Are You Ready for Sol Invictus?

Have you finished your Winter Solstice shopping, opened windows in your Advent Calendar, or put up your Yule Tree or Festivus pole? As the saying goes, “what goes around comes around.” The latest trend to take Christ out of Christmas is nothing new.

Not even the best Biblical scholars or archeologists can say with any certainty the precise day of the birth of Jesus Christ. There are strong arguments and historical record that, for whatever reason, that day has been celebrated on or near pagan holidays. Sol Invictus (the day of the unconquered sun) is a Roman Saturnalia day of celebration occurring on what is now December 25 of our calendar. The Winter Solstice occurs on December 21, and was a day of celebration long before Jesus was born.

Is it mere coincidence that these dates were chosen to celebrate His birth, or did the Catholic Church pick these Pagan holidays to give recent converts an alternate reason to celebrate the day? Since sometime around the 16^th century, celebration of the day Christ was born has grown in nature from a pious religious observance to the crescendo in the 20^th century of joy and good tidings surrounding His birth.

Here in the 21^st century, we are seeing increasing trends toward secularism and yes, even atheism. Separation of church and state is becoming separation from church by the state. Today we have recently manufactured celebrations for the season such as Kwanza and Festivus (yes folks, there are actually people who have adopted the ridiculous holiday made up for the Seinfeld comedy show). Christmas is increasingly replaced with X-mass, Christmas carols sung in school can not contain references to God or Jesus, some stores no longer play Christmas music, and Nativity scenes can no longer be displayed on public grounds. They have all but taken Christ out of Christmas.

Maybe the downward slide toward a secular holiday began in the last century when the drive was on to give bigger and more expensive presents each year – not just to your kids, but an ever-expanding list of others. Retailers began to rely on the Christmas season for their entire year’s profit. Christmas music was timed to get people in the mood not to merely celebrate the birth of Christ, but to buy. Thanksgiving and Christmas became “the holidays.” Christmas music is piped throughout stores and malls beginning on Thanksgiving. Mailboxes are stuffed with catalogs, and television commercials inculcate children with the latest gotta have toys and Christmas goodies, although that is not the limit of their brainwashing. These days, even adults are imprinted with big ticket items such as luxury cars as gifts.

We have reached the point where the day after Thanksgiving, aka “Black Friday,” is a major highpoint marked on every calendar. And now even one day of incessant spending is not enough. They have an entire week of “Black Friday” sales and the stores are even open on Thanksgiving! What a day to be thankful for. We can gorge ourselves on Turkey, Yams and cranberries then go right out and splurge on junk and trinkets you never would have bought at any other time of year – and for people you haven’t given even the time of day the rest of the year.

Secularists have even managed to re-name the holiday so those not of the Christian faith won’t feel like they are celebrating the birth of a religion they don’t believe in by buying presents. That is sure to help the bottom line of retailers.

Okay, let’s get back to the “reason for the season.” Presents? Sure, the Magi brought the newborn Christ presents of Gold, Frankincense, and Mir. The baby Jesus was destined to become the founder of the largest religion on earth, and as many believe the salvation of our souls. For someone like this you give presents (I’m not sure what Mir is, though, but a hotel room might have been more appreciated that night).  For your grouchy old Aunt Henrietta and Uncle Charles, you don’t spend money you don’t have on your credit card to buy presents they would never appreciate. They can’t save your soul and probably won’t even leave you in their will.

Some people say we are recovering from the “great recession.” Maybe someone might be doing a little better than they had been the last few years. I’m not one of those fortunate people, and I’m not likely to shower gifts on hoards of people at Christmas time.

I will celebrate December 25^th as the birth of Jesus Christ, and wish everyone a merry Christmas, while I forgo the Festivus pole and Kwanza festivities. And just so I don’t alienate all the secularists and atheists, I wish you a prosperous season and a happy Sol Invictus (be sure to wear sunscreen for the celebration).