religions across the globe, as the sun is associated with giving and sustaining all life. The sun god is often thought of as the male creation god, in contrast to the female aspect of the moon goddess. In later ancient Egyptian mythology this was the case, with the creator Amun often identified as a solar deity. The Persian sun god was Mithras, and was central to the Roman mystery religion of Mithraism. Mithras is often seen in Roman art banqueting with another deity of Roman religion, Sol Invictus (Latin for “Unconquered Sun”), but the true nature of their relationship is unknown, with some historians contemplating whether they are two versions of the same god, in a similar fashion to…

Winter solstice has long been observed by ancient civilisations across the globe. With midwinter ushering in the return of longer days and shorter nights, there are many beliefs surrounding the solstice that have transcended cultures since the dawn of time. Lore regarding fears of the darkness, rituals surrounding death and rebirth – particularly the return of the sun, new beginnings and new year cycles, celebrations involving alcohol, and facing our own mortality, are all aspects of various winter solstice celebrations across the globe. In Jewish tradition, the days leading up to the winter solstice should be spent fasting and praying as legend has it that Adam (the first man) believed the shorter nights indicated impending death. At winter solstice, he rejoiced with a feast. In the Americas, the Incas used…