Celebrating Christmas

Celebrating Christmas.

P.K.Ghatak, MD

No.50

The world celebrates Christmas on 25th December to mark the birth of Jesus. But Jesus was not born on 25th December. The Bible does not mention Jesus' date of birth, the description of the season at the time of birth was not definitely winter. The astrologers, and religious scholars by studying the appearance of a bright star on the night sky, calculated Jesus was born in between 6th BC and 4th BC.

The ancient church in Rome decided to celebrate Christmas on 25th December because it was already a holiday in the Roman empire. That day Romans celebrated Saturnalia, a popular winter solstice festival in honor of Saturn, their god of agriculture and harvest.

First Christmas celebration.

Romans celebrated Christmas in 336 CE for the first time.

In Russia and other places where the Julian calendar is followed, Christmas comes 13 days behind December 25, on January 7. The Eastern Orthodox church celebrates Christmas on 7th January. Their Papa St. Nicholas is the Papa Christmas of the rest of the world.

According to the Christian history sources, Jesus was born to a Jewish household in Bethlehem, and he became a Jewish priest. Jews rejected him as a messiah. Paul preached Jesus was God himself; that was too much for Jewish followers to accept and moreover, according to the Old Bible the Messiah would reunite the lost tribe and establish a heavenly kingdom on the Earth, which Jesus did not do. Jewish is a strictly monotheistic religion.

When celebrating Christmas was a punishable offense:

Henry VIII broke from the church of Rome, the Catholic church, and established the Anglican church. He did not persecute his subjects for celebrating Christmas. His daughter, Queen ElizabethI hanged a priest if found celebrating Christmas, however she looked the other way when her subjects celebrated Christmas.

In the 17th century, the Puritan colony in Massachusetts made celebrating Christmas a punishable offense and fined 5 shillings. They were concerned about the commercialization of Christmas.

If one of them could be brought back now and show him the mad rush and hand to hand combat when stores open on Back-Friday.

What would he say?

Where non-Christians celebrate Christmas.

Hindu:

The most populous country on the Earth is India. The majority of Indians are Hindu, many are Muslim and others are Christians, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, and others. Hindus consider the Lord Ram, Krishna and 8 others, as God incarnates. This phenomenon of God in human form is not very different from the Christian view of Jesus as the son of God and the Holy Spirit. Hindus cannot accept Jesus as the only son of God and there is nobody else; and fail to understand why a newborn is a sinner.

That does not prevent Hindus from celebrating Christmas. Christmas is a national holiday in India. Hindus love celebrating any religious festival with enthusiasm. Most Hindus celebrate Christmas with parting, feasting, visiting and gift giving. Many attend midnight churches service to hear Jesus' love for humanity and service to the sick and poor and enjoy Christmas Carol and prayer songs.

Buddhist.

Buddhist religious books were written between 3rd BCE and 1st CE, long after Budds's death. Buddhists appreciate Jesus's compassion and love for humanity. But dislike the excesses in the Christmas celebration. Many Buddhists spend the day of Christmas in quiet prayers and wish for world peace.

Jain.

Jain faith is as old as India herself. Jainism was practiced by people of Indus valley civilization which is dated now about 3300 BC. Jain religious texts were written in 7th to 5th BCE. Jainism had a wide presence in India when Buddha was born. Jains are totally against killing any living beings and advocate a simple way of living. That is a stark contrast with glamorous Christmas decorations and parties.

Jains living in the western world extend goodwill for all their neighbors on the Christmas season.

Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism:

Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism were the main religions of China before China became communists. The communist government banned all religious practices. In an earlier time, China was humiliated and plundered by colonial European countries. The Chinese did not take that kindly nor Christianity. In China Christmas celebration is limited to Christian.

The majority of Chinese are polytheistic and practice a combination of the essence of Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism. Confucianism teaches self-improvement by refined behavior, education and harmony with the cosmic force of heaven. Daoism gave us the Yin and Yang, complementary opposing forces that bring balance in the universe. There is no person god in any of the three main religion that is practiced in China.

Modern western educated Chinese participate in some social aspects of Christmas. But that does not prevent them from manufacturing all the Christmas gifts sold in the US stores beginning the day after Thanksgiving.

Shinto:

Shinto is the main religion of Japan. Worshipping Nature and ancestors are the main parts of their religious practice. Shinto emphasizes harmony, purity and reverence to heaven. Buddhism came to Japan via China and Buddhism fitted well with their practice of Shinto religion. In the 15th century Portuguese brought Christianity to Japan and Christianity began to spread. It was aligned to Japanese culture and God in human incarnation or messenger from God are not parts of Japanese religious belief. The emperor of Japan banned Christianity.

Modern Japanese celebrate the social side of Christmas.

Muslim.

Muslim is the last of the Abrahamic religions. The Quran mentioned Jesus or Isa, as a prophet and God sent him to the children of Israel. The Quran denies Jesus's divinity. Muslim being a strict monolithic religion, Muslims do not celebrate Christmas. The Quran also states that Hazarat Muhammad is the last in a long chain of prophets sent by God and no prophet will come after him.

Turkey used to be the most liberal of all Muslim countries and the people of Turkey used to participate in the social aspects of Christmas enthusiastically.

Sikh.

Sikh religion is the latest major religion established in India in the sixteenth century by Guru Nanak. They do not accept that God appears on the Earth in a human form. They believe in one God and God is formless and eternal. They gather in their temple Gurdwara for religious services and their holy book is the Guru Granth Sahib. During the services they recite from this book and sing, prayers and mediate. The main emphasis Sikh placed is in selfless community service, compassion, honesty and justice. They defend their faith with arms if necessary. Men carry a sword or dagger, do not cut their hairs, grow beards and adorn an iron bangle. Sikh soldiers are brave and easily recognizable and highly placed in the Indian army and they are the pride of Indians.

During the early days of Sikh faith, India was ruled by Mughal Muslim emperors. They persecuted Sikhs in every opportunity they could create. Successive Gurus were assassinated. The most orthodox Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb executed the 9th Guru Tegh Bahadur. The 10th Guru Gobind Singh and four of his children were killed by order of Aurangzeb in the month of December. To all Sikhs the month of December is the month of remembrance and sorrow. They do not participate in any celebration in December including Christmas.

Baha'i.

The Baha'i faith was founded by Baha u llah in Shiraz, Iran in 1817. Baha'i faith has spread far and near. India has most Baha'i followers. Baha'i took the narrative from the Bible and Quran. They believe messengers of God came to the Earth from time to time and the number of messengers they recognize are many more than the Bile and Quran mentioned. Baha'i is monotheistic religion. Baha'i preaches one God, one religion, one nation, and one mankind. It emphasizes education, equality and peace. Baha'i celebrate Christmas.

A personal note:

People all over the world enjoy Christmas, whether they are Christian or not. All humans, irrespective of their piety, have love for their family. And families unite to form a human society. Compassion, humility and service to others are the foundation of any society to survive and progress. There Jesus stands tall. His words of love and examples of selfless service to the poor and sick, brings so much hope when the future looks murky and life itself appears nothing but a struggle.

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