By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Before we commercialized and infantilized every aspect of our culture, we used to understand the power of symbols. Our government was regarded as a benevolent uncle named Sam bidding us to do our part. Our soaring strength and spirit of ever climbing higher was embodied in an eagle. A bell in Philadelphia announced to the world that while our society was far from perfect it remained free of the Old World’s pretenses and encumbrances. A statue in a harbor welcomed even the wretched to a land promising both opportunity and hard work. Symbols define our ideals about life, desires, and even ourselves.
And regardless of your religious affiliation or if you have none at all, the symbol of Christmas remains one of life’s enduring icons of what is best in all of us. The holiday is personified by a fourth century clergyman, Nicholas, bishop of Myra. Myra lay in the Roman province of Lycia in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). Almost nothing is known about Nicholas except that he was born sometime around 260 CE and died after 333 CE. Most of his good works in Lycia are obscure and his piety is presumed but never verified. He stands as a part of history based on one story told and retold throughout the centuries.
In his capacity as bishop, Nicholas became aware of a man living in the City of Patara. Once a wealthy and influential member of the community, the man had fallen on hard times and could not provide even the basics of life. Blessed with three daughters, the man knew he would never be able to pay the dowries that would permit the young women to be properly married and assume their places in polite society. In that culture being unable to marry meant more than just a life of hard labor in the fields; it usually meant prostitution for young girls. Distraught the man turned every stone to improve his situation but all to no avail.
Hearing of the plight, Nicholas resolved to do something about it. Whether based on religious prescription or his own benevolent intuitions, the prelate decided to provide direct aid to the man by tossing a small bag of gold through his open window during the early hours of the morning and thus avoid further embarrassment for the man. Nicholas returned night after night to add to the man’s dowries but, finding the window inexplicably locked on the third night, dropped the gold down the chimney where it landed in a wet stocking that was drying by the dying embers.
There was good reason for the locked window after all as the occupant was waiting for the good bishop after he clamored down off the roof. Learning at last who his benefactor really was, the man promised to let everyone know about the kindness of the Christian bishop. Nicholas would have none of it and had the man promise never to tell anyone about what had happened. That promise was likely not fulfilled.
Saint Nicholas of the Roman Church has come to define all that we admire about charity — generosity of spirit, selflessness, and a genuine regard and understanding of the sometimes intolerable plight of our fellow man. It is true religion and that is what many of us will honor on Tuesday.
God Bless us — every one.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
Source: CNN
~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
TonyC,
I believed that before. Relationships get stale. But now hope that by using your best you will find a “gift” needed by these persons, each and every day.
Your children develop, they become new persons very often, with new needs. You and your wife (speaking in conventional terms) also may develop separately and together. See who else is worth the effort. Take it as an exercise in love-giving for your own sake.
See if you can. And thanks for the question.
@Idealist: But why not give a gift to each other each day of the year.
Because then it becomes diluted and loses any special significance.
Itchin: A.D. is “anno domini” meaning “Year of the Lord” meaning since the birth of Christ. It had nothing to do with Death. As P Smith says, C.E. is Common Era, and BCE is before Common Era.
itchinBayDog – You actually seem proud of your ignorance of scientific and historical terminology. The use of “common era” is centuries old.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Era
Keep the atheist flag flying! You don’t need no stinkin’ flag? You say the lonely stars will do, and will be here long after our sun has consumed us.
Thanks.
Cosmology teaches a lot, among other things it teaches you to be humble.
We need more of that, and common sense.
We were launched from Africa. We may need to retire there. 5,000 meters from the surface, cultivating our mushrooms like like termites there.
But the termites need carbohydrates as base material. What will we use.
Mineral eating microbes may be our last diet. Goodby cruel corporations.
PS,
The holidays are needed. But why not give a gift to each other each day of the year.
Blouise,
Has your spellchecker gone bad? I didn’t expect a mistake from you.
Check line two in your praise of Nicholas.
LOL,
And a merry one to whatever you celebrate. It is family and friends that count. Giving and not getting. When did we last hear that in secular confines?
Amen, which works for muslims and jews as well.
And we atheists who believe in a lonely mankind can also join in in the feeling, for even we have families, friends, and joy in giving.
Now each to his own circle, bearing tidings of joy of a coming Spring.
God jul, allesammans. Repeat after me: Goooooood Jul.
The article said that Nicolas guy died in 3 hundred something CE. What is CE? A.D. is After Death. Is CE Christ Expired?
The Catolics are the grinches that stole December from the pagans and jews about the time this guy croaked, when the Pope moved the Birthday from July to Dec 25th. I think that some Xtians were being discriminated against and this was a way to celebrate amongst the other religions in Dec. The xmas tree thing was stolen from the Krauts. God only knows where the reindeer came in. Or the trolls. Little Schwarte Peet is a good touch.
I personally think that it was a bad idea to have Santa coming down the chimney on Christ’s BD. Separation of church and total fantasy is important to keep up some semblance of believeability in the xtian confabulations about holy trinity, immaculate conception, sand through the hourglass, Capt. Courageous, and Black Friday for Macy’s. So the Dec 5th Sinter Klaas Day makes some sense. Because when the kids grow up and realize that the Santa thing was a farce they might question the immaculate conception thing and the rest of the malarkey except perhaps Black Friday or Schwarte Peet. Or the after xmas sales at Macys. Or the Fiscal Cliff on New Years Eve.
I thought Elrond was the king of the elves? Of course it’d be a totally different holiday if he was used. He’s more butt kicker than gift giver.
Tony,
A Merry Sacred Fire Day to you! 🙂
Elaine,
Portion control … portion control …
Oh for the days of my youth when simple metabolism took care of over indulgence!
Santa is not Christian, he is pagan. An elf, in fact the king of the elves, with magic flying reindeer and sleigh, the pine tree and mistletoe are the pagan symbols of immortality (green in the winter), the decorations, most will recall, were once candles, fire was important to pagans. Bringing a tree into the home for good luck during the Winter solstice, and decorating it to please the wood spirit with finery, is a purely pagan ritual, there is nothing in the Bible about it.
All the decorations, gifts, stars, and nature-worship of the beauty of winter plants and snow and icicles is pagan. Another big part of paganism is the propitiation of spirits, which is how the gift-giving tradition began and the tradition of leaving a snack for Santa (and in some traditions, his hungry reindeer).
Whatever Christian stories one hears about Santa Claus, true or not, they are adaptations to fit a mythology or true anecdote into the Pagan ritual and mythology; even the date is derived from the Pagan celebration of the Winter solstice.
Santa, his elves, his reindeer, the tree, the mistletoe, the gift giving, the magic, the lights and candles and stars, the snowmen, all of it is Pagan nature worship. Which is fine by me, as long as they stay away from blood sacrifice I think nature worship is pretty harmless fun. I love Christmas, in my atheist way.
Blouise,
You got a problem with gluttony?
😉
The giving of gifts at Christmas time in the spirit of Nicholas is a worthy tradition and one of which I hardily approve. The giver tries his/her best to figure out what the recipient would like or need, purchases or makes the gift then, through the spirit of Nicholas, anonymously gives (from Santa Claus). It’s thoughtful, given without expectations of reciprocation, and meant to bring happiness … Homo sapiens at their best.
It’s an outward and visible sign of an inward, and for some, spiritual thought and not a bad way to slowly introduce children to the concept of giving without thought of getting. I have many little decorated plaster hand prints, braided dough wreaths, baked in the oven “stained glass” ornaments, crookedly woven pot-holders … all made by tiny hands and proudly presented to parents and grandparents as “beautiful” pieces to brighten their day … nothing is expected in return for the joy was in making and presenting and then watching the smiles that appear on the faces of the recipients.
Giving, not getting, is the name of the game and that’s how we use Nicholas (Santa Claus) in our family.
And then, of course, there is gluttony … 😉
MikeS,
We were light Mike. Otherwise we would have crucified Mark on the cross of commercialization. And taking a Christian legend even if he is St. Nick was in poor taste IMHO. He could have couched it as “his” story, but seems always inclined to preach what he thinks as gospel.
Maybe he THOUGHT that he was giving us a warming legend to lighten the year end with. And with Rafflaw’s help telling us what Christianity had patent on. JC himself would be embarrassed by both of them And where was GeneH to correctly inform us on how it really was with early Christianity. Gene has done this before at least a couple of times.
Many took it as another example of Christian proselytizing.
As one asked, where did St Nick GET HIS MONEY? No answer came from Mark.
Now Jesus came off his high horse and sat and mingled as equals with sodomites, parasites, whores, tax collectors and even his religious enemies.
All whom were willing to break bread with him, which was forbidden in Jewish tradition at that time.
That was one of the chief meanings of Jesus message I have read.
Some Christians here at JT still can not practice it.
The same message is in the real miracle of the bread and fishes. It was sitting down with complete strangers which was the miracle, not the loaves and fishes division. You must know the contemporary social and religious conditions to appreciate the true meaning of that miracle.
And I am not a learned man, only one who learns quickly a little of all things.
Which is good at times but useless in hospitals. 😉 😉 😉
Just to show how little respect for Mark, most GBs stand by to answer questions. Where is Mark today? And why you of all, Ahhhh, the oil that quietens the waves. Good on ya’.
I love you all here. You have become my family, but can’t tolerate ALL your bad habits. And why should I when you MikeS and Nick can practice ballbusting with love and affection.
I can still see Messpo’s work without instant reaction. Some stuff is good. But why should all say Hallelujah just because he is THINKING mistakenly that he is spreading Christian cheer.
Blah, and that was not grinchy. Just a little friendly ballbusting between members of the human family.
God Jul allesammans. Och ett gott nytt år också.
Bara många leenden, god mat och en nubbe eller två för mycket.
Thomas More imprisoned and executed people for reading the buybull in English, among other brutalities.
Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (the so-called “mother teresa”) ran so-called “hospitals” where there was little or no medical care, where HIV/AIDS was spread through reused needles, while she got first class care at the best hospitals. And she willingly accepted money she knew was stolen (e.g. US$20 million from James Keating), refusing to return it to its rightful owners.
Pope Pius XII gave the green light for Adolf Hitler to commit mass murder without criticism.
What do all three have in common? Two are catholic “saints” and third is being pushed for.
Being named a “saint” is as much a popularity contest and historical revisionism as anything else. Given how many instances of rewriting history there are (e.g. was Valentinus even a catholic? some say no) any claims of “good acts” by Nicolas are dubious.
People who are ethical and moral figured it out on their own. They didn’t become so because of religion. More often than not, they learnt to be ethical and moral despite their religion.
On the subject of symbols: A friend of my kids’ was a little girl whose mom was Catholic and father was Native American (Nez Perce I think) and they were working class Oregonians. A portrait of Chief Joseph hung in their living room. They had a huge Bible on a side table, open most of the time to a color plate of Moses holding up the tablets with the ten commandments. They had a picture of Jesus apparently speaking at the Sermon on the Mount — that one was probably in the kitchen but I can’t remember. And at Christmas they hung a big jolly Santa Claus face over their fireplace.
One night when the girl was spending the night with us (in our unadorned little apartment with no gods in sight), she and my kid began quite an argument over whether there could be more than one god, or whether there had to be ONLY ONE. Guess which side the little girl took? ONLY ONE. My kid insisted there could be many and in fact that based on probabilities, there were what he called “agazillion!” The argument got quite heated.
I later found out that the girl thought those four pictures were all pictures of god at different times in his life!
Ah Mark,
You write a little essay, in tune with the holiday season and providing an anecdote that most don’t know. The response from many of our beloved cynics here is to respond as “Grinches” and “Bah Humbug” you in turn. Sometimes, I think, we can just let ourselves be caught up in a time that brings family and friends together in hoped for closeness and sharing. We’re a perceptive group here and I think most of us understand that forces of commercialization have created mythology to up their bottom line, while de-naturing Christmas of its meaning. In the end though, for many people this is a good/memorable time of year and even I as a Jew who doesn’t participate in Christmas, have many cherished memories of Christmas past spent with Christian friends and loved ones. Lighten up Y’All and have a good holiday. 🙂
Good story! But I also enjoy the other views as well. The question is how did we get from the story of st. Nick to Christmas (celebration of Christ’s birth) to the giving-gifts-program of family members and friends via Santa Claus (I even heard one Christian pastor state that if you switch the letters in the word Santa you get Satan. Hence, he believed, that Satan came in and stole the ‘true meaning of Christmas’ by replacing it with Santa Claus)?
Happy Holidays to all!
rafflaw1, December 23, 2012 at 10:15 am
Mark,
St Nick epitomizes the true meaning of Christmas and I has nothing to do with Christ. But it has everything to do with Christianity.
==============
In reality the giving in the name of charity and the needs of the less fortunate stretches back in the three major religions and Buddhism. In Judaism earliest, as Christ was a jew, and this was in the Torah long before Jesus.
But I guess you knew this.
Make happy use of your legends and celebrate as all heathens have, the living completion of a year, and the soon ending of the winter’s meager rations. The midwinter feast was the last sacrifice obliged to gods as thanks for the growing seasons surplus and to lighten our mood in the darkness.