I beg to differ with you!
The Romans celebrated Saturnalia, a winter feast and celebration of the winter solstice. Pre-Roman era civilizations also celebrated the winter solstice.
The Roman Catholic Church decreed in the 4th century that henceforth Christ’s birthday would be celebrated on December 25th. By most accounts, Christ was actually born in the springtime, April or May.
During the Middle Ages, Christmas as we know it wasn’t celebrated. There were winter celebrations, marking the passage of the winter solstice. These were raucous celebrations of drinking, eating and general all-around mischief-making. Religion had nothing to do with it.
Pre-Victorian England actually BANNED religious Christmas celebrations for nearly 200 years! It wasn’t until the reign of Queen Victoria that Christmas began to be celebrated in a fashion similar to our current customs. It was during this time that Christmas celebrations began concentrating on children. Prior to that, Christmas celebrations were often month-long drinking and eating contests.
Christmas as we know it and celebrate it didn’t actually begin until the early 19th century. Even then, the religious connections were down-played. In the mid-19th century, many of the traditions we associate with Christmas were begun, including decorated evergreen trees, Santa Claus, Christmas cards and present exchanges.
So, no, it wasn’t always a religious holiday.
To pcarrell and DTT: (Maybe the “p” in “pcarrell” stands for “preacher”?) Thanks for a lively discussion. Very good exchange of opinions and ideas, all expressed in a reasonable and NON-confrontational manner. Too bad the rest of the world can’t exchange ideas in so rational a manner.
Yoshi, I have several friends of Indian and Pakistani desc