The Origins of Christmas
By Diana Ungureanu/ Chisinau / Moldova.ORG/ -- Because we are all on the eve of the holiday Nativity of Christ and on the lips of all there are words about Christmas feast, I decided to accord more attention to this holiday.
Today I will try to bring to the attention of readers to the origins of the name of Christmas and to the sources of origin of them.
The word "Christmas" was a popular word since ancient times on the territories inhabited by our ancestors, the assertion proved by the existence of the word in Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian. However, the origins of this word are very obscure and unclear. Some of the suppositions of its origin are the following:
• the term comes from the Latin "calatio, calationem". For Romans, this term designated the convening of the people by the pagan priests every day of the first of the month, for the announcement of the holidays that month. By extension, the term came to designate the feast in general, especially since most important of the calatio in the calendar of those times was that from January 1;
• the term comes from the etymology of "creation, creationem" (Vulgar Latin "creation, creatiun"). But this would be wrong, from the dogmatic perspective, whereas the Creed established by the first Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325 AD says about Jesus that he was born (from Father God), and not made (created).
• a folkloric origin, taking into account the numerous legends, aphorisms and toponyms involving this name, and even old traditions that refer to it. The author of "The Origin of the Word Christmas", Gabriel Gheorghe, propose a legend attested in this territory. In the European Carpathians, almost 80% of the territory was covered by forests. Heavy winters with a lack of fresh fruits and vegetables caused frequent disease of scurvy. Here the hermit monks got involved, because they had solid knowledge of phytotherapy. They brought mistletoe in winter, gave to villagers and taught them how to consume in order to avoid illness with scurvy. One of these monks was better known, whereas every winter, he went down with a knapsack full of mistletoe, and villagers have called him Santa with props or Santa Claus. Thus, Christmas is a celebration of the sacred props of golden props, dating since prehistoric times and spread throughout Europe (mythology of mistletoe), which has no connection with the Nativity, in the opinion of the author of the study;
• the transfiguration of the Three Wise Men, who came with gifts to the birth of Jesus Christ.
These would be the origins of the word Christmas known until today. Essential fact is that today we have such a beautiful celebration, which gathers all whom we love at home at the celebration table.
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