{"id":3502,"date":"2019-12-14T20:56:17","date_gmt":"2019-12-14T19:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.szinapszis.org\/?p=3502"},"modified":"2019-12-14T20:56:17","modified_gmt":"2019-12-14T19:56:17","slug":"the-origin-of-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/hok\/en\/2019\/12\/14\/the-origin-of-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"The origin of Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hungarian word for Christmas is \u2018kar\u00e1csony\u2019, a word with Slavic origin, of \u2018korcsun\u2019, stepping or transitioning. This represents transitioning into the new year, giving it an ancient, sun-cycle related meaning. The English word, \u2018Christmas\u2019 refers literally to Christ\u2019s name, whereas the German \u2018Weihnacht\u2019 and the Dutch \u2018kerstmisse\u2019 comes from the religious celebration of this holy night. In Latin, and all languages in the Latin family, the names come from the word \u2018natalis\u2019, and its equivalents are e.f. \u2018no\u00ebl\u2019, \u2018natale\u2019, \u2018navidad\u2019, and even the Welsh \u2018nadoling\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

Its connection to the sun-cycle is also referenced in the Scandinavian \u2018Jul\u2019 word, from which the ancient English \u2018Yule\u2019 also comes from. Its exact original meaning is unknown, it might have something to do with the winter holiday period\u2019s original name.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CHRISTMAS \u2013 A CELEBRATION OF JESUS\u2019S BIRTHDAY<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the Bible, Jesus was born into poor circumstances, in a barn, because no one would open their homes to a pregnant Mary on the eve of his birth. In the story, the three Wise Men went on their way to greet the Messiah with gifts, and were led to the barn by a shining star.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most researchers agree that the 25<\/span>th<\/span> December wasn\u2019t the actual day Jesus was born. Early Christians didn\u2019t celebrate his birthday, and so they didn\u2019t even try to find out the actual date. The earliest celebration of Jesus\u2019s birth was in Egypt, where they calculated it to be sometime in spring.<\/span><\/p>\n

From the 4<\/span>th<\/span> century, they started celebrating the 6<\/span>th<\/span> January and later the 25<\/span>th<\/span> December. The Armenian Catholic Church still celebrates the 6<\/span>th<\/span> January, whereas other branches of Christianity have settled on the 25<\/span>th<\/span> December. In 350 AD, Julius I has officially solidified the celebrated date of the Saviour\u2019s birth as the 25<\/span>th<\/span> December.<\/span><\/p>\n

David Reneke, an Australian astronomer and his colleagues set up a computer programme to determine the object that could have been the star that led the three Wise Men to Jesus. They calculated that it was most likely due to the fact that Venus and Jupiter were so close to each other that their individual lights converged into one, so they could appear as one giant shining object from Earth. According to their calculations, Jesus was born on 17<\/span>th<\/span> June.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE HISTORY BEHIND CHRISTMAS<\/span><\/p>\n

Celebrations with the same spirit as Christmas have existed before Christianity as well, such as the Roman celebration of Winter Solstice, Saturnalia. In ancient Rome, this celebration dedicated to Saturn (the god of agriculture) was held between the 17<\/span>th<\/span>-25<\/span>th<\/span> December. It included grand dances all over the realm, rejoicing in the victory of light over death and darkness.<\/span><\/p>\n

Winter Solstice was a turning point in the year that helped frame the year. While during Summer Solstice, the sun is at its highest point, resulting in the shortest night of the year, at Winter Solstice it\u2019s at its lowest, making it the longest night of the year. On the northern hemisphere, it\u2019s on 21<\/span>st<\/span>-22<\/span>nd<\/span> December, whereas on the southern, it\u2019s on 21<\/span>st<\/span>-22<\/span>nd<\/span> June.<\/span><\/p>\n

But how did Winter Solstice merge with Christmas? Christ\u2019s person and the mysterious sign from the sky symbolises light coming to Earth \u2013 which coincides with the symbolism of the Winter Solstice, a day, from which the world becomes, quite literally, brighter.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Matthew and Luke, Jesus of Nazareth was born to Mary and Joseph, he was a descendant of King David and he was conceived by the Holy Spirit. His date of birth in Bethlehem, however, doesn\u2019t completely coincide with the calculations of our time\u2019s point 0.<\/span><\/p>\n

Christ\u2019s birth only became significant in popular culture because of the advances of Christianity, but it slowly merged into one with the pagan celebrations of Winter Solstice. Constantine the Great reformed the religion of the realm and instituted Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire. He also officially recognised the celebration of Jesus\u2019s birthdate through the Synad of Nicaea. The point of this was to end contradictions and arguments surrounding Jesus Christ\u2019s person, and to popularize the Synod\u2019s decrees with liturgical methods. (This meant officially declaring Jesus\u2019s person to be both god and man.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There were other suggested dates at the Synod, but in the end, the 25<\/span>th<\/span> December was set. They\u2019ve also settled the earlier suggested date of the twelfth-night as the date Jesus was christened; and before Christmas, they\u2019ve added the period of \u2018advent\u2019, which was four weeks of preparations for his birth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Through the 4<\/span>th<\/span> century, most eastern religions have also claimed the 25<\/span>th<\/span> December. In Jerusalem, it took a little while longer, but they gave in as well. The Armenian branch of Christianity, however, still celebrates Christmas on 6<\/span>th<\/span> January.<\/span><\/p>\n

But when did our Christmas become what it is today, and when did our Christmas traditions came about? In the 16<\/span>th<\/span> century, reformation filled the holiday with new meaning. The liturgical parts of church ceremony started moving into the home. People could now begin to develop their own traditions, having the Bible at home to come up with their own interpretations. For example, setting up a Christmas tree spread all the way across Germany by the 18<\/span>th<\/span> century, then in the 19<\/span>th<\/span> century it reached Austria and all of Europe, and with immigrants from the continent, in got to the US as well. First, they were decorated with sweets and fruits, glass orbs came about later. Christmas started to become a staple holiday in non-religious families as well, using it to celebrate love and peace.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME The Hungarian word for Christmas is \u2018kar\u00e1csony\u2019, a word with Slavic origin, of \u2018korcsun\u2019, stepping or transitioning. This represents transitioning into the new year, giving it an ancient, sun-cycle related meaning. The English word, \u2018Christmas\u2019 refers literally to Christ\u2019s name, whereas the German \u2018Weihnacht\u2019 and the Dutch \u2018kerstmisse\u2019 comes from …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101958,"featured_media":3381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[591],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-synapsis"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"1970-01-01 01:00:00","action":"","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","browser_timezone_offset":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/hok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/hok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/hok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/hok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101958"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/hok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/hok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/hok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/hok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/hok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/hok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}