Below are the quotes that were used in the video.
Christmas has been banned, celebrated, and ignored. In my notes this year, I want to share five simple ideas to make the most of this beautiful season.
"In Rome, where winters were not as harsh as those in the far north, Saturnalia—a holiday in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture—was celebrated. Beginning in the week leading up to the winter solstice and continuing for a full month, Saturnalia was a hedonistic time, when food and drink were plentiful and the normal Roman social order was turned upside down. For a month, enslaved people were given temporary freedom and treated as equals. Business and schools were closed so that everyone could participate in the holiday's festivities.
"Also around the time of the winter solstice, Romans observed Juvenalia, a feast honoring the children of Rome. In addition, members of the upper classes often celebrated the birthday of Mithra, the god of the unconquerable sun, on December 25. It was believed that Mithra, an infant god, was born of a rock. For some Romans, Mithra’s birthday was the most sacred day of the year. (https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-Christmas)
By A.D. 336, Christmas was celebrated by the Christian church in Rome.
Around 350 AD, Pope Julius I declared December 25 as the official date of the birth of Jesus.
On Christmas day 1251, the archbishop of York donated “six hundred oxen, which were spent upon the first course.” (History of the Scottish Church by W. Stephen, p. 382-3)
In medieval England, Christmas was a 12-day festival involving all kinds of revellry, from plays to wild feasts to pageants celebrating Jesus’ birth. Music, gift giving, and decorations all became the norm.
The most extravagant feasts were celebrated by monarchs such as Henry III, whose guests gorged themselves on 600 oxen at one 13th-century Christmas feast.
In the early 17th century, a wave of religious reform changed the way Christmas was celebrated in Europe. When Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan forces took over England in 1645, they vowed to rid England of decadence and, as part of their effort, canceled Christmas.
English Puritans banned the festival, prompting rioting and this helped stoke England’s second civil war. The Second English Civil War took place between February and August 1648 in England and Wales.
By popular demand, Charles II was restored to the throne and, with him, came the return of the popular holiday.
The pilgrims, English separatists that came to America in 1620, were even more orthodox in their Puritan beliefs than Cromwell. As a result, Christmas was not a holiday in early America. From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was actually outlawed in Boston [you were fined 5 shillings for a violation]. Anyone exhibiting the Christmas spirit was fined five shillings. By contrast, in the Jamestown settlement, Captain John Smith reported that Christmas was enjoyed by all and passed without incident.
After the American Revolution, English customs fell out of favor, including Christmas. In fact, Christmas wasn’t declared a federal holiday until June 26, 1870. (https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-Christmas)
Americans re-invented Christmas, and changed it from a raucous carnival holiday into a family-centered day of peace and nostalgia. (https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-Christmas)
“Around this time (December 19, 1843), English author Charles Dickens created the classic holiday tale, A Christmas Carol. The story’s message-the importance of charity and good will towards all humankind-struck a powerful chord in the United States and England and showed members of Victorian society the benefits of celebrating the holiday.” (https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-Christmas)
In the next 100 years, Americans built a Christmas tradition all their own that included pieces of many other customs, including decorating trees, sending holiday cards and gift-giving. (https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-Christmas)
As Christmas historian William D. Crump writes in The Christmas Encyclopedia, this created “a kind of Christmas melting pot, with assimilation of various cultures into a more uniform and widely celebrated holiday at home with the family.” (HTTPS://WWW.NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.CO.UK/HISTORY-AND-CIVILISATION/2021/12/HOW-CHRISTMAS-HAS-EVOLVED-OVER-CENTURIES)
With Christmas Falling on a Sunday, Protestant Pastors Cancel Services - (https://www.npr.org/2022/12/23/1145323075/with-christmas-falling-on-a-sunday-protestant-pastors-cancel-services)
A 2019 poll indicated that 93% of Americans plan on celebrating the Christmas holiday but only 35 percent see the holiday as “strongly religious.” (https://news.gallup.com/poll/272378/americans-celebrating-secular-christmas.aspx)
Brother Miller’s Christmas Notes:
"In Rome, where winters were not as harsh as those in the far north, Saturnalia—a holiday in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture—was celebrated. Beginning in the week leading up to the winter solstice and continuing for a full month, Saturnalia was a hedonistic time, when food and drink were plentiful and the normal Roman social order was turned upside down. For a month, enslaved people were given temporary freedom and treated as equals. Business and schools were closed so that everyone could participate in the holiday's festivities.
"Also around the time of the winter solstice, Romans observed Juvenalia, a feast honoring the children of Rome. In addition, members of the upper classes often celebrated the birthday of Mithra, the god of the unconquerable sun, on December 25. It was believed that Mithra, an infant god, was born of a rock. For some Romans, Mithra’s birthday was the most sacred day of the year. (https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-Christmas)
By A.D. 336, Christmas was celebrated by the Christian church in Rome.
Around 350 AD, Pope Julius I declared December 25 as the official date of the birth of Jesus.
- It is commonly believed that the church chose this date in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival.
- But Saturnalia ends two days before (John, J. (2005). A Christmas Compendium. New York City, New York and London, England: Continuum. p. 112. ISBN 0-8264-8749-1.)
- There was a Roman celebration on December 25th (Sol Invictus).
- First called the Feast of the Nativity, the custom spread to Egypt by 432 and to England by the end of the sixth century. (https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-Christmas)
- By the Middle Ages, Christianity had, for the most part, replaced pagan religion.
- On Christmas, believers attended church, then celebrated raucously in a drunken, carnival-like atmosphere similar to today’s Mardi Gras. (https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-Christmas)
On Christmas day 1251, the archbishop of York donated “six hundred oxen, which were spent upon the first course.” (History of the Scottish Church by W. Stephen, p. 382-3)
In medieval England, Christmas was a 12-day festival involving all kinds of revellry, from plays to wild feasts to pageants celebrating Jesus’ birth. Music, gift giving, and decorations all became the norm.
The most extravagant feasts were celebrated by monarchs such as Henry III, whose guests gorged themselves on 600 oxen at one 13th-century Christmas feast.
In the early 17th century, a wave of religious reform changed the way Christmas was celebrated in Europe. When Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan forces took over England in 1645, they vowed to rid England of decadence and, as part of their effort, canceled Christmas.
English Puritans banned the festival, prompting rioting and this helped stoke England’s second civil war. The Second English Civil War took place between February and August 1648 in England and Wales.
By popular demand, Charles II was restored to the throne and, with him, came the return of the popular holiday.
The pilgrims, English separatists that came to America in 1620, were even more orthodox in their Puritan beliefs than Cromwell. As a result, Christmas was not a holiday in early America. From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was actually outlawed in Boston [you were fined 5 shillings for a violation]. Anyone exhibiting the Christmas spirit was fined five shillings. By contrast, in the Jamestown settlement, Captain John Smith reported that Christmas was enjoyed by all and passed without incident.
After the American Revolution, English customs fell out of favor, including Christmas. In fact, Christmas wasn’t declared a federal holiday until June 26, 1870. (https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-Christmas)
Americans re-invented Christmas, and changed it from a raucous carnival holiday into a family-centered day of peace and nostalgia. (https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-Christmas)
“Around this time (December 19, 1843), English author Charles Dickens created the classic holiday tale, A Christmas Carol. The story’s message-the importance of charity and good will towards all humankind-struck a powerful chord in the United States and England and showed members of Victorian society the benefits of celebrating the holiday.” (https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-Christmas)
In the next 100 years, Americans built a Christmas tradition all their own that included pieces of many other customs, including decorating trees, sending holiday cards and gift-giving. (https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-Christmas)
As Christmas historian William D. Crump writes in The Christmas Encyclopedia, this created “a kind of Christmas melting pot, with assimilation of various cultures into a more uniform and widely celebrated holiday at home with the family.” (HTTPS://WWW.NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.CO.UK/HISTORY-AND-CIVILISATION/2021/12/HOW-CHRISTMAS-HAS-EVOLVED-OVER-CENTURIES)
With Christmas Falling on a Sunday, Protestant Pastors Cancel Services - (https://www.npr.org/2022/12/23/1145323075/with-christmas-falling-on-a-sunday-protestant-pastors-cancel-services)
A 2019 poll indicated that 93% of Americans plan on celebrating the Christmas holiday but only 35 percent see the holiday as “strongly religious.” (https://news.gallup.com/poll/272378/americans-celebrating-secular-christmas.aspx)
Brother Miller’s Christmas Notes:
- Stay focused on Christ.
- How will you come closer to Christ this Christmas?
- Bring your family with you in your journey.
- 12 Days of Christmas
- Go to church on 24th, be early, sing along.
- Start a new tradition.
- Simplify.