The Feast of the Nativity & A Christmas Poem

I have been writing a column for a very long time, and, apparently, some of you have been reading my words for a very long time, as well. With the arrival of the Holiday Season, I have received several requests for material I published a long time ago. Obviously, I am flattered and I am impressed with the long memories many of my readers seem to possess.

Thus, since this is the last column I will write this year I am fulfilling these requests.

The first request has come from several of you asking for copies of my column that first appeared in the Reminder on December 17, 1996. Following that column is one of my father’s Christmas poems. Beginning when we lived in Tampa, my father began writing a Christmas poem each year and, when the bookstore opened, these were printed on postcards and sent out to customers and friends. Several of you have commented how much you miss these poems so here is one of my favorites.

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The celebration of Christmas (or the Feast of the Nativity) on December 25 was largely an arrangement of convenience by the early church. Bowing to the tradition of pagan festivities during the period of December 17 to January 1, the church began a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ on December 25. In effect, they took an existing celebration and adopted it as their own.

The pagan festivities involved serious revelry, feasting, and merry-making, and the church allowed most of this to continue under the new holiday. Gradually, the new holiday began to catch on with the populace, coinciding with the steady growth of Christianity. The Feast of the Nativity became particularly popular and influential with the Eastern Church and, from there, slowly spread westward into Europe. During this period of growth, the tradition of merriment and ecstatic abandon – dating to the pagan festivals – continued as a part of the new holiday.

It was this revelry and merrymaking that so outraged the Puritans, who went so far as to outlaw the celebrating of Christmas. They viewed the holiday as a time of worldly pleasure taking and chaos.

By the beginning of the 1800s the groundwork began that dramatically transformed the way in which Christmas was celebrated. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this change is that it arose not from the church, but from the general population.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Jesus Christ began to be considered beyond the reach of the church. In particular, researchers began to consider Jesus as a historical figure and applied historical research techniques to their consideration. According to Christmas in America: A History by Penne Restad, this research described a “human dominated by love, sacrificing himself for others, asking nothing but giving everything and forgiving.” This was a dramatic departure at the time because it almost completely undermined the Puritan concept that “all youngsters were sinners who had to be broken of their innate ungodliness.”

Now the stage was set to alter Christmas. By mid-century, America was realizing a boom in what we now call the middle class. This segment of the population quickly accepted the new description of Jesus, and Christmas rapidly transformed into a family holiday centered on the home. Within this new outlook, the woman of the house was the primary figure, the “keeper of hearth and faith,” and children became the focus.

Now, with all that as background, we come to Santa Claus. Most of us know that our Santa is derived from St. Nicholas, a 4th century bishop in what is today Turkey, who was renowned for his devotion to children. Our name of Santa Claus comes from the Dutch nickname for St. Nicholas, “Sinterklaas.” The image of a “jolly, old elf” and many of the other things we attach to Santa Claus, come from Clement Clarke Moore’s poem for his children, which we all know as “The Night Before Christmas.” Moore was an Episcopal theologian in New York City, who, though considered a prig in his time, was quite familiar with the English tradition of exchanging presents at Christmas. And it was in New York where the concept of Santa Claus first became popular.

Our visual concept of Santa is credited to cartoonist Thomas Nast. Until Nast, depictions of Santa Claus (or, more accurately during this period of time, Saint Nicholas) depended largely on the ancestry of the region. Many of these depictions can still be found in local specialty shops, like Tannenbaum or Pipka’s. In the 1860s, though, Nast created the red suit and white beard that have become our accepted depiction of Moore’s “jolly old elf.” Interestingly, it was an advertising campaign by Coca-Cola that captured this depiction and made it widespread in the popular culture of the time.

All of these things are relatively easy to trace and document, but they fail to answer the central question: Why Santa Claus? The answer is rather surprising, since it is so easy to become caught up in all the other aspects of Santa Claus.

Fundamentally – and this may come as a surprise to many – Santa Claus is a religious symbol. Consider this for a moment: Children are taught to believe in a super natural, beneficent, omniscient being with magical powers. This being requires moral behavior (“he knows if you are sleeping/ he knows if you’re awake/ he knows if you are bad or good…) and he involves a form of prayer (writing letters to Santa). And consider that if you believe and adhere to this being’s moral code you are rewarded with presents. Belief in Jesus and adherence to his teachings provides the reward of eternal life. As John Schlein notes, “Anthropologically and sociologically, the essential characteristics of Santa match those associated with Jesus.”

So, in summary, Christmas (or The Feast of the Nativity) is a holiday created by the church to offset pagan festivals, which was completely redesigned during the 19th century by the church’s flock. And yet, the flock incorporated an element in their redesigned holiday (Santa Claus) to teach their children to become better members of the flock and, ultimately, the church.

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1991

The signposts change just when we think

We’ve learned the way. All, it seems, is

Flux, as we wander filling out some plan.

Then that blessed breathing space:

Year’s end, the balm of loving time,

Time slowed as if rich honey were poured

Into the great clock. In this small peace

There is left acknowledgment of what is past,

Passing, and to come. And, once more,

For every one of you:

if wishes are horses

May yours be Arabs; may your garlands wax

Green, bearing edible berries; may you feel

Now the warmth of our concern and affection;

May you smile, square the shoulders,

And carry on.

~ Harold M. Grutzmacher