Christmas - a Canaanite Festival?

[Gawen]

Let's start with the Christmas tree. Decorating a tree for various reasons is very old. Here is a Syrian practice around 2nd Century BCE:
Of all the festivals I know about...the greatest is the one they hold at the beginning of spring. Some call it "Fire-Festival," others "Lamp Festival." During the festival they sacrifice like this: They chop down large trees and stand them in the courtyard. Then they drive in goats, sheep and other livestock and hang them alive from the trees. In the trees are also birds, clothes, and gold and silver artifacts. When they have made everything ready, they carry the sacred objects around the trees and throw fire in, and everything is immediately burnt. - Lucian of Samosata, The Syrian Goddess 49, trans. Harold W. Attridge and Robert A. Oden, Society of Biblical Literature Texts and Translations, Graeco-Roman Religion Series (Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1976), pp. 52–55.

Notice customs still recognizable:
•   Selection of a tree
•   Lopping it off at the base
•   Erecting it for a cultic purpose
•   Hanging it with anything valuable, bright, spherical
•   Suspending animals
•   Burning it ("Yule log")

Many people believe that Yahweh had a consort goddess named Asherah. An inscription on a pithos (large storage jar) from Kuntillet 'Ajrud in the Negev wilderness reads, "I bless you by Yahweh of Samaria and by his Asherah." Asherah's symbol was a tree, upon which one might hang garments (2 Kings 23:7).

What of Santa? It is also believed that El (most high god) also mated with Asherah. El and Yahweh reveal startling likenesses to the benevolent Christmas spirit Santa Claus.
•   From Canaanite-Ugaritic literature and art - a white-bearded patriarch.
•   Associated with offerings in the night.
•   Yahweh, also hoary-haired (Isaiah 40:28; Psalms 102:28; Job 36:26; Daniel 7:9)
•   Kindly ("gracious and merciful," Exodus 34:6),
•   Coming in the night to offer riches (1 Kings 3:4–15; 2 Chronicles 1:3–13). 
•   Frequently wreathed in smoke (Exodus 19:18; Leviticus 16:2, 13; et al.).
•   Dressed in red (Isaiah 63:1–2).
•   dwells in "the recesses of the North" (Isaiah 14:13; Psalms 48:2).   
•   Mounted on a chariot(1 Samuel 4:4; 2 Samuel 6:2)
•   Drawn by or riding creatures (Ezekiel 1; Psalms 18:10).

A hymn on Santa's omniscience clearly reflects his divine origin:
He knows if you've been sleeping,
He knows if you're awake,
He knows if you've been bad or good,
So be good for goodness' sake.

Santa Claus and his consort Mrs. Claus, like 'El and Yahweh, is a spiritual judge, meting out rewards or none at all. Every Christmas eve he goes from house to house, assessing human righteousness and, if found worthy, deposits his gracious gifts beneath the boughs of his beloved's Asherah tree. One thing is clear, there is no connection with the fourth-century Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, who was apparently not rotund, married or particularly generous and did not have a reported close association with craftsmen (large or small). Could it be that "Santa Claus" is a corruption of Semitic *šanta-kulla, "complete year," or šanta-kalat, "the year is over."?

So, before decking the halls with holly, remember a type of Middle Eastern festive bread; ḥalla.


*chucklin'*

[Sweetdeath]

I love when you post things, Gawen.
You and very few people probably know the true origins of xmas.

I don't celebrate. I even think cutting down a perfectly beautiful tree just to stuck in your homes for 60-90 days should be stopped.  Poor tree.  Took years and years to grow, then a buncha people chopped you down for a holiday they dont even understand.

[history_geek]

I even think cutting down a perfectly beautiful tree just to stuck in your homes for 60-90 days should be stopped.  Poor tree.  Took years and years to grow, then a buncha people chopped you down for a holiday they dont even understand.

Eh, that's what the plastic xmas trees are for We've been using one for years now. Mostly because we've become too lazy to actually going to my grandpas (or his neighours...but we don't talk about that )forest to cut down a genuine spruce...

Also, fun fact: "halla" means cold weather in Finnish...

[Gawen]

I seriously doubt that the Christmas tree and Santa came from the Bible....so to speak. But the similarities are there, uncanny as they are. On the other hand, undoubtedly, many cultures and societies used trees and decorations for them, sleighs, wagons and chariots and decorative clothing as well.  So it does make me wonder...a little...where the roots (pun intended) of the Christmas tree actually started.

[Gawen]

I love when you post things, Gawen.

You're such a sweetheart! Thanks.

[Sweetdeath]

My friend had a pink plastc tree, and we put a ghost ontop instead of a star. XD!!
(fake trees should be the only option to stop the cruel cutting down of real ones.)

Amusingly, one of our fav japanese bands is called Plastic tree.

[Crow]

The tradition started properly in the UK when prince Albert brought over his German custom and incorporated it into the British custom, because the British are all "Queen havers" it caught on. Dunno how it started across the pond though, or really the true origin of the tree but seems plausible that it came from some pagan thingy in or around what is now Germany. I wouldn't be surprised if the Canaanites did have a celebration tree of some sort as most religions have at some point, such as Zeus and the oak tree.

[Too Few Lions]

I love trees in religion, the tree is probably the religious / mythological symbol par excellence. It was used as a symbol for the ancient flat earth model of the universe throughout Europe and Asia. The idea of a world tree is still used by nomadic people on the Asian steppes to this day, which suggests its useage is very old. I always like to think that putting lights on trees at xmas or other festivals possibly originally represented the stars that were believed to adorn the heavenly dome.

I've actually often wondered on the similarities between Santa and ancient gods myself, Odin in particular.

[Crocoduck]

There's nothing cruel about harvesting Christmas trees, plants don't have consciousness or any form of awareness. There's nothing any more cruel about cutting down a tree then there is about pulling a weed or harvesting a food crop. In fact Christmas trees are a crop, most trees sold as Christmas trees are farm raised and would never have been planted if not meant to be sold as Christmas trees.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

Just for the record from a Christian, the celebration of Christmas has nothing to do with the New Testament story of the birth of Jesus.  There is nothing in the New Testament that suggests that Jesus was born on or anywhere around December 25.  Many suggest that it was in the spring, based upon the description found in Luke.  Christmas had pagan origins, and was co-opted by the church in attempt to accommodate pagan converts. It's a pagan festival baptized by the church, and has adopted many children (Santa Claus, for example) in the process.

For me, it's a thoroughly delightful holiday, and I celebrate it with great enthusiasm, with no delusions about it's origins. Anyone who has visited Macy's or any shop on 5th Avenue in NYC at Christmas and does not walk away enchanted is a stick-in-the-mud-fuddy-duddy, IMHO.   

[Beachdragon]

After having done a lot of reading about the pagan origins of Christmas I do rmemeber that at the time of the Winter Solstice the nights were long and cold.  Celebrating the Solstice was a time to keep the darkness away and to try to encourage spring to arrive sooner (and the sun to return).  So they would bring in evergreens for luck and ritual.  The yule log helped to beat away the darkness.  It was a good time to gather together to keep safe from the wild things that lurk in the dark.

I have no trouble believing that different pre-Christian cultures developed their own form of Christmas trees/festivies independantly from each other. 

Also, that Odin was one of the inspirations for Santa.  No reindeer, he had Sleipnir the 8 legged horse (Hmm, wonder if the number 8 influenced the whole "8 tiny reindeer" notion).