|
|
|
Christmas
By
Abunour
Why December 25th.
The giving of gifts, carnivals with
floats, carolers
who sing while going from house to
house, the holiday feasts, can all be
traced back to the early Mesopotamians.
Many of these traditions began with the
Mesopotamian celebration of New Years.
The Mesopotamians believed in many gods,
and their chief god was Marduk. Each
year as winter arrived it was believed
that Marduk would do battle with the
monsters of chaos. To assist Marduk in
his struggle the Mesopotamians held a
festival for the New Year. This was
Zagmuk, the New Year's festival that
lasted for 12 days.
The Persians and the Babylonians
celebrated a similar festival called the
Sacaea. Part of that celebration
included the exchanging of places, the
slaves would become the masters and the
masters were to obey.
Early Europeans believed in evil
spirits, witches, ghosts and trolls. As
the Winter Solstice approached, with its
long cold nights and short days, many
people feared the sun would not return.
Special rituals and celebrations were
held to welcome back the sun.
The ancient Greeks held a festival
similar to that of the Zagmuk/Sacaea
festivals to assist their god Kronos who
would battle the god Zeus and his
Titans.
The Roman's celebrated their god Saturn.
Their festival was called Saturnalia
which began the middle of December and
ended January 1st. With cries of "Jo
Saturnalia!" the celebration would
include masquerades in the streets, big
festive meals, visiting friends, and the
exchange of good-luck gifts.
The Romans decked their halls with
garlands of laurel and green trees lit
with candles. Again the masters and
slaves would exchange places.
The early Christians viewed it an
abomination to honor the pagan god. The
early Christians wanted to keep the
birth of Jesus a solemn and religious
holiday, not one of cheer and merriment
as was the pagan Saturnalia.
But as Christianity spread they were
alarmed by the continuing celebration of
pagan customs and Saturnalia among their
converts. At first the Church forbade
this kind of celebration. But eventually
it was decided that the celebration
would be tamed and made into a
celebration fit for the Christians.
The 25th was not only sacred to the
Romans but also the Persians whose
religion Mithraism was one of
Christianity's main rivals at that time.
Mithra, is said to be born on December
25, of a virgin. His birth was witnessed
by shepherds and magicians [magi].
Mithra raised the dead and healed the
sick and cast out demons. He returned to
heaven and before doing so had a last
supper with his 12 disciples
(representing the 12 signs of the
zodiac), eating mizd, a piece of bread
marked with a cross (an almost universal
symbol of the sun). Any of that sound
familiar?
The Church eventually took the
merriment, lights, and gifts from the
Saturnalia festival and brought them to
the celebration of Christmas.
The exact day of the Christ child's
birth has never been pinpointed. In 350
AD Bishop of Rome, Julius I, chose
December 25th as the observance of
Christmas.
Christianity comes to terms with pagan
customs by absorbing them.
The popularity of Christmas grew until
the Reformation, a religious movement of
the 1500's. This movement gave birth to
Protestantism. During the Reformation,
many Christians began to consider
Christmas a pagan celebration because it
included nonreligious customs. During
the 1600's, because of these feelings,
Christmas was outlawed in England. When
Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan forces
took over England in 1645 they vowed to
rid England of decadence and as part of
this effort
Christmas tree
In the 7th century a monk from Crediton,
Devonshire, went to Germany to teach
Christianity . He used the triangular
shape of the Fir Tree to describe the
Trinity. In the early 16th century,
Martin Luther is said to have decorated
a small Christmas tree with candles, to
show his children how the stars twinkled
through the dark night.
Jeremiah: 10 O House of Israel your lord
said : learn not the way of the heathen
For the customs of the people are vain:
for one cuts a tree out of the
forest….They deck it with silver and
with gold.
Santa
• It was believed that sky-riding gods
ruled the earth. The mythological
characters Odin, Thor, and Saturn gave
the basis for many of Santa's
characteristics.
• Pagan gift-giving figures such as the
Roman Befana and the Germanic Berchta.
• Saint Nicolas
Candy cane
Candy cane is shaped so that it would
resemble a “J” for Jesus or, turned
upside down, a shepherd’s staff.
It is white and red to represent the
flesh and blood of Jesus.
and three thinner red stripes for the
three stabs supposedly he received when
the Roman soldiers whipped Him.
A true Christen will no do Christmas
It is a major sin to celebrate christmas.
• No tree (the story of musab)
• No statements of holiday greetings
• No cards
• Do not model your eid after Christians
customs
أَبِي سَعِيدٍ الْخُدْرِيِّ قَالَ
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ
عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ لَتَتَّبِعُنَّ
سَنَنَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ شِبْرًا
بِشِبْرٍ وَذِرَاعًا بِذِرَاعٍ حَتَّى لَوْ
دَخَلُوا فِي جُحْرِ ضَبٍّ
لَاتَّبَعْتُمُوهُمْ قُلْنَا يَا رَسُولَ
اللَّهِ آلْيَهُودَ وَالنَّصَارَى
قَالَ فَمَن
Abu saa'eed Alkudree said Allah's
Messenger said: you will follow the ways
of those who came before you hand span
by hand span and arm span by arm span
even if they would enter the burrow of a
iguana (dhub) you would enter after
them. They the Jews and the Christians,
he said who else.
|
|
