HOLY HOLIDAYS, BATMAN!

The religious significance of Thanksgiving and Christmas

By Mike VonFabian

Ok, let me ask you a question.  What do the holidays mean to you?  Do you really understand the true meaning behind them?  The word holiday comes from two words holy and days.  The original meaning of the word “holiday” was days to remember what God has done for us.

            Let’s face it, Thanksgiving and Christmas for most of us is just another reason to get together, eat a bunch of food and, in the case of Christmas, spend a whole bunch of money on stuff that will probably lose our attention and gather dust before the garbage man picks up the remains of ribbon and paper lying waste in our trash.

            With the holidays upon us, I wanted to share with you what Thanksgiving and Christmas meant to the original founders of the holidays.  I am hopeful that you will take what I offer and make it a part of your family tradition from now on.

            Most of us who studied American history, to any extent, know that the Pilgrims were the first to celebrate Thanksgiving.  What you might not know is why they were thankful. 

            The Pilgrims were religious outcasts from England.  They were persecuted because of their religious beliefs and refused to give up their faith.  So, instead of giving in, they left England for America.  They boarded…you guessed it…the Mayflower and headed across the Atlantic.  They had a horrible journey.  The seas were rough and the ship’s main beam cracked during their voyage.

            The first Thanksgiving feast originated as a harvest feast.  It was the Colonists first successful harvest since landing on Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620.  They had an Indian named Squanto to thank for the success of their corn harvest.  The feast was also a feast of thanks for being able to practice their religion without persecution.

            As you sit down to eat the holiday turkey, think about these questions:

1)      What are you thankful for?

2)      Do you have a loving family?

3)      Do you have clothes on your back, a warm home and plenty to eat?

4)      Can you think of anyone you know that might be less fortunate than you?

5)      Of those people who have less, could you invite them over to share what you have been blessed with?  Or maybe what they really need is somewhere that they don’t have to spend a holiday alone?  Know anybody like that?

I am reminded of a story that my wife shared with me about one of her co-workers.  They had gotten on the topic of Christmas and my wife mentioned something about Jesus.  Her co-worker said “It’s only Christmas.  It has nothing to do with God.”

For those of you out there that are waiting for the next greatest contraption created by mankind so you can tear the wrappings off of it on Christmas morning, let me give you a slight hint…my wife’s co-worker was totally wrong!  Christmas is all about God…actually, Jesus Christ.

Although the original holiday of Christmas was actually a pagan holiday called Saturnalia, the early Christians adopted the format of the holiday to be able to celebrate the birth of Jesus without attracting undue attention.  You see, they were persecuted for their religion as well so to celebrate Jesus’ birth was against the law and would have led those celebrating to torture or even death.

Now I hope you all know the story of Jesus’ birth and how the wise men of the east came and brought him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  The last two are expensive and rare spices and were worth a lot of money.  The idea of gift giving was to show praise and worship to the Son of God who was born that night.  Little did those wise men know it, but that same baby would give his life as a gift to all of us who would believe in Him.

Let me ask some very pointed questions of you:

1)                          Is Christmas about getting or giving for you?  In other words, do you really care about giving to others or do you just want stuff for yourself?

2)                          Do you know that Christmas is supposed to be about giving and not getting?

3)                          What can you do to make one other person to understand the true message of Christmas?

You see, if we understand that one man, Jesus, gave the ultimate, perfect and permanent Christmas gift to us, his life, so we could live eternally, something inside of us will start to feel that giving is better than receiving.  We will start to appreciate the true meaning of selfless love and be able to make the holidays what they were meant to be… “Holy Days”!