Christmas has been a huge celebration for as long as most of us can remember, celebrated by Christians and atheists alike, across many different countries. But when and where did it initially originate and is it still considered a religious celebration, or has it been completely commercialised in modern times?
A poll has revealed that there has been a definite decrease of Christianity in Britain, with 87% of adults confessing that they won’t be attending Church during the festive period. Last year's census returns say that the number of Christians has fallen by over 4 million. It has also been said that only 5% of people plan to actually go to a church service on Christmas Day, and a slightly larger number of 8% plan to go at some point in the festive period.
This year, the Church of England tried to put a promotional advert of the Lord's Prayer in cinemas; however, the advert was banned on the grounds that it could be offensive to people who aren’t Christians, to which there was uproar from the public in response. David Cameron's spokesperson claimed that Cameron found the ban “ridiculous” but declined to expand on the Prime Minister's views. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, also condemned the ban on Twitter, saying that he expected it to be overturned.
It wasn’t just the politicians criticising the ban. Comedian and actor, Stephen Fry, also joined the protest, claiming that “banning the ad is bizarre, unfair and misguided”. I completely agree with the arguments against the ban because one advert surely won’t cause offence to the British population, and surely if we continue to disregard any type of religious suggestion in case people of other religions get offended, then it's denying those people freedom of speech, which is a basic human right. It also suggests that we shouldn’t celebrate Christmas as a Christian festival anymore because it could be offensive!
But when was Christmas invented? Christmas didn’t originally begin as a Christian festival; it started in Rome, as a farmer's festival to commemorate Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture and harvest. This festival period was in the mid-winter, starting on the 17th December and lasting 7 days, and it was called the Saturnalia. It involved over-eating, drinking, singing, gift-giving and general happiness — all of the things we associate with Christmas now. So I guess we actually have the Romans to thank for Christmas. It has definitely evolved over the centuries and I think it is much less of a religious celebration now than it once was. I don’t think there should be a specific way in which it's celebrated, but what can’t be denied is that however you celebrate it, and ever since it first began, Christmas has been a time of happiness, and I hope that will never change.