****01. When Was Jesus Born?
• One of the main objections rejecting the December 25 as the birthday of Jesus is that it was chosen as a substitute for the Roman pagan festival of Saturnalia, which was celebrated on December 17, then expanded through December 23, which included the Winter Solstice.
• December 25 had already been identified by Sextus AD 221 as the day on which Christmas would be celebrated, and it was celebrated in Rome by AD 336.
• To establish the birth of Jesus, we will use Scripture and history. Step one is to determine the birth of John the Baptist.
• King David in 1 Chronicles 24:7--18 divided the priests into 24 courses to serve at the designated times in the Temple. Zechariah, the father of John was serving in the Temple, and that is done by knowing the priestly courses, which he was of the Abijah course (Luke 1:5-23).
• The Jerusalem Talmud records that the priestly course of Jehoiarib was serving in the Temple in 70AD when the Romans destroyed both Jerusalem and the Temple, 80 years later. This destruction took place on the 9th of Av in the Hebrew calendar, August 4, 70 AD.
**• Whence do we know that the second Temple was also destroyed on the 9th of *Abh? We have learned in a Boraitha“A happy event is credited to the day on which another happy event happened, while a calamity is ascribed to the day when another calamity occurred; and it was said that when the first Temple was destroyed it was on the eve preceding the 9th of Abh was that of Jehoyoreb*at the destruction of the second Temple.
• Each course served in 1-week cycles (Friday evening Sabbath- Friday evening Sabbath), and if you do the calculations, you will see that Zechariah was serving in the Temple during the week of September 5-11.
• Let's assume that Elizabeth gets pregnant in Zechariah's second week at home after his service, which is the week of September 19-25.
• The average gestation time is 38 weeks, which means that John is born the week of June 20-26.
• Elizabeth was in her 6th month of pregnancy, when Gabriel visited Mary and told her that she was going to give birth to Jesus (Luke 1:26, 36). John was 6 months older than Jesus, 6 months is about 26 weeks, which takes us to the week of December 21-27!
02. Christmas or Xmas?
• The name of Christ in the Greek Scriptures is Χριστός (ŏs), from χρίω (ō), *to anoint*.
• The first 2 letters of Χριστός (ŏs) in Greek are Chi (Χ) and Rho (P). INCLUDEPICTURE "https://imgr.search.brave.com/-TOhe31Y6dqPW2p2B179jXjbtctAIkmuX15qjRzao5c/fit/1200/1200/ce/1/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cu/YW5jaWVudC1zeW1i/b2xzLmNvbS9pbWFn/ZXMvd3AtaW1hZ2Ut/bGlicmFyeS9mdWxs/c2l6ZS9jaGktcm8u/anBn" \* MERGEFORMATINET This symbol gained popularity under the reign of Roman Emperor Constantine I (306-337 AD).
• The Greek Letter Chi (Χ)“Jesus Fish", the ἰχθύς (ichthus)(IΧθΥΣ), which means *fish*. Ἰησοῦς (ēsŏus), Χριστός (ŏs), θεός (ĕŏs), υἱός (ŏs)(Υ), σωτήρ (ōtēr)(Σ). In the late 2nd Century, they used the sign of a fish to mark where their next secret meeting was. There are depictions of the fish found on the walls of the Catacombs.
• U“Jesus Christ, God's Son Saviour," and is from when Jesus called the apostles to Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men (Mt 4:19; Mk 1:17--18; Lk 5:10--11).
• Chi (X) was first used in 1551 as an abbreviation for Christ in Christmas.
• Here is probably the earliest known advertising where Chi (X) is used in place of Christ. INCLUDEPICTURE "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Xmas-LHJ-Dec-1922-ColesPhillips.jpg/220px-Xmas-LHJ-Dec-1922-ColesPhillips.jpg" \* MERGEFORMATINET A Ladies' Home Journal“Give her a L'Aiglon for Xmas."
****03. Merry or Happy Christmas?
• “Merry Christmas" 1st was used Dec 22, 1534, when John Fisher, a Roman Catholic priest in England, wrote a letter to Thomas Cromwell, the chief adviser to King Henry VIII: *“And this our Lord God send you a mery Christmas, and a comfortable, to your heart's desire."*
• “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen," which was 1st published in 1760 in West Country, England.
• OED: God rest you merry‘may God grant you peace and happiness'. In English at that time, the phrase God Rest Ye Merry did not mean to be happy but instead to keep or to cause to remain, and Merry meant pleasant, prosperous, or bountiful.
• In 1843, Charles Dickens published, *A Christmas Carol*, which ushered in the celebration of Christmas as we know it today, and t“Merry Christmas" is found 21x in the book!
It was at this time that merry took on a new meaning, one that meant cheerful, joyful.
• It was also in 1843 that the first Christmas card was sent by Sir Henry Cole, who had written on it: A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You.
• In 1935, the Christmas Carol *We Wish You a Merry Christmas* performed by Arthur Warrell's University of Bristol Madrigal Singers only cemented the use of Merry Christmas and not Happy Christmas.
04. Christmas Carols
• Europe is where the first carols were sung and were pagan in nature. The oldest Carol that is known is Jesus Refulsit Omnium (*Jesus, Light of the Nations*). This Carol was written by St. Hilary of Poitiers in the 4th Century to describe the Magi's recognition of Jesus at His birth.
• “proper".
******• Silent Night*:** This famous Christmas Carol was written by a Roman Catholic priest in 1816 in Austria. The account is told that Father Joseph Mohr went for a walk, and on the walk, he looked out over a snow fallen town sitting quietly, and from this he wrote those famous words. *In 1818, Franz Xaver“Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht").
• This Christmas Carol was sung during the Christmas Truce in World War I in 1914. When the fighting had stopped for the day on Christmas Eve 1914, Walter Kirchhoff, a German officer who was also a tenor in the Berlin Opera came forward and sang Silent Night, first in German than in English. On that clear, cold Christmas Eve night, his voice carried far. The British, upon hearing the song, stood up and sang the song! Eventually, the troops gathered in No Man's Land, a place where bullets used to fly was now replaced by handshakes, bartering, and singing.
• The singing of Silent Night, as well as the temporary truce, left a profound impression on many of the soldiers. Many of the soldiers wrote home recounting this remarkable event, and how unbelievable it was.
• “I then came to the conclusion that I have held very firmly ever since, that if we had been left to ourselves there would never have been another shot fired."
• Not everyone was happy about this truce. We have an account of a Corporal in the 16th“Such a thing should not happen in wartime...Have you no German sense of honor?" That Corporal was Adolf Hitler.
******• The 12 Days of Christmas* *refer to the 12 days that begin with Christmas Day and end on Epiphany, January 6. Epiphany is the celebration in liturgical churches (Anglican, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodism Presbyterian, Roman Catholic Church) to commemorate the coming of the Magi to visit the newborn Jesus.
• The True Love in the song represents God.
1st Day: The Partridge in a Pear Tree speaks of Jesus dying on the cross. A partridge was a symbol of a divine king.
2nd Day: Two Turtle Doves are the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures.
3rd Day: Three French Hens are the Trinity
4th Day: “Four colly birds", an old word for Blackbirds, representing the 4 Gospels of the Greek Scriptures (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John).
5th Day: Five Golden Rings are the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Books of Moses, the Torah, the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).
6th Day: Six Geese A-Laying is the six days of creation.
7th Day: Seven Swans A Swimming are the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit found in Is 11:1--2.
8th Day: Eight Maids A Milking is the Eight Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3--10.
9th Day: Nine Ladies Dancing are the Nine Fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22--23.
10th Day: Ten Lord's A-Leaping is the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:1-17.
11th Day: Eleven Pipers Piping is the eleven-faithful apostles of Jesus in Matthew 10:2-4.
12th Day: Twelve Drummers Drumming are the 12 Disciples of Jesus or the 12 Points of the Apostle's Creed.
• If you were to tally up the actual gifts in the song, you would receive 364 gifts! (Day 1-1 gift; Day 2-receives 3 gifts=4 total; Day 3-receives 6 gifts=10 total; Day 4-receives 10 gifts=20 total; Day 5-receives 15 gifts=35 total; Day 6-receives 21 gifts=56 total gifts; Day 7-receives 28 gifts=84 total; Day 8-receives 36 gifts=120 total; Day 9-receives 45 gifts=165 total; Day 10-receives 55 gifts=220 total; Day 11-receives 66 gifts=286 total; Day 12-receives 78 gifts=364 total gifts received.)
• According to the PNC Christmas Price Index, which does this every year, the total cost of the 12 gifts named in the song in today's economy today, the bill would be $41,205.58!
