The season needs no reason

Below I spoke of historical perspective, while earlier I referred to Christmas as "universal pagan wine poured into a particular Christian chalice." I thought I might elaborate upon this. First, the cultural and historical origins of Christmas are multi-textured. Though Christians assert "Jesus is the reason for the season," a more precise formulation might be that "Jesus became the reason for the season in the minds of some." This is important. It is not without rationale that Christian groups like the Jehovah Witnesses reject Christmas, it is not a scriptural festival. Its emergence in the 4th century coincided with the synthesis of Christianity with Roman Imperial culture as the latter took upon the former as the state religion. In 274 the Roman Emperor Aurelian dedicated a temple to the sun god, Sol Invictus, on the 25th of December, Natalis Sol Invictus, "the birth of the invincible sun." Interestingly, many early ...