Sunday, November 30, 2008

Christmas/Santa/Pagan Cookies

So as I was mixing up the dough for the next batch of Christmas cookies, a thought crossed my mind. I have come across many people who tell their children that there is no Santa and that Christmas is about Christ. Well, let's examine this for a moment.

Reviewing the story of Saint Nicholas you find that his acts of kindness took place in winter and he is believed to have been the origin of our Santa Claus. So far, this seems to line up, right time of year, sharing the wealth and showing love and kindness. On to Christ. Well Christmas is meant to celebrate the birth of Christ, but it is a well known and accepted fact that Christ was born in the Spring. The true reason that Christmas is celebrated in winter was to coincide with the pagan holidays including Winter Solstice and the Jewish holiday of Chanukah (seriously, ask your religious leaders, I know Em did and they were more than happy to agree that this was the reason).

So it seems to me, that telling children that Christmas in December is about the birth of Christ is simply untrue and that the "story" of Santa is actually more likely to be accurate. So, come on, let the kids have Santa! If it makes you feel better, we tell our kids that Christmas is supposed to be about the birth of Christ, but that it really happened in Spring. Maybe some of the ultra Christians could do that too, you know, be honest with the kids, and then tell them the story of Saint Nicholas as well.

2 comments:

A Jersey Girl said...

You know, I think it goes back to ignorance- People looks for ways to support their ignorance.

As a side note, Santa better be coming to my house, I need a popcorn popper!

Tribe Mama said...

Haha, you will get your popper :)

I just don't get it, they say talking about Santa is lying, but isn't it lying to tell your children that Christ was born on Christmas??