The Reason for the Season
Christmas is one of my favourite times of year. I love to sing and enjoy the Christmas carols. I also love decorating my house with a Christmas tree and usually have candles everywhere. I’ve even been known to start the celebration with a proper Advent crown (like on Blue Peter) as well as an Advent calendar - I find a good countdown enhances the festivities.
I also enjoy the myriad of Christmas stories, whether it is the Dr Seuss’ The Grinch who Stole Christmas, the story of Baboushka, or the traditional Nativity in Luke. Christmas stories, even the modern ones, tend to be of a thoughtful type, and concerned with the true meaning of Christmas, the reason for the season.
If you look back at the historical records, winter celebrations pre-date the arrival of Christianity in Europe. The original reason for the season, was to ward away the cold and the dark, and celebrate the coming return of spring. This reason, is still around in the traditions of Yule logs, and of hospitality, of eating and drinking and making merry.
The early Christian church co-opted the existing winter festivals and added a new layer of meaning. They spread the story of a baby who was to be the fulfilment of earlier Jewish prophecies of a new King. The reason for celebrating was the birth of a new hope for humanity. Remembering this story is an important part of modern Christmases, in the Nativity plays that children put on at school or at church, and the Nativity sets that we use to decorate our homes. It is also found in the looking back and looking forward that accompanies the end of the year - we have new hope as the calender turns.
In lots of houses, the focus of the Christmas celebrations is on the youngest of the family. The wonder and awe of the fresh eyes that children bring to the festivities, has a magical transforming affect to many adults. The centrepiece of this reason for celebrating is Father Christmas, or Santa Claus, has evolved over the years from the figure of St Nicholas, Bishop of Smyrna, to now brings presents to all the good children.
Since the Victorian times, one of the over-riding Christmas sentiments has been, “peace on earth and goodwill to all men”. This is expressed in the true story of the Christmas football match between the British and German soldiers in the first world war trenches of 1914, or Dickens ‘A Christmas Carol’. This reason for celebrating is seen in the successful appeals for gifts for those people and families who might otherwise go without, the special shelters for the homeless, and in the general air of friendship and joy that pervades many workplaces, schools, and homes.
There are many reasons for the season and they are all good ones. Pick the reasons and meanings that ring true to you and enjoy a wonderful Christmas season.
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