CHRISTMAS: A PERIOD OF SOBER REFLECTION

By:
Ajukura, Fidelis O.
ajukurafidelisobi@gmail.com
25th December, 2022

Christmas is a one day celebration but it takes the whole year to prepare for it. Despite the fact that Christmas is generally understood as a celebration that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, different people have different understanding of what Christmas is. Majority of people who celebrate Christmas do so because they are intractably enmeshed in the celebration - they can't avoid it. Against this background, they engage in a noisy and rumbustious celebration. In many quarters, the celebration is accompanied with a drunken and licentious revel. For the purpose of gaining understanding, what exactly is Christmas? The term Christmas is derived from the English expression "mass on Christ's day". Mass on Christ's day refers to the Catholic celebration of the sacrament of the Eucharist on the day of Christ's birth.This expression is more recent compared to "Yule" with German origin meaning "feast of the winter solstice". Other European languages describe the same feast as follows: Navidad (Spanish), Natale (Italian), Noel (French) etc.

The celebration, "feast of the winter solstice" which begins right in the middle of the winter has been in existence before the birth of Jesus. During this period, people celebrated and shared or exchanged gifts. A mythic figure called "Santa Claus" dominated or played a prominent role of offering gifts to people. This event or celebration was carried out on 25th of every December.

The celebration had both a sacred and secular connotation. The religious or sacred aspect of the celebration was to express hope and thanksgiving for seeing the light - sunlight. During this period, Europeans take holidays to honor their god(s). For instance, the Germans honored their god, Oden. In Rome, the Romans honored Saturn.

In the early years of Christianity, Christmas was not known or celebrated. Rather, it was Easter that was celebrated. But in the Fourth century, the Church decided to institute the birth of Jesus and, accordingly recognized it as a holiday. Pope Julius 1 chose December, 25th. The essence of this move was to systematically displace the Saturnalia pagan festival.

After the adoption of December, 25th as the birthday of Jesus, Christians and non-Christians alike celebrated Christmas. On Christmas day, Christians attend church and returned home to merry or celebrate in a mundane manner. By adopting the same date of winter solstice festival as the birthday of Jesus, the Church decimated the pagan worship but, its inability to dictate how Christmas ought to be celebrated created an opening for certain elements of the pagan religion to creep into the celebration. This explains why Christmas celebration is often associated with the exuberance and raucousness of the pagan religion.

Coming down home, Christmas is celebrated by everybody. In our various communities, Christmas is simply a day or period of merrymaking. In our indigenous languages, we notice the corrupt pronounciation of Christmas. Majority of our forebears who were adherents of the Indigenous African Religion participated actively in Christmas celebration. They didn't know anything about the sacred aspect; their concern was on the sublunary aspect. In the contemporary age, many people, irrespective of the preponderance of Churches, have very little or no regard for the religious dimension of Christmas. Everybody just want to enjoy the spirit of the season.

Christmas is when a lot of things happen. To some, it's a period of stocktaking and display of wealth. While to others, it's a period of enjoyment. Recently, a man was stabbed to death by his wife as a result of an altercation concerning a Christmas demand that was not met. During Christmas, all manner of misbehavior are exhibited by young and married people alike. Many people have lost their lives in the course of celebrating Christmas. Whatever we do, let us bear in mind that Christmas is about Christ and nothing else. Christmas should be a period of sober reflection: a period when we ask ourselves some salient and soul searching questions like "what is our relationship with God and our fellow men like?" Let us think about our lives and make amends where necessary.

Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year!