That’s what Christmas is all about

Even though we’re not in the jolliest of all seasons yet, the craze of the holiday blaze will be here in no time. And it’s an annual thing, anyway, so it’s never too early or too late to talk about it. Don’t worry, we will do our best not to get over-sentimental, soppy and sappy, we prefer incremental, hoppy and happy.

I say jingle, you say bells

What comes to your mind when you hear Christmas?

The most common answers would probably be Christmas tree, presents, tables loaded with the season’s goodies, lights, lights and then even more lights, family gatherings, family quarrels and heated discussions with lots of waving followed by occasional spilling of wine on a precious table cloth used for only special occasions.

And, of course, there’s Christmas music, from the evergreen tunes that you associate with black-and-white recordings to the most recent creations that no proper Christmas season should go without.

That being said, we promise not to exceed mentioning Wham!’s Last Christmas more than once. And we will also refrain from mentioning Mariah Carey’s version of the ultimate holiday tune that is dangerously close to becoming another annoying composition (or has already become just that) that we won’t be able to dodge once the season kicks off.

Christmas ABCs

Christmas is a Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus. The English term Christmas (“mass on Christ’s day”) is fairly recent. Origins of Christmas can be found in the pagan and Roman cultures. The Romans celebrated two holidays in the month of December. The first was Saturnalia, which was a two-week festival honouring their god of agriculture – Saturn. And on December 25, they celebrated the birth of Mithra, their sun god. Such celebrations were basically rowdy, drunken parties.

Also in December with the longest and coldest days of the year, the pagans lit bonfires and candles to keep the darkness at bay. Pagan customs and traditions were eventually incorporated by the Romans into their own celebrations.

As part of the solstice celebrations, the pagan cultures decorated their homes with greens in anticipation of the spring. Evergreen trees remained green even during the coldest and darkest days, so it was believed they hold special powers.

The Romans also decorated their temples with fir trees during Saturnalia. However, the first trees the pagans brought into their homes were hung from the ceiling upside down.

The tree tradition we know today originates from Northern Europe, where Germanic pagan tribes decorated evergreen trees in worship of their god with candles and dried fruit. The tradition was incorporated into the Christian faith in Germany in the early 16^th century. They decorated trees in their homes with sweets, lights, and toys.

There are various explanations as to why December 25 was chosen as the birth date of Jesus, but the most widespread explanation of the origin of this date is that December 25 was the Christianizing of the a popular holiday in the Roman Empire which celebrated the winter solstice as a symbol of the resurgence of the sun, end of winter, and the rebirth of spring and summer.

Note also the similarity between the rebirth of the sun and the birth of the Son, i.e. Jesus.

Ancient pagan festival of Saturnalia

Because Christmas holidays are perfect for watching certain films for the 47^th time or enjoy re-runs of our favourite TV shows, we turn your attention to the hugely popular American sitcom The Big Bang Theory and its (in)famous character Sheldon Cooper with his perfect-pitch delivery of any opinion.

We simply couldn’t resist sharing some of his quotes on why he doesn’t celebrate Christmas, support gift-giving or any other season-related concept.

“In the pre-Christian era, as the winter solstice approached and the plants died, pagans brought evergreen boughs into their homes as an act of sympathetic magic, intended to guard the life essences of the plants until spring. This custom was later appropriated by Northern Europeans and eventually it becomes the so-called Christmas tree.” (The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis; S. 2, Ep. 11)

“Oh, yes. We had a tree, we had a manger, we had an inflatable Santa Claus with plastic reindeer on the front lawn. And to make things even more jolly, there were so many blinking lights on the house they induced neighbourhood-wide seizures.” (The Maternal Congruence, S. 3, Ep. 11)

“Christmas? You know I don't enjoy Christmas… Oh, where to begin? Trees indoors. Overuse of the words 'tis' and 'twas'. And the absurd custom of one stocking. Everybody knows that socks comes in pairs. Who uses one sock?” (The Santa Simulation, S. 6, Ep. 11)

Sheldon: “Since when is eggnog a Christmas drink? Eggs are available all year round. I've been known to enjoy this poolside.”
Leonard: “Come on, Sheldon. You know all the Christmas stories and the carols, you've got an eggnog moustache going on there. Just admit it, you're getting a little yuletide spirit.”
Sheldon: “Don't be silly. Christmas is a bunch of baloney created by the tinsel industry”. (The Santa Simulation, S. 6, Ep. 11)

Remember the reason for the season

Whatever you opinion about Christmas may be, whether you purposefully defy buying gifts because you think Christmas is a holiday for merchandisers and you don’t want to be a part of that, or you prefer the peace and quiet of the long winter nights to any loud celebrations, the holiday is many things to many people.

There is something magical about it for sure.

It is a time to ruminate, a time to ponder, a time to navigate, a time to wonder.