Sunday Sermonette: It Was Never a White Christmas
The first volley of the American War on Christmas was fired not far from where I'm sitting. In 1659, the Massachusetts Bay Colony decreed:
For preventing disorders, arising in several places within this jurisdiction by reason of some still observing such festivals as were superstitiously kept in other communities, to the great dishonor of God and offense of others: it is therefore ordered by this court and the authority thereof that whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way, upon any such account as aforesaid, every such person so offending shall pay for every such offense five shilling as a fine to the county. (Since spelling was optional in the 17th century, this is edited for readability.)
We'll have no "Merry Christmas" here, declared the Puritans. It's a work day like any other.
There’s no mention of Christmas in the Bible. Sure, two Gospels have a birth narrative, but there’s no description of any sort of feast or celebration to mark the event. That idea came from the pagans and the papists.
In 1681, following the liberalization of religion in Britain under King James II, the Governor of the Massachusetts Colony, Sir Edmund Andros, lifted the ban on Christmas. Puritan preacher Samuel Seward sourly noted in his diary that mere secular authority couldn’t force him to celebrate Christmas.
Carts came to town and Shops open as is usual. Some, somehow, observe the day; but are vexed, I believe, that the Body of the People profane it, - and, blessed be God! no Authority yet to compell them to keep it.
But only two years later, the War on Christmas was declared lost by the Reverend Increase Mather (he of Salem Witch Trial fame). People were celebrating, a thoroughly un-Christian thing to do.
The generality of Christmas-keepers observe that festival after such a manner as is highly dishonourable to the name of Christ. How few are there comparatively that spend those holidays (as they are called) after an holy manner. But they are consumed in Compotations, in Interludes, in playing at Cards, in Revellings, in excess of Wine, in mad Mirth …
To be sure, Christmas was a time of riotous excess. Gangs of men and boys went “wassailing,” which involved banging on doors demanding alcoholic beverages, fueling further disorder. You can still hear traces of it in the old carols. It wasn’t until the mid-nineteenth century that Christmas became a family holiday, with adults giving presents to children rather than carousing in the streets. This was due in no small part to the most popular poem in American literature, A Visit From Saint Nicholas, written by Clement Moore in 1823. Moore invented the version of Santa Claus we still know. Illustrator Thomas Nast drew upon Moore’s poem to give us the indelible image of Santa - a jolly fat man with a twinkle in his eye, a pipe, and a bagful of toys for children.
According to Pat Robertson, it is this happy family time that the grinchy atheists are trying to destroy.
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It's utter bullshit, of course, as is all of the ginned-up "War on Christmas" malarky. We'll see protest buttons to "Remember the Reason for the Season!" (pro tip: it's axial tilt) and hear from Fox News how some heartless atheist has sued to keep a municipal government from erecting blatantly religious displays in front of Town Hall. And we'll hear more from preachers complaining that their particular form of holiday greeting is not being given enough public lip-service, which might annoy Bruce Banner God. You don’t want to make him angry.
Christmas is entirely manufactured. Everything about it is based on myth and folk-tale, from the fictional Gospel stories about a man and his pregnant wife being compelled to travel to the village of an ancestor who’d been dead for a thousand years to answer a world-wide census that Caesar Augustus never decreed during the time when Herod the Great (died in 4 B.C.) was king and Quirinius was governor of Syria (6 A.D. - 12 A.D.). I won’t even get into the trip into Egypt to avoid the mass infanticide which no one but the author of Matthew records.
The latest outrage in the War on Christmas occurred in Bloomington, Minnesota. The Mall of America hired an African-American Santa this year. Newly emboldened by the Trump election, white supremacists are incensed at the suggestion that a mythical character based on a Turkish bishop and intended to celebrate the birth of a swarthy Middle-Eastern Jew isn’t white.
By the way, the holiday favorite “White Christmas” was written by a Russian Jewish refugee fleeing the Tsar’s pogroms.
Merry Christmyth to all!
For preventing disorders, arising in several places within this jurisdiction by reason of some still observing such festivals as were superstitiously kept in other communities, to the great dishonor of God and offense of others: it is therefore ordered by this court and the authority thereof that whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way, upon any such account as aforesaid, every such person so offending shall pay for every such offense five shilling as a fine to the county. (Since spelling was optional in the 17th century, this is edited for readability.)
We'll have no "Merry Christmas" here, declared the Puritans. It's a work day like any other.
There’s no mention of Christmas in the Bible. Sure, two Gospels have a birth narrative, but there’s no description of any sort of feast or celebration to mark the event. That idea came from the pagans and the papists.
In 1681, following the liberalization of religion in Britain under King James II, the Governor of the Massachusetts Colony, Sir Edmund Andros, lifted the ban on Christmas. Puritan preacher Samuel Seward sourly noted in his diary that mere secular authority couldn’t force him to celebrate Christmas.
Carts came to town and Shops open as is usual. Some, somehow, observe the day; but are vexed, I believe, that the Body of the People profane it, - and, blessed be God! no Authority yet to compell them to keep it.
But only two years later, the War on Christmas was declared lost by the Reverend Increase Mather (he of Salem Witch Trial fame). People were celebrating, a thoroughly un-Christian thing to do.
The generality of Christmas-keepers observe that festival after such a manner as is highly dishonourable to the name of Christ. How few are there comparatively that spend those holidays (as they are called) after an holy manner. But they are consumed in Compotations, in Interludes, in playing at Cards, in Revellings, in excess of Wine, in mad Mirth …
To be sure, Christmas was a time of riotous excess. Gangs of men and boys went “wassailing,” which involved banging on doors demanding alcoholic beverages, fueling further disorder. You can still hear traces of it in the old carols. It wasn’t until the mid-nineteenth century that Christmas became a family holiday, with adults giving presents to children rather than carousing in the streets. This was due in no small part to the most popular poem in American literature, A Visit From Saint Nicholas, written by Clement Moore in 1823. Moore invented the version of Santa Claus we still know. Illustrator Thomas Nast drew upon Moore’s poem to give us the indelible image of Santa - a jolly fat man with a twinkle in his eye, a pipe, and a bagful of toys for children.
According to Pat Robertson, it is this happy family time that the grinchy atheists are trying to destroy.
lj-embed>
Click to viewIt's utter bullshit, of course, as is all of the ginned-up "War on Christmas" malarky. We'll see protest buttons to "Remember the Reason for the Season!" (pro tip: it's axial tilt) and hear from Fox News how some heartless atheist has sued to keep a municipal government from erecting blatantly religious displays in front of Town Hall. And we'll hear more from preachers complaining that their particular form of holiday greeting is not being given enough public lip-service, which might annoy Bruce Banner God. You don’t want to make him angry.
Christmas is entirely manufactured. Everything about it is based on myth and folk-tale, from the fictional Gospel stories about a man and his pregnant wife being compelled to travel to the village of an ancestor who’d been dead for a thousand years to answer a world-wide census that Caesar Augustus never decreed during the time when Herod the Great (died in 4 B.C.) was king and Quirinius was governor of Syria (6 A.D. - 12 A.D.). I won’t even get into the trip into Egypt to avoid the mass infanticide which no one but the author of Matthew records.
The latest outrage in the War on Christmas occurred in Bloomington, Minnesota. The Mall of America hired an African-American Santa this year. Newly emboldened by the Trump election, white supremacists are incensed at the suggestion that a mythical character based on a Turkish bishop and intended to celebrate the birth of a swarthy Middle-Eastern Jew isn’t white.
By the way, the holiday favorite “White Christmas” was written by a Russian Jewish refugee fleeing the Tsar’s pogroms.
Merry Christmyth to all!