This was a holiday long before this Jesus Christ character came into the picture
Maybe you are using this word without any malice no matter how unpleasant it may sound to me, so I apologize in advance if I'm totally wrong here....but just in case.....this Jesus Christ
character? He's not a
character, He's the son of God, the Saviour, for those who believe in Him, so please show a little more respect.
and if he had not come into the picture we would still have the same zest and zeal for Dec 25th day.
I strongly dissent. Had He not come, the pagan festivity would have vanished as most of others. It's Christ who made Christmas. It's indeed the religious (you must have a very strong dislike even for the word, since you never happen to spell it correctly! :p) event and meaning attached to the pagan background which saved the pagan festivity from oblivion.
EDIT--Sleigh bells, 'Santa Claus', reindeer, mistletoe, and sacrificial trees were all Germanic aspects of Dec 25th day BEFORE Jesus Christ came along.
they are in fact just external aspects of the festivity. But it's the spiritual dimension Christianity gave to them which makes Christmas such a special event. Without a spiritual meaning they would be hollow. As unfortunately they are for many people today.
