December 25th rolls around every year and the celebration kicks into high gear – presents are torn open, a massive feast is prepared, and families gather to enjoy each other’s company. The cycle is predictable: we shop, we wrap, we travel, we get burned out and need a few days to recover. At some point, we inevitably ask, “Why do we get so worked up about Christmas?”
Historically, a long line of festivals have occurred during that time of year and, after the promotion of Christianity to state religion by the Roman Emperor Constantine in 312 AD, the stage was set for Christmas to become the primary holiday for much of the Western world. In the early days of the faith, adherents often took advantage of large pagan holidays to celebrate important events of their own. When the Edict of Milan officially carried out Constantine’s orders, what had once been a vast public carnival to honor the Winter Solstice transformed into a way to commemorate Jesus’ birth. Continue reading
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