Orville Taylor | The solemnity of Christmas

This is Christmas, but it is not Christmas, but yes it is indeed Christmas. Well, if the Government says that it is Christmas, then so be it. But the Government says that it is not. We last had this confusion in 2005, the year that the legendary Henry Stennett and producer Tanya Powell Edwards rolled the dice and initiated my sojourn on then RJR94 FM Hotline and the idea of having Christmas celebrated on the ‘wrong’ day. Then again, December 25 was chosen by the most powerful man on Earth at the time, the Roman Emperor Constantine in 336 C.E.

By now we know that there is no way that Jesus could have been born in December and that sheep and shepherds could not have been out in the winter. In fact, the historians and theologians generally agree that He was most likely born during the late summer or autumn. Some use astronomical data and suggest that the star that the Magi followed came out in April. Interestingly, both could be right because the Bible did not say that the Magi turned up on his birthday. It is most likely that travelling from afar on camels and other beasts of burden, they arrived months afterwards.

Constantine, who might have killed as many Christians as (Saul) Paul, was a genius. Recognising that Christianity was as difficult to eradicate as the mongoose in Jamaica, came up with a story about him seeing a glowing cross, with the words hoc signo vinces in the sky around midday on the eve of battle. Then in a vision or dream, Christ appeared to him, like He did to Saul, centuries earlier, but with an endorsement rather than a sanction. Translated, it means “in this sign you shall conquer”. He then issued the famous Edict of Milan, in 312 C.E., making Christianity Rome’s official religion.

GREAT TOOL

It is a great tool. Our colonial masters used it well, and our current leaders wax eloquently about their Christian values and always have compromised pastors blessing their political campaigns. Slick Constantine smoothly merged the pagan fertility celebrations of the winter solstice. Conical evergreen trees, decorated with fruits, ivy, kissing under the mistletoe, and Christmas stockings are all hangovers from the pre-Christian Roman Empire. Santa Claus comes later, but for any Christian who accepts the duality of good and evil, we have to decide if he is an angel, reporting to God or something else, because he is pretty close to being omniscient and omnipresent.

What is amazing about many ‘Lord Lord’ Christians is that they often repugn Halloween because of its ‘ungodly’ origins but gobble up Santa, the Easter bunny, and even the tooth fairy.

Yet there is even more confusion regarding the actual date of Jesus’ birth. Notice that September, October, November, and December all have prefixes that mean, ‘seven’, ‘eight’, ‘nine’ and ‘ten’. Julius Caesar tinkered with the measurement of time and moved the beginning of the year to January 1 in 45 CE. If we use the Ethiopian calendar, aligned to the solar cycle and which has 12 months of equal 30 days and four to five days for a 13th month, we end up in 2014. Misaligned to the Julian calendar, we could end up with other birth months of Jesus. To further confound us, we may even find that he was born in 6 C.E.

In Jah Jah’s land, Jesus was born on January 7. You decide the year.

LOVE CHRISTMAS

For what it is worth, I actually love Christmas. True, a mortal Christ would recognise none of the humdrum going on this season. True, the same man who kicked over the stalls and chased the cambio operators and merchants would probably join with the municipal authority to end the vending on his birthday. And the pastors, living like the Pharisees and Sadducees, getting rich like Dives, would also likely see Him grabbing the money ‘chiss’ and distributing up the collection to the poor and needy. After all, some followed him for the fish and festival as well as the word. Henry Stennett understood this, epitomised by the St George’s College motto, Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, “To the greater glory of God”.

After the debacle in Cana, where liquor ran out at the wedding, Jesus would be very appreciative of the Jamaican sorrel, laced with a bit of no- s- holy spirit, and he would totally endorse the selfless giving, visiting the poor, and gathering of family and friends to remind us how important it is to come together in peace and break bread. Nonetheless, it is really a time to acknowledge our own shortcomings, say sorry and make amends to our fellowman, who we knowingly offended.

And speaking of man. Under man’s 1895 Holidays (Public General) Act, our public holidays are “the day after Christmas Day, or when Christmas Day falls on a Sunday, then the 26th and 27th of December”. Work on all public holidays attracts double-time pay, and robbing workers of this during the festive season is sinful and cruel. Furthermore, where workers are not on duty those days, they shall be paid as if they are at work, with no impact on their leave.

Today, my Christmas is sober – dinner with family, and later, hopefully, my 44th unbroken streak of Christmas drinks with my childhood ‘bredren’. But I say a quiet prayer for Henry Stenett’s family and ask divine forgiveness for not being more grateful for being blessed by this great Georgian. Funny, just days after his birthday, we were planning to go hail him.

Merry Christmas and solemn solstice.

Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer at the Department of Sociology at The University of the West Indies, a radio talk-show host, and author of ‘Broken Promises, Hearts and Pockets’. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.