WHAT IS CHRISTMAS ABOUT?

        
That time of year again has come and with it all the joys of
Christmas. But what is the real meaning of Christmas? Is it just
the exchange of gifts, shouts of Merry Chistmas in the air,
flashes of colours on our trees and houses? While some others
mourn during this period for not having all this things during this
season

  HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS.

 Christmas has always been a holiday celebrated carelessly.
 For millennia, pagans, Christians, and even Jews have been swept away in the season’s festivities, and very few people ever pause to consider the celebration’s meaning, history, or origins.

When was Jesus born?
Popular believe, puts His birth on December 25^th in the year 1 Calender Era. The New Testament gives no date or year for Jesus’ birth which was written about 65 Calender Era ago. It begins with the baptism of an adult Jesus.

The year of Jesus birth was therefore determined by Dionysius Exiguus (a Scythian monk)  “abbot of a Roman monastery.  View his calculations below:

In the Roman, Pre-Christian era, years were counted from Ab Urbe Condita (AUC-the founding of the City Rome). Thus 1 AUC signifies the year Rome was founded, 5 AUC signifies the 5^th year of Rome’s reign, etc.

Dionysius understood from tradition that the Roman emperor Augustus reigned 43 years, and was followed by the emperor Tiberius.

Luke 3:1-23 indicates that when Jesus turned 30 years old, it was the 15^th year of Tiberius reign.

If Jesus was 30 years old in Tiberius’ reign, then he lived 15 years under Augustus (placing Jesus birth in Augustus’ 28^th year of reign).

       Augustus ruled in 727 AUC. Therefore, Dionysius put Jesus birth in 754 AUC.

        However, Luke 1:5 places Jesus’ birth in the days of Herod, and Herod died in 750 AUC, four years before the year in which Dionysius places Jesus birth.

  

How Did Christmas Come to Be Celebrated

on December 25?

   

Roman pagans first introduced the holiday of Saturnalia,

a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between

December 17-25. During this period, Roman courts

were closed, and Roman law dictated that no one could

be punished for damaging property or injuring people

during the weeklong celebration. 

   

The festival began when Roman authorities chose “an

enemy of the Roman people” to represent the “Lord of

Misrule.” Each Roman community selected a victim

whom they forced to indulge in food and other physical

pleasures throughout the week. At the festival’s

conclusion, December 25^th, Roman authorities believed

they were destroying the forces of darkness by brutally

murdering this innocent man or woman.

   
In the 4^th century CE, Christianity imported the
Saturnalia festival hoping to take the pagan masses in
with it. Christian leaders succeeded in converting to
Christianity large numbers of pagans by promising them
that they could continue to celebrate the Saturnalia as
Christmas.

     The Origins of Christmas Customs and traditions

A. The Origin of Christmas Tree
Just as early Christians recruited Roman pagans by
associating Christmas with the Saturnalia. Pagans had
long worshipped trees in the forest, or brought them into
their homes and decorated them, and this observance
was adopted and painted with a Christian veneer by the
Church.

B. The Origin of Mistletoe
Norse mythology recounts how the god Balder was
killed using a mistletoe arrow by his rival god Hoder
while fighting for the female Nanna. Druid rituals use
mistletoe to poison their human sacrificial victim.  The
Christian custom of “kissing under the mistletoe” is a
later synthesis of the sexual license of Saturnalia with
the Druidic sacrificial cult.

C. The Origin of Christmas Presents
In pre-Christian Rome, the emperors compelled their
most despised citizens to bring offerings and gifts during
the Saturnalia (in December) and Kalends (in January). 
Later, this ritual expanded to include gift-giving among
the general populace. The Catholic Church gave this
custom a Christian flavor by re-rooting it in the supposed
gift-giving of Saint Nicholas (see below).

D. The Origin of Santa Claus

Nicholas was among the most senior bishops who
convened the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE and created
the New Testament. He was born in Parara,Turkey in
270 CE and later became Bishop of Myra. He died in
345 CE on December 6^th. He was named a saint in the
19^th century.

The Bavarian illustrator Thomas Nast almost completed
the modern picture of Santa Claus.  Based on a   poem
written by Moore, Thomas drew more than 2,200 cartoon
images of Santa for Harper’s Weekly from 1862 through
1886. Nast also gave Santa a home at the North Pole,
his workshop filled with elves, and his list of the good
and bad children of the world. All Santa was missing was
his red outfit.
http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/Christmas_TheRealStory.htm

Achievers Manual wishes all her readers a very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. Remember
"Jesus is the reason for the season"