by Paul Schingle

Created on: April 01, 2009

I like to start this argument the same way, whether debating with a friend verbally, or writing in the abstract-I'm not a very religious guy. Anyone who's read any of my other stuff for helium would know that. That said, I think Santa Claus has been consistently defeating Jesus at Christmas time for at least three generations. And, I think that's a sad thing. Religious or not, I've always thought of Christmas as a time when people should be a little nicer to each other, greet each other, pay attention-just help each other get through winter. Instead, it's become, you don't love your wife/girlfriend/significant other unless you buy her a diamond/new car-fill-in-the-blank. Yeah, old Santa whooped up on old Jesus quite a while ago. Pity that.

I wrote quite some time ago that I don't have a problem with government buildings decorating for Christmas time, even though I believe firmly in the separation of church and state. My reasoning is that Christmas quit being a religious holiday long ago-if it ever was. Christmas is a secular holiday in which people compete with each other for giving each other the best gifts. Spiritually, this is not what's supposed to happen. But, leave it to mankind to destroy the spirit of a purported religious holiday.

First off, ask any scholar or historian and they'll tell you that Jesus was almost certainly not born in December. If the myth is correct and the wise men came to Bethlehem following the North Star and the shepherds were tending their sheep and all that, then there's no way that Jesus was born in December. Most learned men have pinpointed Jesus' birth to sometime in March-around the beginning of Spring. Again, this is guesswork, but I've read that guess more often than not. So, why celebrate in December?

Pagans, Druids and other "heathenesque" religions/philosophies always had celebrations around the solstice. December 25 is a noted "birthday" in many religions including subsets of Hinduism and the many pagan-based faiths. One theory is that early Christians adopted the date to try and gain more converts. If they could get the Pagans to celebrate Christ's birth with them, perhaps they could get the Pagans to see the light. But, the best laid plans...

Pagan rituals have often revolved around gift-giving and worshipping inanimate objects. The "Christmas tree" is a pagan symbol. It would appear that more of the pagan rituals rubbed off on the Chrisitans rather than the other way around.

Of course, the myth surrounding Santa Claus (St. Nicholas) is not without its charm. Theoretically, this Nicholas was a wealthy man who distributed gifts to the poor around the time of year we call Christmas. I suppose there's nothing wrong with that and, I would propose, this St. Nicholas was actually a better Christian than a lot of "Christians" if the story of his generosity is true.

Still, the fact remains, the gift-giving (Santa Claus) aspect of Christmas far outshines the spiritual (Jesus) aspect and that, to me, is a sad turn of events. Again, I'm not really all that religious, but I would like to see a return to the more spiritual side of Christmas. Sadly, with all the commercialism in the world, that is highly unlikely to happen.

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