Although striking differences and similarities may be noted in various Christmas traditions in different Christmas celebrating countries, the core idea of each country’s celebration of Christmas is all the same. It is mainly to commemorate the birth of Christianity’s savior, Jesus Christ.

By Angely Chi
davaotoday.com

DAVAO CITY -- Since the firecracker ban years ago by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Christmas in Davao City has been without the cracks and booms of popular tradition in various cities around the country. But even though it has been stripped of the noise and excitement of firecrackers, the city didn’t lose its Christmas flair. Firecrackers have been traded for huge Christmas trees and grandiosely lit and decorated streets around the city. Mall sales and tiangges, too, graced the holidays with a festive shopping atmosphere. And then there are the traditions of Simbang Gabi and noche buena that complete that feel of the Christmas spirit.

Whatever change Christmas undergoes is just a small nip in its centuries-old tradition. After all, Christmas is not new to changes. In fact, it is a tradition borne out of changes. The Christmas traditions we know and celebrate today are the result of the transformations it has undergone through centuries.

Take Christmas Day, December 25. According to popular belief, December 25 is the date of Jesus Christ’s birth. Yet some scholars assert that December 25 was only used as a day of convenience for both Christians and pagans after the death of the Roman emperor Constantine in the 4th century. In Roman religious tradition, December 25 was the Natalis Solis Invicti, or the Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun, a celebration tied to the official religion of the Roman empire in 207 AD, Sol Invictus. Sol Invictus was in celebration of the Persian sun god, Mithra (Roman Mithras).

Before Constantine converted to Christianity in his deathbed, he was a devoted follower of Sol Invictus. His conversion to Christianity marked the eventual marriage of the religious traditions of two of Rome’s strongest and growing religions.

What is interesting to scholars is the parallelism between Christianity and Sol Invictus’s birthday celebrators on December 25 -- Christianity’s Jesus Christ and Sol Invictus’ Mithras. Both were only sons of a heavenly god. Both were divine beings borne of virgin birth and both performed miracles like healing the sick, making the lame walk, curing the blind and raising the dead.

With the influence of pagan rituals on the celebration of Christmas, it gradually adopted other foreign components as well. The length of its celebration became varied from place to place and from Christian denomination to another. Even its prevalent celebration on December 25 differed among the Christian denominations. Christian Churches like the Serbian, Jerusalem, Coptic and the Georgian Orthodox celebrate Christmas on January 7, a calendrical difference prompted by their disregard of reforms on the Gregorian and Revised Julian calendars.

But Christmas wasn’t originally a well-celebrated holiday. It also faced disapproval and even banning in some countries in the past. During the first three hundred years of Christianity, Christians rejected the celebration of birthdays, including Jesus Christ’s, since celebrating birthdays was a pagan tradition. The 3rd century Christian writer Tertullian espoused the commemoration of Christ’s birthday but discouraged the incorporation of Saturnalian festive elements like exchanging gifts and home decoration with evergreens.

The condemnation of Christmas was biblically oriented. The 16th century Protestant Church asserted that there was no scriptural commandment of a festive holiday in celebration of Christ’s birthday. English Puritanism rallied against the elements of Christmas which include the Nativity scene and the Christmas tree, citing the biblical passages of Exodus 20:4-5 which spoke of the third and fourth laws of the Ten Commandments: condemnations of idolatry.

Puritan Oliver Cromwell, an English statesman and general, opposed the use of heathen practices of Christmas like feasting, decorating, and singing. He felt these practices violated the spiritual image of Christ. The opposition in 16th century England against the Roman Catholic Church’s pagan-fused practices was deeply influential that even the celebration’s name, Christmas, was considered a desecration of Christ’s name. Under Cromwell’s dictatorship, Christmas was abolished. It was only in 1660 when Cromwell lost power that the ban on Christmas in England was lifted.

The celebration of Christmas around the world has gone through a roller-coaster ride of evolution: omissions, additions, mistranslations and conceptions. Spanish Christmas is called Navidad and is celebrated lengthily, starting from December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Concepcion) and ending in January 6, the feast of the Three Kings or Epiphany. Emphasis is put on the religious aspect of Christmas wherein churchgoing is mainly encouraged. Most homes also have the Nativity scene or belen.

American Christmas revolves around the central figure of Santa Claus that the holiday tradition involves excessive consumerism in view of the gift-giving and exchanging practice. Huge family gatherings on Christmas Eve or Christmas day also highlight the season. A Christmas banquet consisting of the traditional Christmas ham, plum pudding and roasted turkey is prepared for the gatherings. Conifers are also cut down to grace homes as Christmas trees.

The Philippines’s Christmas is a colonial gift from the west and so it carries the usual western elements like the Christmas tree, the belen (an adoption from the Spanish), and Santa Claus. But Filipinos have also created its own indigenous Christmas element -- the parol or the star-lantern, which

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memorializes the Star of Bethlehem.

Although striking differences and similarities may be noted in various Christmas traditions in different Christmas celebrating countries, the core idea of each country’s celebration of Christmas is all the same. It is mainly to commemorate the birth of Christianity’s savior, Jesus Christ. And however the celebration of Christmas is changed, people will still find ways to enjoy and honor it -- firecrackers or no firecrackers. (Angely Chi/davaotoday.com)

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/christmas
http://www.benbest.com/history/xmas.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/christmas_customs_in _the_Philippines