Christmas - A Living Myth of Our Time

"...mythology is the collection of stories (myths), supernatural beings, deities, symbols, and belief systems of a culture."

Every culture in our world has its own mythology with its own shared stories, supernatural beings, gods, symbols, and beliefs. These mythologies are important because they make us what we are - human. They have shaped us, what we are, and how we think. But not all mythologies belong strictly to the far past. Many of them still influence us, in some form or other, even today. What if I proposed then that Christmas is a modern myth of our time? Don't think so? Let's have a closer look.

The word Christmas comes from the Old English Christ's Mass. Christ's Mass was observed in honour of Jesus Christ's birth, but no one could say for certain just when Christ was actually born. So early Church Fathers chose this time of the year around the Winter Solstice as his birth date. Interestingly, December 25th was also the birthday of Mithras the sun god, deity of the dominant pagan religion at the time. It was also the time of the great pagan festival of Saturnalia, which holds many similarities to our modern Christmas celebrations. Christ's Mass then fit nicely into this season of festivity, masking pagan merriment with devout Christian observance.

Right. Now that we have the origins of Christmas understood, how is it a living myth?

Let's go back to our definition, "mythology is the collection of stories, supernatural beings, deities, symbols, and belief systems of a culture."

Well, what culture observes Christmas? Why, Christians of course. So we have our culture, Christians. Now, what deity is celebrated at Christmas? Christ, obviously. And are there any supernatural beings related to Christmas? Certainly! Who is that white-bearded jolly old fellow who comes on Christmas Eve bringing gifts to good children? You guessed it! Santa Claus! Father Christmas, Pere Noel, Kris Kringle, whatever you want to call him, Santa Claus is the major supernatural being of Christmas. He is a magical figure representing the spirit of kindness and giving at Christmas.

Of course, Christmas has its many symbols as well. Probably the most popular symbol is the Christmas Tree standing proudly over the gifts on Christmas morning. Other Christmas symbols are the star, wreaths, candles, holly, mistletoe, bells. Just look around you now and I'm sure you'll see plenty more.

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