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November 12, 2006
My Grandfather's Column
Christmas or Winterval
I've a vague feeling that it was Birmingham City Council that planned recently to substitute for 'Christmas' the word 'Winterval'. The idea struck most people as grotesque but the intention behind it was to ensure that the large non-Christian section of Brummies would not be offended by having Christianity rammed down their throats. It was a non-starter because the great majority of Muslims, and indeed of other non-Christian faiths, prefer to keep a festival religious rather than purely secular.
Before we get too hot under the collar about the 'grotesque' suggestion it's as well to remember that it was a pagan mid-winter festival that was taken over by the Christian Church, which decided that December 25th would be a good day to celebrate the birth of Jesus since nobody knew the real date and people were used to having a day of festivity which could be christianised.
It's not only the actual date of the birth of Jesus that is quite unknown. The circumstances surrounding the event are equally shrouded in mystery. The earliest Christian Gospel has nothing to say on the subject. The last of the Gospels contains no historical details but gives a deep Christian understanding of the meaning of the event. St. John's Gospel tells us that in Jesus the Word of God was made flesh and dwelt among us. This Jesus was divine. In him God had visited this planet. This is what we Christians now celebrate.
The wonderful, but slightly conflicting birth stories in the other two Gospels are simply not history but bear witness to the wonderful nature of the event they describe with much adornment and imaginative detail. Our Christmas carols perform the same kind of service to us, building up the sense of mystery and joy that properly surround the incarnation of the Word of God - or in simpler terms - the coming of perfect love and compassion into our human race, for that is the nature of the God who was made man in Jesus.
All things considered there was something to be said for 'Winterval'; and since we can scarcely now be described as a Christian country, that Council certainly had a point. However the vast majority of English people of whatever religious tradition, still prefer to have the Christian festival rammed down their throats than the pagan one.
I don't think I could ever bring myself to wish you a Happy Winterval but I do wish you all much joy and happiness as we celebrate Christmas with its lovely stories and carols, however unhistorical much of it may be.
-Peter Graham
Posted by LYT at November 12, 2006 2:13 PM [Message Board]