Christmas

Christmas means christ mass. It was the Feast of the Incarnation. For centuries, the monarchs of the world have celebrated their birthdays as national holidays and often because of weather those holidays and official birthdays are not done on the actual day of the birth of the King. Likewise, it is certain that Jesus was not born on December 25, 1 CE. The sheep were still in the fields and it would have been very cold in December after dark in the fields. No good shepherd would have had his sheep in the field in December. So, if Christians are celebrating the King's birthday it is not as the actual day, but rather as a convenient day upon which to celebrate the King's birthday.

Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History does not mention Christmas because it was not a holy day for Christians. In fact, the first mention of the Roman celebration of December 25 was in 362 by Julian the last pagan Emperor.

The date for Christmas may also bear a relation to the sun worship. According to the scholiast on the Syriac bishop Jacob Bar-Salibi, writing in the twelfth century:

"It was a custom of the Pagans to celebrate on the same 25 December the birthday of the Sun, at which they kindled lights in token of festivity. In these solemnities and revelries the Christians also took part. Accordingly when the doctors of the Church perceived that the Christians had a leaning to this festival, they took counsel and resolved that the true Nativity should be solemnised on that day." However, this statement directly conflicts with what we know of the early Christians, namely, that they were ridiculed, tortured, and cast apart from operative society precisely because they would not participate in the pagan feasts and celebrations. The early Christians set themselves directly in opposition to the paganism which ruled the day. "Since Christians worshipped an invisible God, pagans often declared them to be atheists."

The birthday of Mithras, the soldier's god, the worship of whom swept the Roman world was December 25.

Is it wrong for Jews and Nasoreans to celebrate Christmas? Well, there is no evidence that a Jewish King's birthday was ever publicly celebrated. However, there is no reason not to celebrate the birthday of all the Incarnations of the Archangel and to celebrate them as Christ's Day would be fine. However, it is hard to justify a movement from celebrating the Kings' Birthday to giving vast numbers of presents to other people and to eating and drinking oneself to gluttony. Rather than become involved in that cultural expression, I think that Nasoreans should forego celebrating.