TWO ASPECTS OF CHRISTMAS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21974, 24 December 1936, Page 10

TWO ASPECTS OF CHRISTMAS

Celebrating The Birth Of Christ "PAGAN" GOOD SPIRITS The two aspects of Christmas become more apparent every yearChristmas as a religious festival and Christmas as a day of natural pagan jollification. The word pagan need not of course, be a term of condemnation. The only obvious comment on the two aspects, hinting at the essentially Christian reference of the day, is that Christian observers mix jollification with their religion and that pagan observers do not mix religion with their jollification. . The plainest definition of Christmas is in some such form as "a festival of the Christian Church, observed on December 25 in memory of the birth of Jesus Christ." There is difference of opinion about whether the date is historically correct; but the Christian Churches have not been concerned with the ' keeping of an exact anniversary, so much as with a proper celebration of the mystic birth of their Founder. Comparatively early in the history of the Christian Church December 25 seems to have been settled on as the date on which the birth of Christ should be celebrated. Possibly it was desired to remove from prominence heathen festivals such as the Saturnalia which occurred about the same time of the year. Among the churches holding to a strict view of the apostolic descent of the ministry of the Church, especially,. Christmas is ranked ai the third great festival of the Christian year, after Easter and Whitsun*As at present, the Church has always attempted to keep within bounds the observance of Christmas in its purely pagan aspect. In the Middle Ages in England, in wealthy homes and at Court, the "Lord of Misrule" was appointed to direct the revels during the Christmas season; and in Scotland the "Abbot of Unreason" —whose office was abolished by act of Parliament in 1555—played a similar part. There is record of the rebuking of the people by Christian preachers for giving too much attention to the spirit of misrule and unreason and too little to the spirit of the Prince of Peace in Wales name the festival was celebrated. For hundreds of years, in the popular mind, the elements of Christianity and natural joy have consorted happily enough; and still, in New Zealand far from the origins of Christmas both religious and pagan, good Christian people attend public worship and then go home to good food and drink. The churches may be accused of dogma and of restricting natural pleasures; but in the southern hemisphere at all events many people are still ruled by the secular dogma requiring hot meats and plum puddings at Christmas, however unsuitable these art for summer weather.