Comments on holy days

In my last post I mentioned that Christmas had been "westernized" to include a fat guy in a red suit who delivers presents to all the children, merry elves and flying reindeer. Let me clarify.

As my sister pointed out, Christmas was originally a celebration of an adored Catholic saint, Saint Nicholas. His holy day was celebrated Dec. 6, when children would leave their shoes out at night and awaken to find them full of candy. This tradition is still carried on in some places, such as Germany. Martin Luther wanted to ban Saint Nicholas since he had never been canonized, but didn't want to alienate children, he made it a celebration of the birth of Christ. Both Saint Nicholas and Jesus Christ are undeniably religious figures, and Christmas has always been, in one form or another, a religious holiday. The current Santa Claus and his empire at the north pole, however, have little or nothing to do with either the Catholic saint or the world's redeemer. Apparently that's not enough for the separationists.

In addition, Easter originated as a pagan celebration commemorating the goddess of fertility and springtime, Eastre. The holiday has been "Christianized" to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. According to some sources, religious people in the early centuries couldn't safely hold celebrations that didn't coincide with already existing celebrations. Since the spring festival was held very near the Jewish Passover, after which Jesus rose from the grave, Christians chose to celebrate the resurrection at the same time. That's why painting eggs, fluffy bunnies and the story of the Messiah being raised from the dead after taking on the sins of the world are mingled together in this yearly celebration.