History of Christmas - Ordinary Time
History of Christmas
The history of Christmas ultimately goes back to the miraculous virgin birth of Jesus Christ around 4 BC. At least by the time of St. Matthew and St. Luke’s Gospels, Christians began to reflect on the birth of Jesus Christ. A few of the early Fathers of the Church speculated about the birth of Jesus, but the actual celebration of Christmas cannot be fixed with certainty before the very early 4th century. Some scholars think that the celebration of Epiphany (originating in the East), which included the nativity and modern Christmastide themes, was celebrated much earlier (possibly late 2nd century).
The celebration of Christmas uniquely as the nativity of Jesus Christ, however, originated in the West, probably in North Africa. The earliest surviving reference to December 25th for the celebration of Christmas is in the Philocalian calendar, which shows the Roman practice in AD 336. The celebration of Christmas spread throughout the whole of the East and the West in the 4th century. By the fifth century, almost all of the Church was observing December 25th as the Feast of the Nativity and Epiphany on January 6th, although some Christians still kept January 6th as a holy day that included the nativity. The West was slower to embrace Epiphany, but by the fifth century Rome included it as a feast. Today, in the Western Church, the season of Christmas, called Christmastide, includes the Epiphany (the manifestation of Christ to the wise men) and the baptism of Jesus. Also, in the Catholic Church we remember and celebrate the divine Motherhood of Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, with the solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, falling on January 1st.
Christmas was universally celebrated until the Reformation, but afterwards many “reformers” rejected Christmas. The English Puritans were particularly hostile to Christmas and went to absurd lengths to suppress it. During the brief Calvinist reign in England, parliament forbade the celebration of Christmas, even going so far as to force shops to be open. This attitude carried over into the Americas where Christmas was outlawed or criminalized in Puritan states. For example, in Massachusetts, until the 1830s, anyone who missed school or work on December 25th was subject to a fine. During the earliest days of the USA, with the exception of Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans, the religious and secular celebration of Christmas would’ve been quite rare. Even in the 21st century, many people, for a variety of reasons (all suspect from a Catholic viewpoint), reject the celebration of Christmas. The issue today is not so much how to get people to celebrate Christmas, but rather to re-orient them to the original purpose of celebrating Christmas: Christ and the Mass.