Merry Christmyths and Ending of the World

Assuming that the world did not end on December 21, 2012, you are reading this column and snickering at the pagan Maya who made the prediction. Laugh as much as you want, but they are also thinking that we are idiots celebrating a feast which is full of myths, ignorance and sheer lies. After all, Christmas is a period of shutting out reality and celebrating in euphoric numbness for a few days. One of the first myths is that we are celebrating the birth of Christ. Well, that is so wrong because Christ was not born on earth, it is Jesus who was. Christ, which means 'the anointed one', is the name that he took on after his dunking by John the Baptist. The first reference to him being the Christ, which is a title and not a name, came in Matthew 16:16 when Peter declared, "You are the Christ." Nevertheless, that is the least of our concerns. The bigger problem is that we don't even know when he was born. WINTER SOLSTICE If you look on the almanac, and some calendars have it, the winter solstice begins this year on December 21, but it varies two days either way. This solstice is when the sun appears lowest in the sky relative to the horizon and has been such a significant event that many cultures have festivals or during this period. Ironically, the pagan Romans, who killed Jesus, had a celebration along with the attendant tree worship. Christendom's appropriation of it is evidence of 'if you can't beat them, join them'. Thus, Christmas falls in the same category as Easter, when another non-Christian tradition was retrofitted. The early Church also neatly tried to place conception somewhere in March because, according to Luke 1:26, the visitation of the angel took place when Elizabeth was six months pregnant with John the Baptist. Nevertheless, getting the month is hard enough; it is the year which befuddles us most. This is year 2012. Thus, according to popular lore, it is 2012 years since he was born. Was he born 01 BC, 0000 AD or 0001 AD? But let's not fight over a year, because we have bigger battles of myth versus truth. Inconveniently for the theologians who clash with the historians, Herod the Great was born between 73 and 74 BC and died 4 BC. Unless he has been resurrected or had some serious 'sciance', it is impossible for him to have ordered the death of baby Jesus. Indeed, the census, referred to in Luke 2, occurred somewhere around 8 BC. Thus, Jesus might very well have been born before he was born. Well, he is God himself, so he can do the impossible. We also think he was born in a stable, but there is no such biblical reference. He was placed in a manger, which is a feeding trough for herbivores. In fact, there are references in Matthew to him being in a house when the Magi went to visit him. And how did the jackass get into the picture? Somebody placed Mary on a donkey and an old carol makes it true. However, we need to get the ass out of the story because the Bible didn't say so, and in any event, if you ever rode a donkey, you would know that Jesus would have been born in a saddle, which is fastened with the donkey 'kupa'. Another non-scriptural belief is that there were three wise men. There were Magi, which means men of knowledge and secrets and includes magicians. Thus, the words 'magus' and 'magi' are singular and plural. And by the way, they were not kings. We would like to say so because it would make Jesus King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but they were simply sages and prestidigitators who bowed down and worshipped him. Wise men seek him, but up to the present, many kings shun him. Nonetheless, although three gifts were brought - gold, frankincense and myrrh - no reference is made to the number of Magi, but this little embellishment is rather harmless. Dr Orville Taylor, Contributor The Cleaner (Jamaican Newspaper)