Evening star., 1948-12-24
Letters to The Star
Christmas Traditions and Realities

Christmas Traditions and Realities
To the Editor Of Ths star:
Tradition and truth are strangly mingled In
our Christmas observance. The date, Decem-
Der rs, was not fixed upon as the probable time
OF the birth Of Jesus until the 4th century.
Up until then, April or May had been assumed
as the birth h-month We now commemorate the
birth but do not have authority to say that the
day observed is the anniversary of it.
Undoubtedly the Yuletide season and festivi-
ties had much to do with fixing the December
date at the 25th of the month Our pagan an
cestors of Northern Europe made much ado
over the return Of the sun" at this season.
We still show in our Christmas festivities
through the use Of evergreen, the yule log,
the character Of our eating and drinking, and
our gift-giving, echoes Of the joyous carousals
Of those ancestral strong men. But are not
this seizure of mere sensuous agencies and this
transformation Of them into spiritual aids
only another triumph of Christianity? Is it
not one with seizing the Cross, the symbol
OF horrible suffering and death, so shameful as
to forbid being mentioned in social assemblages,
and making 1t the insignia of highest dignity
and honor, in line with the uses made Of the
worst by turning 1t to the best, and thus
pointing to the triumph of Christianity over
SCAlSNOOS
Tradition has left our Christmas interpre-
tation of Scripture sadly wanting in both
reason and accuracy. The shepherds Of Beth
lehem kept their sheep carefully folded in
low stone wall folds, still to be seen in Pales-
tine. Ferocious wolves and mountain lions in
tested the entire region near the Jordan, east
Of Bethlehem, in those days. The shepherds
built a fire outside the walls OF the fold and
kept watch lest prowling beasts leap over the
walls of the sheepfold Since on this particular
night Bethlehem was crowded with people of
the Davidic line from which was to come the
Messiah, and since the shepherds Of that time
were among the most thoughtful of the Jews
was 1t not natural for them to be talking of the
possible effect of so many Of the line Of David
now in Bethlehem? AS they thought and
spoke, the vision came.
Jesus was not born in a stable but in the
khan Of the town, similar to our tourist camps
prepared for sojourners or for crowded condi-
tions. 1t Is thoughtless implication against
the Jewish people OF that time to say that
parents of the line of David, about to have
q child born to them, would be obliged to 60
to some strangers cattle-inclosure for protec-
ton at such time! No doubt when the shep-
herds visited the khan early Ahat morning,
they found the place agog with news Of the
Birth that had occurred that night. They
had no difficulty in finding the Babe resting
in the little, cradle-shaped stone trough dound
now in Palestine) which is easily movable and
out of which the family donkey eats his hay in
the open spaces Of the khan. The Wise Men
who came, obviously long after the birth of
Jesus, were men Of the supposedly lost tribes
Of Israel, who had never lost their prophetic
word of q promised Messiah
II the Christmas Story followed the Bible
and not childish traditions, pictured by Mid
die Ages artists who knew little of Palestine
and its customs we would find that story both
reasonable and consistent, besides most beau-
tiful. JOHN o. KNOTT.