The True Meaning of Christmas

By Mac West | Writer

December 19, 2014

Have we lost the true meaning of Christmas?

Christmas has been a family favorite holiday in many households across the world, but more and more people believe kids are not as excited for Christmas because a lot of the magic has been lost. Too many kids already know that Santa Claus isn’t real and are more interested in what presents they are going to get. Not to mention, too many people disregard the religious importance.

“It is just that Christmas means different things to many different people,” Senior Joseph Butkus thinks. “Some enjoy and celebrate Christmas because of Jesus’ birthday and some families are in it just for the presents.”

I thought Christmas was just a great time to get closer with your friends and family? Christians claim that Christmas is about church, the birth Jesus and loving your family, but others will argue that Christmas is about giving and receiving presents. Did you know that in the Puritans believe Christmas is taboo because they found no scriptural justification for celebrating Christmas and they believe it is birthed from greedy, sinful origins?

The origins of Christmas go back even further than the birth of Christ. Ancient civilizations had celebrated the seasonal changes during the final days of December for years before Jesus ever hit the scene. In parts of the northern hemisphere of the planet, European pagans took celebrating one step further by having a week long purge – celebrating no business, government, or rules. In Roman mythology, Jupiter would force Saturn, the God of Agriculture, out of his position in the heavenly realm each summer and the days would become shorter. Then, starting on the 17th of December, Romans gave gifts to each other until December 25th which they called Saturnalia. Eventually when the Roman Church became popular, they adopted Saturnalia and declared the 25th to be the day of the Lord’s birth. They called this the Feast of Nativity thus beginning the holiday many know and love today.

“Since Jesus, a lot has changed,” said junior Ian Surlow. “Some for the better and some for the worse but all are changes and we just have to adapt.”

I agree, we have to adapt to the change in society: a push to become less and less charitable and loving, and more and more selfish. We have lost the meaning of Christmas because we are too caught up in ourselves and I hope it starts to change back to the way it was.