The Meaning of Christmas
William S. Sadler, Jr.
Transcribed from a tape made at the home of Berkeley Elliott
Oklahoma City, April 15, 1962

When I first learned August 21st--not December 25th--was Jesus' birthday, was Christmas, I felt a void, like something had been taken away. I analyzed the origin of Christmas--did my homework and put together as best I could: What is Christmas?

December 25th was a high and holy day in the Roman Empire before Jesus was born. December 25th was a holy day in Mithraism, which was an off-shoot of Zoroastrianism, a masculine religion for men only--very popular with the Roman Legions.

Christmas also incorporates something of the Roman blowout at the end of the year, the socalled "Saturnalia", when everybody had a reversal of roles--bosses waited on the employees and masters waited on the slaves. It was a time of lavishness.

Christmas incorporated the Teutonic legend of the hero who needs help in his mission--perhaps the slaying of a dragon; the liberation of a princess; going on a crusade--and something impels him to go out in the forest and there under a lofty fir tree finds a magical gift--the sword which he needs to accomplish his mission.

These traditions come together in our celebration of Christmas and I sum this little essay up by saying: Christmas--December 25th--is no longer Jesus' birthday, but Christmas now symbolizes to me the upreach of evolutionary religion seeking for the downreach of revelatory religion. Christmas symbolizes the upreach of the religion that man has made and is looking for help to improve. Christmas is still a holy day to me, but it is not Jesus' birthday. It stands for all of man's strivings, his supersitions, but also his hunger for God.

Christmas is man asking questions--August 21st is the answer!