Every lie (and some truths) about Christmas

Now that Christmas has just passed, we can tell you the truth.

Every year, on December 25th, in many countries in Europe, America and Australia gifts are exchanged under the traditional Christmas tree. This tradition imitates the three magi who 2022 years ago, led by a comet to Bethlehem, celebrated the birth of Jesus in the frost of a cave just warmed by the breath of an ox and a donkey.

What if we tell you that there are at least seven fakes in the previous sentences? That the Gospels do not mention December, there is no cave, nor oxen or donkeys, that the Magi were not three and were not kings, that the star was not comet?

Let’s face one after another the fake elements of the Christmas tradition.

December 25th. We do not really know exactly when Jesus was born, because the Gospels do not contain precise historical references. It is only read that Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the Great, but he was on the throne for many years.

December 25th is, in fact, the derivation of a pagan date. According to the Roman calendar, it was the day of the winter solstice, when the days began to lengthen.

It was the feast of the return of light after months of darkness and that day was dedicated, in particular, to the unconquered Sun, a deity that symbolized the victory of light on the dark. The unconquered Sun, of Oriental origin, was often identified with Mithras, who according to tradition was born poor in a cave.

It is therefore possible that, over the centuries, sacred and profane have united in the popular tradition and were then canonized in the faith.

In the Orthodox Church, widespread in Christian countries in the East, Christmas is celebrated on January 6, indeed more exactly the night between 6 and 7 January. This happens because the orthodox countries still follow the Julian calendar, an institute of Julius Caesar, while the West follows the Gregorian calendar (from pope Gregorius Magnus)

Magi, singular Magus, also called Wise Men, in Christian tradition were the noble pilgrims “from the East”. Actually, they were priests of the ancient Persian religion, whose late Greek tradition attributed the talents of astrologers, fortune-teller and wizards.

According to the Gospel (Matthew 2, 1-12) Magi (of which the number is not said) were guided by a star (not a comet), arrived in Bethlehem to honor the infant Jesus, bringing him gold, incense and myrrh;

Eastern tradition sets the number of Magi at 12, but Western tradition sets their number at three, probably based on the three gifts.

About the year of the birth, this should be 2022 years ago, right?

The point is that, as said, there is no record about Jesus birth, apart from the fact that he was born under the reign of Herod. But 2022 years ago Herod… well, he had been dead for 4 years.

So: Jesus was born 7 years… before Crist.

Among the characters that are part of the crib since St. Francis invented it in 1223, in addition to Mary, Joseph and Jesus Child, there are two animals charged to keep warm the manger (not a cave!) in which the newborn sleeps: the Ox and the Donkey. But none of the Gospels mentions the two animals.

Actually, it was a matter of translation: from the Hebrew to Greek and from Greek to Latin, the term meaning “age” become “animals”. And here they created Ox and Donkey (but… why not Duck and Chicken?).

And what about Santa Claus? Is it for real a character born, as they say, from the mind of a creative advertiser from Coca Cola? Actually yes… and no.

Santa Claus is an adaptation of the name Sanctus Nicolaus, a Turkish Bishop whose real name was Nicholas of Myra, who lived between 270 and 343 A.D.

He was well known for his generosity and love for children, and often represented as a man with a white beard, red mantel and episcopal attributes, riding a horse or a donkey and followed by a black servant carrying a big bag full of gifts for good children.

This figure, together with Father Christmas (the traditional personification of Christmas), was transformed into Santa Claus and depicted a fat, old big man with a white beard since 1862, even if he became worldwide well known only after CocaCola, in 1931, began to advertise in popular journals.

From 1931 to 1964 the Coca-Cola advertisements showed Santa Claus who gave toys (and played!), rested to read a letter and enjoy a Coca-Cola, visited the children who were awake to see him and emptied the refrigerators.

So, is Christmas nonsense, a consumerist, meaningless party?

Not at all. Every cultural or religious tradition has never born from nothing, nor remains uncorrupted and intact forever, but is settled and modified in the decades and centuries, thanks to continuous reworkings, rewrites, contaminations and pure randomness.

Even with so many flaws, Christmas is Christmas. 

And we love it as it is.