The evolving ritual of Christmas and the virtue of religious tolerance

The recent visit of Pope Francis to Bangladesh and the interest taken by the Christian community with regard to the travails being faced by the Rohingya Muslim community in Myanmar have prompted this writer to trace the evolution of Christmas celebrations in different parts of the world - particularly with regard to its social, religious, ethnic and cultural dimensions.

Christmas, an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ is observed most commonly on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. This is a feast that is considered as central to the Christian liturgical year and is preceded by the season of Advent or what is commonly known as the Nativity Fast. This initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and ends on the Twelfth Night with observance of traditional activities.

Christmas Day is a public holiday in many countries including Bangladesh. It is celebrated religiously by a majority of Christians, as well as culturally by many non-Christians, and forms an integral part of the holiday season. However, there are also many countries where Christmas is not a formal public holiday. That includes Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bhutan, Cambodia, China (excepting Hong Kong and Macao), the Comoros, Iran, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Laos, Libya, the Maldives, Mauritania, Mongolia, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Yemen.

Although the month and date of Jesus' birth were unknown, by the early-to-mid fourth century A.D., the Western Christian Church had placed Christmas on December 25, a date that was later adopted also in the East. Today, most Christians celebrate Christmas on December 25 according to the Gregorian calendar. This in fact has been adopted almost universally in the civil calendars used in countries throughout the world. However, some Eastern Christian Churches celebrate Christmas on December 25 according to the older Julian calendar, which currently corresponds to January 07 in the Gregorian calendar. This should however not be construed as a disagreement over the date of Christmas as such, but rather a preference of which calendar is being used to determine the day that is December 25.

Although it is not known why December 25 became a date of celebration, there are several factors that may have influenced the choice. December 25 was the date the Romans marked as the winter solstice, the shortest and darkest day of the year, and the first day in which the days would begin to elongate and the Sun would have a longer presence in the sky. Jesus, according to some historians, was identified with the Sun based on an Old Testament verse. December 25 was also probably chosen as it was supposed to be nine months following the Crucification of Christ. Some analysts have also suggested that in the 3rd century, this chronological approach became associated with the idea of conception and the understanding that salvation is bound up in birth and death.

The celebratory customs associated with Christmas in various countries appear to have a mix of pre-Christian, Christian and secular themes in their origins. Today, Christmas and the observance of this festival have acquired a cultural content in addition to the religious dimension. Popular modern customs of the holiday include giving of gifts, completing an Advent calendar or Advent wreath, specialized Christmas music and caroling, viewing if possible, a Nativity play, exchange of Christmas cards (on paper or in a digitalised form), specialized Church services, special meals, display of different kinds of Christmas decorations, including Christmas trees, Christmas lights, use of garlands, wreaths, mistletoe and holly.

In addition, several closely related and often interchangeable figures, known as Santa Claus or Father Christmas or Saint Nicholas are associated with bringing gifts to children during the Christmas season. Such activity naturally creates heightened economic activity. This holiday, as in the case of observance of other religious festivals like Eid-ul-Fitr or Eid-ul-Adha or Puja, has consequently become a significant event and a key sales period for retailers and businesses. This economic impact of Christmas has grown steadily over the past few centuries and has now spread all over the world. This has partially taken place because people belonging to different religious denominations are now spread throughout the world.

Christmas has become a peak selling season for retailers in many nations around the world. Sales increase dramatically as people purchase gifts, decorations, and supplies to celebrate. In the US, the "Christmas shopping season" starts as early as October. In Canada, merchants begin advertising campaigns just before Halloween (October 31), and step up their marketing following Remembrance Day on November 11. In the UK and Ireland, the Christmas shopping season starts from mid-November, around the time when high street Christmas lights are turned on. In the United States, it has been calculated that a quarter of all personal spending takes place during the Christmas/holiday shopping season. There is usually also a buying surge of 100 per cent in bookstores and 170 per cent in jewellery stores.

Historical evidence suggests that the concept of a grand Christmas feast gained prominence after 800 AD, when Charlemagne was crowned Emperor on Christmas Day. Christmas during the Middle Ages was a public festival that included gift-giving. It was usually between people with legal relationships, such as tenant and landlord. This annual indulgence in eating, dancing, singing, sporting, and card playing escalated in England, and by the 17th century the Christmas season featured lavish dinners, elaborate masques, and pageants. However, quite often, such merry-making was associated with drunkenness and other misbehaviour. This resulted in the Puritans banning Christmas in England in the 17th century. It was subsequently restored as a legal holiday in 1660. In the early 19th century, the revival of Christmas with its merry-making took place through the Oxford Movement in the Anglican Church. This effort was assisted by novelists like Charles Dickens and other writers who reinvented the holiday by emphasising Christmas as a time for family, religion, gift-giving, and social reconciliation as opposed to the revelry that had been common historically. In the UK, Christmas Day eventually became a bank holiday in 1834 and Boxing Day was added to this list in 1871.

Interestingly, the Parliament of Scotland officially abolished the observance of Christmas in 1640, claiming that the Church had been "purged of all superstitious observation of days". It was not until 1958 that Christmas again became a Scottish public holiday.

In early Colonial America, historians have pointed out that the Pilgrims of New England shared radical Protestant disapproval of Christmas. The Plymouth Pilgrims put their loathing for the day into practice in 1620 when they spent their first Christmas Day in the New World working - thus demonstrating their complete contempt for the day. Non-Puritans in New England however deplored the loss of the holidays enjoyed by the labouring classes in England. Christmas observance was also outlawed in Boston in 1659. This was, however, not true for other areas of the USA. Christian residents of Virginia and New York observed the holiday freely. The ban by the Puritans was later revoked in 1681 by English governor Edmund Andros. Christmas, for a brief while again fell out of favour in the United States after the American Revolution in 1776 when it was considered an English custom. This was temporary. In the mid-19th century celebrating Christmas again became fashionable throughout the Eastern Seaboard in the United States.

In Britain, the Christmas tree was introduced in the early 19th century following the union between Princess Charlotte of the Kingdom of Hanover and King George III of England. In 1832, the future Queen Victoria wrote of her delight at having a Christmas tree, hung with lights, ornaments and presents placed round it. After her marriage to her German cousin Prince Albert, by 1841, the custom had become more widespread throughout Britain. An image of the British royal family with their Christmas tree at Windsor Castle created a sensation when it was published in the Illustrated London News in 1848. A modified version of this image was later published in the United States in 1850. By the 1870s, putting up a Christmas tree had also become common in America.

Sociologists have indicated that up to the 1950s, partially because of the disastrous effects of the Second World War in the UK, many Christmas customs were restricted to the upper classes and better-off families. The mass of the population had not adopted many of the Christmas rituals that later became general. The Christmas tree was expensive and consequently rare. Christmas dinner normally consisted of beef-certainly not turkey. In their stockings children normally received as a present an apple, orange or sweets. Full celebration of a family Christmas with all the trimmings only became widespread with increased prosperity from the 1950s.

South Asia, particularly India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, having been British colonies till 1947 still observe many British traditions. One of them is enjoying the festivities associated with Christmas and the arrival of the New Year on January 01. Christmas is a state holiday in India and Bangladesh. Most of the Christians attend the church. Many Christian houses in South Asia also decorate Christmas cribs and distribute sweets and cakes to their neighbours. In many of the schools that are run by the Christian missionaries, the children actively participate in Christmas programmes. Their homes are decorated with local Christmas handicrafts while artificial stars signifying the Star of Bethlehem are hung on rooftops. Christmas celebrations are also popular with the urban middle class in the country with hotels, cafes, restaurants and theme parks hosting festivities and special events.

Such an approach of tolerance and general respect to the activities of religious minorities normally ensures stability. This is something which the Myanmar authorities need to understand in their governance of the Rohingya Muslim population in their Rakhine State.

Muhammad Zamir, a former Ambassador is an analyst specialized in foreign affairs, right to information and good governance, can be reached at

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