For myself, I no more believe that Christ was born on the 25th of
December than that He rose on a specific Easter Sunday! As mentioned, it
was the Latin branch of Christendom that largely used pre-existing pagan
festivals as an opportunity to give them a Christian baptism. The aim
being to outwardly transform previous pagan celebrations in to Christian
festivals and to dove-tail them in to a church calendar covering
sequenced events in the earthly life of Jesus. However, that said, the
Anglican Church took over a simpler form of the same calendar; and today
even the Free Churches have to a lesser extent followed suit.
Consequently, with the biblical event of the birth of Christ being
singled out to animal caring shepherds in Bethlehem, we also have all
the pagan connotations of a carnivorous feast appended. The Nativity
story becomes, once again, entwined with all the debaucheries of a pre,
Christian pagan feast associated with what was termed the Roman
Saturnalia.
Nevertheless, after centuries of ‘a Christ orientated celebration’ of
Christmas in Britain, it is expected that the Primate of our English
Church ‘by law established’ should forcefully speak out against further
erosion of the festal message of the Nativity! But it is now obvious
that we must look to York for a true militancy, rather than compromises
towards minority groups as, seemingly, advocated by Canterbury!.
Animal Padre's
