Here come the sun, Santa and (not) Jesus’s birthday
The 21st of December (on my side of the world) is a day many dread, because it’s officially the first day of winter. Cold and dark, the winter makes us want to stay home. We’re typically less sociable and lively than during other seasons. It’s quite the metaphor for what happens in the rest of nature at that time: plants die, animals go away or sleep, and we watch more Netflix.
The birth of the Sun
My view of the winter changed completely when I learned about the winter solstice celebrations that used to exist or still exist in the entire world. In many cultures, this solstice was the day of death and rebirth of the Sun because at a very specific moment, the North Pole gets to its furthest point from the Sun, and right after that, it starts to get closer and closer again. On that day, people would pray gods or just celebrate the arrival of better farming conditions. They would make bonfires to welcome the light. Isn’t it beautiful to see winter that way?
The birth of Jesus?
Sorry to break it to you, but Jesus wasn’t born on December 25th. Nobody knows when he was born because it was never mentioned in the Bible or any other religious text. Historians think he was actually born several centuries BC (Before Christ... before himself...what), and they assume he was born in December because of his supposed date of conception. As you can see, Christmas was founded on a lot of baseless assumptions. And it wasn’t until the 4th century that the Church decided to establish that he was born on the 25th. And that’s how Christians replaced pagan Solstice festivities with Jesus’s supposed birthday (I won’t accuse Christians of wanting to annihilate other beliefs but it kind of was their thing).
What about Santa?
As a lot of people already know, the Coca Cola company turned Saint Nicolas into the most obvious symbol of Christmas. I mean, most of the people I know celebrate Christmas with socks on the chimney and no mention of Jesus, or the Sun for that matter. A lot of us deplore the fact that Christmas is but a marketing stunt where people flock to stores to buy decorations and too many gifts. So...
Let’s reclaim December’s magic
I stopped buying gifts just for the sake of it years ago but I’m happy to have taken a step further: I want to celebrate this time of year, but it won’t have anything to do with religion or a marketing campaign from the 1920s. Every living thing functions in cycles, so let’s celebrate the cycle of life that is made possible by the ideal position of the Sun during our solar dance. Let’s celebrate the fact that right after the longest night of the year, come more light, more warmth, more energy and more life. The 21st of December is the new 25th.
