A One Way Voyage....: YULE SEASON COME AND GONE

Wednesday, January 9

YULE SEASON COME AND GONE

We do know that Christmas is celebrating the birth of the messiah, Jesus Christ. I have been brought up by devout Catholic parents, as they were by theirs. We have always believed in a monotheistic doctrine, paying homage to only one God, JESUS CHRIST, and HIM alone. So why was I brought up with Christmas Trees in our house during yule seasons?

Do you know that decorating Christmas Trees and illuminating our houses with bedazzling ornate during the yule season is very much a pagan rite? In the early centuries, decorating Christmas Trees were strongly opposed by Christian Churches as it was considered to be a pagan ritual.

In Jeremiah 10:2-4, it is clear that this practice is a no-no.

"...For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold..."

However, just as any kind of evolution, Christianity got accustomed to it, eventually allowed, then approved the ritual. Objections slowly dissipated. In fact, these days, Not one Catholic Church around the world will not have a Christmas Tree erected during Christmas.

Do you also know that Jesus was not really born in December? When Jesus was born, Shepherds and herds of sheep were out frolicking and lying down comfortably in the fields near Bethlehem. If this birth occurred during the month of December, chances are, these shepherds and sheeps and even Mary, Joseph and the baby would be ice-cubes, considering how brutally cold winters can be in the Judean Highlands.

Yet, we celebrate December 25th of each year because it is the birth of Christ???

I think some Pagan customs are far too much fun to shake off. We continue to do it and integrate it with our own Christian beliefs. We modify it, and made it to look like we are actually doing it to celebrate the birth of our God.

Be it a pagan tradition or something we adapted to give thanks for the birth of our saviour, I don't care. The fact of the matter is, we make people happy. When we see kids hastily open their presents to find out if Santa has realised their dreams, it's a feeling worth millions, because we realise instead that we have the power to make people smile.

Despite the compromising commercialism of CHRISTMAS, people should still remember that the whole moral concept still lies therein. We give, we make people happy and we make people smile, we celebrate because there is faith, we have fun because we have God. We give thanks because we are saved.

To me Christmas is neither a Christian history nor a pagan ritual but an event I always look forward to ever since I can remember. A season most welcomed by kids, and the time when I give thanks.