On the 25th of November, it was Black Friday in the United States which marks the beginning of Christmas season and buying practices. On this day, the stores swell up their sales. Has Christmas ceased to be a religious practice or has it never been religious?
This day is set apart to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ. A Palestinian man whose legend took the world by storm to become a religion that has dominated the world for 2000 years. And though many people today no longer care about going to churches, at least on Christmas, the numbers of churchgoers increase. Surprisingly not many go genuinely to worship, but just because everybody goes, if not to show off their new outfits.
Christmas has become the happiest and busiest time of the year for millions of people. And though in Sub Saharan Africa this festivity is young, millions break off from work to spend the day with their families.
George of Stambic Bank says, “Money is highly in circulation this season,” he adds, “People withdraw money to prepare for the feast. But also big businesses bring in lots of money.”
So, it can be that the end of the year has something to do with the festival. Parents are at last with their children. The schools have closed, and many work places close on Christmas day but entertainment and other services industries related to festivity.
Christmas comes to Africa
None but missionaries came with Christmas customs and practices. And at large, they were Western customs. Only local Christmas carols are not influenced by the Vatican or Canterbury.
Ethiopia, Africa’s oldest Christian country, celebrates Christmas on January 7. And this is the church founded before Rome had gone Christian. The Coptic Orthodox church has a tradition dating since 100 A.D and they too, hold religious services and later sing, dance and feast.
In Uganda, certainly one of the youngest Christian tradition, missionaries gave sekukulu a translation to Christmas, meaning Siku Kubwa (big day) from Kiswahili. From the translation, we know that Christmas is primarily about material enjoyment and less of spirituality. Even missionaries took this at face value.
For instance, in the USA people make Christmas parades of hundreds of colourful floats, highlighting Santa Claus in his sleigh pulled by reindeers. Streets and public places are brightened with outdoor decorations. To tell how Western it is, and the least Israelite, check around Kampala, Nairobi, Kigali, or any other African city. The streets are like New York or London in preparation for Christmas.
Therefore, the union of religion and consumerism found its match in Christmas festivities. Believe it or not, both priests and pagans are on the look out to make the most memorable day. While the elderly are counting down the few Christmases they have to celebrate before they wave goodbye to this world, the young are full of expectations of what to eat, drink and dress; they don’t know life is too short.
Entertainment centres, restaurants, supermarkets, Owino, and slaughterhouses countrywide are set to woe customers. At Half London, Kamya the GM is full of expectations. “This is the real business season. Attendance and consumption are at their peak,” he reveals. They have already planned for entertainment, menu, holidaymakers, and discounts on drinks and eats. And it’s not one man’s idea. At Shoprite, an attendant told me they have enough stock for the whole season.
So who said, you cannot put together God and wealth! Capitalism and consumerism reach their peak on Christmas, presumably a religious day. And the question rises, is Christmas, a corruption of religion or consumerism caught up with it.
Christmas from the Chronicles to Date
The shopping bug increasingly became important to Christmas in the 1900s as companies started manufacturing Christmas ornaments, lights, trees, holly, and mistletoe. And around the globe, stores and shops hire extra workers to handle increased sales.
This has been a tradition dating to Christmas 336 A.D. The early Roman calendar indicates December 25 as a day of observance. But this day was influenced by pagan (unchristian) festivals of the time.
Ancient Romans held end of year celebrations to honour Saturn the harvest god and Mithras their god of Light – other Europeans did the same as the end of all harvest season. Part of the celebrations were special foods, home decorations, singing, dancing and gift giving. No wonder all the practices remained as they were at the advancement of Christianity.
In the 300s, Christianity became the official Roman Empire religion. This was the time of Constantine. Thereof, people found a way to legitimize their festivities by exchanging pagan names with Christian ones. By 1100 AD, Christmas was the most important religious festival in Europe. There was St. Nicholas who went around distributing presents to children - the adoption of today’s Santa Claus.
The Death and Rise of Christmas
In the 1400s and 1500s, the Nativity scene was painted but not long after there was the reformation and the birth of Protestantism. This movement considered Christmas a pagan practice. No wonder Bro. Joshua of the Gospel Light Baptist Church in Kansanga dismissed the idea as a “Catholic church ritual.” He told me, “Roman practices crippled into Christianity and we (Baptists) pray on Christmas as any other day.”
He reminded me that Christmas is not biblical since when Jesus was born is not stated anywhere, though the fact is he was born.
As Protestantism caught up, in 1600s Christmas was outlawed in England and some parts of the English colonies in America. But it wasn’t long before people continued to exchange gifts as their customs were.
In the 1800s, other traditions came in and once again Christmas was popular. People decorated their homes with Christmas trees, sang carols like Silent Night, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’ and exchanged gifts, this time with something more - the birth of the Christmas card.
On the record, in 1843, John Calcott Horsley created the first Christmas card. It featured a drawing of a family enjoying Christmas with smaller drawings showing people helping the needy. Horsley card sold 1000 copies. And today Christmas cards are one of the favourite customs of sending holiday greetings and a billion dollar industry worldwide. Thus, Christmas has elements of togetherness of families and acts of charity.
The religious story of Christmas
The gospels of Luke and Matthew talk of the visiting angels to shepherds proclaiming the birth of a child outside Bethlehem. And Matthew emphasizes the magi or the wise men from the east coming to see Jesus and offer gifts to the baby. The two may have no basis of proof, and though documented, we cannot take them as more or less like the legends of Kintu and Nambi or Labong and Gipir.
In tradition, the season starts with a Sunday nearest to November 30, and this is the first Sunday of Advent (meaning coming), a four-week period of preparing for Christmas. In churches, a crèche is displayed, with it is a scene of nativity showing figures of Mary and Joseph praying over a child Jesus. Around them are shepherds and wise men, giving rise to the perspective that the Christmas scene is for: the closeness of the family, the visiting of friends, the giving of gifts and the praying as one wishes.
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