Reason for the season

Dear editor:

With respect to the current holiday season, we often hear the expression “The reason for the season” used, with the implication that the “reason” is the birth of a man known as Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians refer to as Jesus Christ.

In fact, the real reason for the season is the winter solstice, or the marking of the shortest day of the year and the “return of the sun” (Dec. 21 in our current calendar). The celebration of this event dates to the Neolithic (10,000 to 3,500 years BC) and Bronze Ages (3,500 to 2,200 BC).

Yule or Yuletide, a term we use to this day, was a celebration of the winter solstice by early Germanic and other northern European societies. It was celebrated by meals and gift-giving, and is the basis for our Yule log and Christmas ham.

The Romans, who ruled most of the Mediterranean region and Europe at the time of Jesus of Nazareth, celebrated the season as “Saturnalia,” in celebration of their god Saturn. The Roman holiday was a holiday from work and schools, and was celebrated with banquets and gift-giving, just as we do today.

During the first and second centuries, early Christians adopted those earlier celebrations as the date of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth solely because the season was already being celebrated by many cultures. It was an easy transition to celebrate the birth of the Christian Savior in that time frame, and a convenient means of attracting converts to their religion; the 12 days of Yuletide became the 12 days of Christmas.

So, the next time you hear someone say “Put Christ back in Christmas,” an appropriate response would be, “Put Saturn back in Saturnalia.”

(Dave Tedrahn, Hot Springs Village)