CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS

Christmas Traditions - By Tim Mann

Over the years, many Christmas traditions were started by Christians to give honor and praise to their Savior. Many of these traditions continue, but unfortunately the original reason for them is lost. Considering that we have now over two thousand years of these traditions most of us do not know why we follow so many of these Christmas traditions.

My problem is that many “purist” of the faith fight these traditions, and even the celebration of Christmas itself, and then condemn those of us who enjoy the season.

In a desire to educate as many as possible to the reason of some of our most practiced traditions I am posting this blog of interesting Christmas historical information. As with much of history some things are hard to prove absolutely, but I have researched many of these facts over the years and am peaceful that the material is reasonably accurate.

After you read let me recommend that we stop fighting the traditions, and use the original reasons for them as tools of ministry and witness to help others put Christ back into the season.

God Bless and Merry Christmas

Tim Mann
Church Builders International

CHRISTMAS, WAS IT REALLY CHRIST’S BIRTHDAY?

The Biblical narrative of Jesus birth gives no date for the event, though it more than likely occurred in the spring than in winter. Luke tells us that shepherds were abiding in the field keeping watch over their flocks by night. Shepherds guarded their flocks day and night in the fields only at lambing time, in the spring. In the winter the animals were kept in corrals, unwatched.

It is important to note that for two centuries after Christ's birth, no one really knew, and few people cared, exactly when he was born. Birthdays were unimportant; death days counted. Besides, Christ was divine and his natural birth was deliberately played down. In fact, the Church even announced at one point that it was sinful to contemplate observing Christ's birthday as though He were a King, or Pharaoh."

(It was a common practice for the people who lived under a King’s Domain, to be forced to celebrate the birthday of the King, which would be treated as a national holiday. There was also a birthday tax that was many levied on the people to be paid to the king. The early Christians, not wanting to celebrate the birthday of natural kings, began to find times when they could celebrate the Biblical birth record of their “King of Kings.” They would also give gifts of food to needy people in the name of Christ instead of paying a tax; hence the beginning of the tradition of giving gifts on Christmas.)

For several hundred years following the birth of Christ, pagan Romans, still in the majority, celebrated Natalis Solis Invicti, "Birthday of the Invincible Sun God," Mithras, on December 25. The Mithras cult originated in Persia and rooted itself in the Roman world in the first cent B.C. By the year 274 A.D. Mithraism was so popular with the masses Emperor Aurelian proclaimed it the official state religion. In the early 300’s the cult seriously threatened Christianity, and for a time, it was uncertain which faith would emerge victorious in the empire. Church fathers' debated their options.

It was well known that Roman patricians and plebeians alike enjoyed the festivals of a protracted nature. The Church, then, needed a December celebration. Thus, to offer converts an occasion in which to be pridefully celebratic, the Church officially recognized Christ's birth. And to offer head-on competition to the sun worshipers' popular feast, the Church located the Nativity on December 25. The mode of observance would be characteristically prayerful: a Mass; in fact, Christ's Mass. As one theologian wrote in the 320’s: "We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun but because of him who made it.". . .

The celebration of Christmas took permanent hold in the Western world in 337, when the Roman emperor Constantine was baptized, uniting for the first time the Crown and the Church. Christianity had become the official state religion. And in 354, Bishop Liberius of Rome reiterated the importance of celebrating not only Christ's death but also his birth.

(Sacred Origins of Profound Things, By Charles Panati: Penguin Books, 375 Hudson St., New York, New York, 10014,U.S.A. (Page 215,

XMAS

The tradition of using an X for the word Christ started in the 16^th century. As tradition goes the Christian monks of the day began to mix their knowledge of the Greek language, which the New Testament was written in, and the English language. The monks began to substitute the first letter of the Greek spelling for Christ, in their writings about Christmas. This was not an uncommon practice in the early Greek cultures as the first letter of a famous person’s name would, many times be given a special place and honor within the societies of the day. By taking a letter to represent the famous person they could then just write the letter and not the name and all would know what it meant. This would have been one of the highest honors of the Greek to societies to have a letter of the alphabet assigned to you.

Well, the Greek name “‎Xristo” or Christos, begins with the Greek letter “Chi”, which appears similar to the English letter X. So the monks began to write the word for their “Christ Mass” (or Christ prayer service that was the church service on Christmas day) with the capital of the Greek letter “X” (Chi). They were not being disrespectful but showing honor by delegating this letter to represent “Christ” Himself. The clergy of the day all knew of this honor but many of the people could not read or write so the common man would not have known or even understood the significance. So using “X” is to use the highest honor given by the ancient Greeks, to say “Christ.”

Over the years this historical honor and significance was lost by most (except the well studied) so now many think that when this is so used that the writers are just x-ing Christ out of Christmas. Now you know the truth of this tradition, use it as a tool of ministry to lead others to “X”

THE CHRISTMAS TREE

Many legends exist about the first Christmas Tree but one of the earliest was that it was associated with the Edenic Tree of Knowledge and decorated it with apples—forbidden fruit.

The only native evergreen tree found in the Middle East was the Holly plant or tree. For us in the North America, Holly is a bush but in its native area it would grow to be one of the larger trees. It was used for many things because it was one the strongest woods and could be polished to a high shine.

Holly was thought to be the tree from which the cross was made. Because of the tradition that it was the type of wood that the Cross was made from early Christians attached special significance to it. Hence the use of using Holly greens to decorate around the Christmas season.

Other religions also used the tradition of evergreens in their pagan worship. One was the custom that goes back to a Roman festival honoring Saturn, the God of Agriculture. During this celebration Romans would fill their homes with greens and give each other holly to symbolize friendship. In later years, the first Christians (who had to practice their new religion in secret) hung holly and greens on their front doors to mask their beliefs from the Romans, but they would add a special feature so that other Christians would know that they were worshipping Christ and not Saturn. They would shape their Holly into a circle representing the never ending love of God. Hence the beginning of the Christmas Wreath.

As time went on and the celebration of Christmas moved into northern Europe, Holly was not a common plant but fir and spruce trees were. So the tradition of using other evergreens as decorations became common with Europeans.

It appears that Martin Luther, was one of the first to take an entire fir tree indoors. He illuminated it with candies to remind children of the light Jesus Christ brought into the world. However, it wasn't until the early 17th century that the Christmas tree really became a part of the holiday celebration. European families brought it into their homes and decorated it with homemade ornaments, such as paper roses, candies and cookies. The Christmas tree tradition gained popularity when German-born Prince Albert, husband of England's Queen Victoria, installed a lighted tree in Windsor Castle in 1841 The tree, trimmed with cookies, candies and glass figurines, became The centerpiece of the royal family's holiday celebration. Later the candles were used to represented the stars in the sky over Bethlehem.

Around the 1830's, German immigrants settling in Pennsylvania introduced the custom to America. They brought freshly cut evergreen trees indoors and decorated them with brightly colored cornucopias filled with nuts, fruits and candy, and with colored eggshells and candles. Later, as other immigrants came to America from all over Europe, they brought their beautiful traditions with them.

PUTTING THE STAR
on the tree represented the Star that led the wise men to the infant child.

USING AN ANGELon the tree represents the “Angelic Host” that first appeared the shepherds keeping watch over their flocks that first Christmas night.

PUTTING BELLS

on trees represented lost sheep who are found by the shepherds through the sound of the bell.

UNDER THE MISTLETOE

Under the mistletoe wasn't always a place to be kissed. This white-berried plant was more a symbol of peace than romance. Hanging mistletoe comes from an old Scandinavian military custom: enemies encountering each other under the tree laid down their arms in truce until the next day.

Later on, in England and Scandinavia, the plant was hung over entryways; anyone passing under it was supposed to come in peace and would receive a friendly greeting--such as a kiss on the cheek.

GIVING GIFTS AND FOOD FOR CHRISTMAS

This began with the early tradition of helping the needy and poor. Many early Christians began the practice of helping the needy with food and other necessities, following the Biblical story of the “Wise Men.” When the wise men came to Jesus they brought wealth that was used by Joseph and Mary to flee to Egypt while escaping the terror of King Herod. That wealth was sufficient to support them for two years.

Early Christians followed this practice by finding those in need within the Christian community, giving them those things that they needed on Christmas as a sign that their God was taking care of them. Charles Dickens novel “A Christmas Carol” with Scrooge giving the Christmas dinner to the family of Tiny Tim depicts this custom. This reason for giving gifts as an expression of God’s love and care has been lost. Today gifts are given to express our love but the thought of expressing God’s love has been all but lost in our modern celebrations.

CAROLING

The first Christmas carolers appear in the Bible. They are the heavenly hosts who lift their voices to sing in of Christ's birth. St Francis of Assisi, as far back as the 13^th century; with his priests and monks celebrated the birth of the Christ child with song. He wrote many songs to celebrate and teach the children about the miraculous birth of the Savior. Eventually, the tradition spread beyond the churches and monasteries.

SANTA CLAUS

Santa Claus wasn't always the round, cheerful figure we know today. He was first pictured as a rather dignified person in long robes. That's because the idea of this gift-bringer is based on St. Nicholas, a real 4th century bishop. One of the stories about him is this: Hearing of a nobleman who had no money for his daughter's dowries, St. Nicholas rode by their house and tossed in three bags of gold. One bag fel

l into a stocking drying by the chimney--and so the custom of hanging up Christmas stockings began. The legend of St. Nicholas--and the stocking--spread throughout Europe and was brought to this country by the Dutch. They called him Sinterklaas, but English-speaking settlers changed it to Santa Claus. Not until the 1800's did Santa lose his stern image. In 1822, Clement Moore's delightful poem, "A Visit from St. Nicholas," portrayed Santa with a fat belly and

merry laugh. The final touch came in 1866, when famous cartoonist Thomas Nast drew a red-cheeked Santa with his Christmas list in a popular magazine. That's how kids have pictured--and loved Santa ever since!

(Family Circle Mag. 12/11/84)

The German word “Christkindl” which means “Christ Child” eventually was turned into “Kris Kringle”.

Timothy Mann is the founder of Church Builders International and also an internationally renowned minister and prophet. For more on Tim or his ministry, go to ChurchBuildersInt.org

PRINCIPLES OF STUDY

2 Timothy 2:15-16; "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness." (KJV)

Let me tell you a story from my own life. In 1993 I was in my office during a season of prayer. I was fighting a growing frustration and during my prayer time I gave voice to that frustration. "God" I said, "I feel like I have preached it all." I had come to a time in my life and ministry where there was no freshness to the Word. I would read, but the Bible had become boring to me. It was like reading a novel and knowing what was coming on the next page. You see I had faithfully read through the scriptures many times and I was familiar with all the stories and verses that my movement spoke upon. Even though I would pray and read, I was not receiving anything fresh - God was not speaking to me through the pages of the scripture.

Since I needed to find something fresh to preach I had resorted to reading other's books. Every week I would find some author's book that I hadn't read or that I had not read recently and I would outline their revelation and then stand up and preach it like it was my own. I was constantly looking for books to read because I could not seem to dig it out for myself. Well, my library grew during that time but I didn't.

I would longingly reminisce about the early days of my Christianity when each morning I would arise early just to break open the Bible because each page was new and fresh. When I began my Christianity there was an entire movement of people learning the Word and experiencing the freshness of God, but those days seemed to be gone ever, and all that was left was a duty to read the scriptures daily. I would schedule my Bible reading time in the first part of my day so I could get it over with, and then move on to the book I was reading. My strokes in ministry were coming from successful program administration and church functions, but I was drying up spiritually as a minister, and I couldn't seem to find an answer.

I would travel to church conferences, nearly every month, looking for a freshness of God’s Word and a move of His Spirit to ease my problem. But what I found were seminars on the "new program" of the day. I guess I was not the only minister experiencing the problem.

So there I sat in my office, "Lord, I feel like I have preached it all and there is nothing fresh and new left." But then a book caught my eye on my shelf; it was called "Interpreting the Scriptures." I picked it off the shelf and began to glance through the pages and found immediately that it was a book on the subject of Hermeneutics (the Science of Biblical Interpretation), so I threw it on the desk and said "Cemetery" (my slang for seminary), and went back to my prayer, "Lord, I feel like I have preached it all." But that book started calling to me so I picked it up again and began to read. What I discovered was the answer to my prayer.

A Spirit-filled instructor in a Bible college wrote that book. He had been given the assignment to teach a class on the Interpretation of the Scriptures and couldn't find a textbook that allowed for the revelation of the Holy Spirit, so he wrote one.

Through the first pages of that book I learned that the Holy Spirit had a language all his own. Not just tongues but a way of saying things using tools like symbols, types, parables and allegories. Up to that point I had only read the Bible and just studied the Greek or Hebrew words, but I had never realized that the Holy Spirit used figures of speech and idioms just like we do. Through the understanding gained through that book I began to learn His language, which enabled me to unlock the hidden mysteries of the scriptures.

Jesus said "…for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known." (Matthew 10:26) I didn't realize that there were a lot of hidden and covered things in the scripture. By just reading through the Bible many of these things were not apparent, but once I learned some of the keys suddenly I found an entire New World of understanding. But then something more happened, as I learned how to interpret the scriptures, fresh revelation began to flow again from the Spirit.

It can best be described as swimming in the ocean thinking that you had seen it all but then someone introduced you to scuba diving. Once you went below the surface you found a whole New World of life that you never knew existed. Jesus said "Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." (Matthew 13:13)

Let me give you and example; in Matthew Jesus told a one-line parable just for ministers and church leaders.

"Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." (Matthew 13:33)

I had always been taught that the leaven spoken of here was Christians, and God was sending us to the world so that, even though we were small in number, we could change the world. But that is not an accurate interpretation. Leaven in the scriptures always represents false doctrine and sin. Jesus said many times to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Paul said "Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Corinthians 5:8) God wants unleavened bread (Christians) in his Kingdom.

This parable was spoken to the twelve who were getting ready to take charge of the birthing of the Kingdom on earth and the Lord was warning them, that just like leaven, if a little sin and false doctrine was allowed in the Church it would leaven the entire thing. Satan is trying to bring in his leaven, not just to the world, but into the Church. Listen if we allow ourselves to look too much like the world to get a few noses and nickels on Sunday's then we are leavening the lump.

Well, the knowledge of interpreting the Scriptures, which that book started in me, has changed the way I study and preach. Today my favorite book is the Bible - I can't put it down. Each page is so full of fresh revelation that I have trouble looking to other books.

This growth in me has also caused a problem. It is now hard to listen to some "TV preachers" that I used to like because of their lack of revelation. I didn't realize how many times ministers miss-interpret the Scriptures. Listen my fellow ministers, just because were preaching, doesn't mean that we are preaching it right.

At the beginning of this article I listed a verse from 2 Timothy "Study to shew thyself approved unto God…" Notice that this does not say "read to show yourself approved", or "pray to show yourself approved", but study. I used to just read and then sit and pray like God was just going to speak some world changing revelation to me. I still pray a lot but I found that if I do not study then I do not hear anything. It is like the amateur golfer who played a round with a pro golfer. When the round was finished and the pro had won by a wide margin the amateur said, "I guess that the game of golf requires a lot of luck." To which the pro replied "Yes, and it seems like the more I practice the luckier I get."

Listen my friends; there is a lack of revelation in many churches today, not because of a lack of desire but because of lack of understanding on how to study. Proper study will trigger fresh revelation. You can be right hearted but a false interpreter, if you do not learn how to rightly divide the Word.

The leaders who once fed us during the past moves are now gone. Just re-preaching their old revelation is not necessarily the word for today. This lack of present revelation has caused many ministers to resort to programs instead of revelation to build the church. It is time for the leaders of the Kingdom to become studier's again. God is talking but we do not understand the language that he is using. Let's learn how to rightly divide the Word of Truth and bring revelation back into the Church of the Lord Jesus.

I have a two DVD series with included study outlines on this subject. Just click on the banner below to go to my website.